Douglas Hurd

“We must admit that history is enjoyable to a large extent because it enables us to pass judgement on the past.”

“No military timetable should compel war when a successful outcome, namely a disarmed Iraq may be feasible without war, for example by allowing more time to the UN inspectors.”

“We should be wary of politicians who profess to follow history while only noticing those signposts of history that point in the direction which they themselves already favour.”

“But it cannot follow that because weapons and troops are now being deployed we are bound to go to war.”

“People know they are lacking something, they are constantly wanting some kind of spiritual guidance.”

“History provides no precise guidelines.”

“But Germany will always suffer, I fear, from the intensely dramatic character of the crimes of the Third Reich.”

“It was essentially for self defence that we went to war in Afghanistan and would go to war in Iraq.”

“A genuinely democratic Iraq might well act as a fresh spur.”

“People are very interested in politics, they just don't like it labelled politics.”

“Wisely used history can give pleasure and provide us with a useful tool; but we should not become its slaves.”

“The tragedy of 9/11 galvanised the American superpower into action, leaving us in Europe divided in its wake.”

“Margaret Thatcher, growing up in a bombed and battered Britain, derived a distrust which has grown with the years not just of Germany but of all continental Europe.”

“There are thus great swathes of the past where understanding is more important and reputable than judgement, because the principal actors performed in line with the ideas and values of that time, not of ours.”

“There is no consensus even today on the merits of Napoleon - and certainly no agreement on the rights and wrongs of the origins of the First World War.”

“There is nothing false or arrogant about German pride in German technical and business skills.”

“Margaret Thatcher was fearful of German unification because she believed that this would bring an immediate and formidable increase of economic strength to a Germany which was already the strongest economic partner in Europe.”

“We, Britain and Germany, can neither of us be happy about our handling of the Iraq war.”

“The first two Prime Ministers whom I served, Ted Heath and Margaret Thatcher drew strikingly different lessons from the Second World War.”

“I may be wrong in that, but not I think in putting the questions. In our modern democracy the government needs not a unanimous but a general support for war before it orders our forces to fight.”