Ann Widdecombe

“If any further proof were needed that the Liberal Democrats live up to neither part of their name, then the treatment of Roman Catholic Robert Flello would have provided it. They were glad enough to have him when he defected from Labour but have now deselected him because he supports neither abortion nor gay marriage.”

“Some books are like an hors d'oeuvre - light, tasty and leaving you longing for the main course which is never going to come - and some are like Christmas lunch immediately after a cooked breakfast.”

“For most of my political life I was not ecstatic but I was happy because I had huge confidence in the causes I espoused and the work I was doing. Even under extreme pressure I was satisfied that I was fighting a good fight.”

“Cats are so wonderful because they're furry, purry and totally independent.”

“I have always believed prison can be very, very good for you but not by the act of deprivation of liberty alone. There has to be more to life inside than that.”

“I shall not miss the hectoring and backbiting and the lack of generosity towards fallen foes, but I will miss the sheer clubability of parliament. If one fancies a coffee or a meal or a drink then it is always possible to find at least one person out of 646 whose company is congenial.”

“It is a fundamental principle of democracy that citizens obey the law or incur whatever penalty applies to its breaking.”

“If someone calls you fat and you are fat, then it will be hurtful only if you feel you should not be fat.”

“Stand-up comics tend to make two assumptions: that Christians have no sense of humour and that all their audiences are unbelievers.”

“My mother always said bringing me up was a tiring business, which I 'believe. For instance, when we lived in Singapore, the Chinese staff used to leave their slippers at the bottom of the steps. Every night, I used to go and remove their slippers. I stopped being tiresome at about 14.”

“In the 1990s, while the Maastricht debate was raging, I was a minister in the Major government. Every single piece of legislation we proposed had to be scrutinised for compatibility with E.U. law.”

“The E.U. is terrified that we might become a competitor on its doorstep and that is exactly what we should be.”

“The Arctic has huge glaciers, frozen waterfalls and floating ice. This is scenery on which man has left no mark, which has stayed unchanged for centuries, wild, bleak, hauntingly beautiful; it is a part of God's creation we have made no effort to tame.”

“Having served as a member of parliament for more than two decades, I'm well aware that there can be genuine constraints that affect the speed at which certain issues progress.”

“It is a huge asset to law and order that serious or persistent criminals should be taken out of the society on which they prey. It makes life safer for the law-abiding and on the whole prisons are pretty good at containing those who have been committed to them.”

“I am not an enthusiast when it comes to cities, preferring rolling scenery, wildlife and stars to museums, monuments, architecture and traffic.”

“Satisfaction is a major player in the happiness stakes.”

“I can't hear rhythm.”

“It's not a question of being out of touch or traditional. It's a question of wanting to preserve marriage as uniquely between a man and a woman. Gays get full civil rights with civil partnerships anyway.”

“The modern notion of background music is a loud thump, thump, thump. It isn't only conversation it kills but also concentration.”