A biography for Crispin Blunthasn’t been written yet.
“Those members of the executive council who voted against my candidacy in the absence of a cogent reason they could publicly present and having now been so convincingly contradicted by the wider membership must ask themselves how they can best assist uniting and reinvigorating a party which is overwhelmingly united around my candidacy.”
“The committee accepts that, as the government response suggests, U.K. policy in Libya was initially driven by a desire to protect civilians. However, we do not accept that it understood the implications of this, which included collapse of the state, failure of stabilization and the facilitation of Islamist extremism in Libya.”
“I accept of course we're in deep trouble and deep difficulty. But if we, under a new leader, reinvent ourselves properly as a Brexit party, we will be faced with the inevitability at some point of a general election in order to deliver Brexit because this Parliament is stopping the delivery of Brexit.”
“Doing something to make ourselves feel better is beside the real point of defeating Isis and ending the Syrian civil war.”
“I do have a huge debt of gratitude to people who fought for equality.”
“When the air forces of the U.S., Russia, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others are already engaged with Isis in Syria, it's a shortage of targets rather than of aircraft that is the coalition's principal military constraint.”
“We already heard from President Macron saying he won't let Britain leave the customs union until we get access to their fishing grounds. You can then see the complexity in future, this will go on forever.”
“For the government, there is the frustration of not being a full part of the anti-Isis coalition. For ministers to have their position restrained by our parliament is an embarrassment with their international colleagues.”
“We simply do not have time as we move from one meeting to the next to have hours to peruse leisure websites of whatever type. There are days when I do not have time to switch my desktop computer on, and computer access is by mobile devices on the run between competing engagements.”
“I accept that speculation, cheerful or otherwise, about the private life is something public figures must expect, but I am lucky enough to continue to enjoy the love and support of Victoria and my children, Claudia and Freddy, and to finally be at ease with myself.”
“I am a unionist. But I'm a unionist up to the point of, if other people don't want to be in a union with me then, well, fine.”
“The Foreign Affairs Committee is first in line to call for the U.K. to take a more active and independent role in world affairs, and to have the resources to do so. But a large part of that role involves working with allies and leveraging the range of our assets in co-ordination.”
“Any deeper involvement, including the use of airstrikes against Islamic State positions, will require parliamentary approval. The government anyway needs to get over its fear of discussing this with parliament and, if necessary, to seek authorisation at the appropriate moment.”
“Nigel Farage said he would do a deal with the devil to get Brexit over the line; the Conservative party is very far from being the devil in this.”
“London Pride is a big event in the global celebration of freedom.”
“The FCO must help Turkey reinforce accountable state institutions, while also developing ties far beyond them: the UK needs a deeper and therefore more durable relationship with the Turkish people, whichever background they hold, while working to uphold the values of human rights and democracy that benefit them all.”
“Our unique selling point as a country is global, not regional. Our industries have a pitch to the world, rather than simply trade with Europe.”