Quotes by William Hague

“It was our national identity, so powerfully expressed in Winston Churchill's speeches, which had helped see us through the darkest days of the war. For us, patriotism was the focus of our resistanc...”

“The lesson of Yugoslavia and the Russian federation is that it is dangerous to force disparate peoples into a common political unit unless they already feel a sense of national affinity.”

“The Tony Martin case lit a touch-paper that has led to an explosion of anger and resentment among millions of law-abiding British people who no longer feel the State is on their side. The specifics...”

“What has happened to our courts system when career burglars and muggers get a few dozen hours' community service, or a couple of months in prison if they are unlucky, while people defending their h...”

“I was the driver's mate, delivering the bottles and beer around South Yorkshire. We used to have a pint at every stop – well the driver's mate did, not the driver, thankfully – and we used to have ...”

“Nothing is more absurd than a Prime Minister who has committed us in principle to joining the Euro saying last week that he was against it. He talks about his five tests; we know what they are: Doe...”

“In the Prime Minister, we have a man who has forfeited the right to be believed or to be trusted. In more than 20 years in politics, he has betrayed every cause he believed in, contradicted every s...”

“We have a Government that has contempt for the views of the people it governs. There is nothing that the British people can talk about, that this Labour Government doesn't deride. Talk about Europe...”

“I thank the Prime Minister for his remarks about me. Debating with him at the Dispatch Box has been exciting, fascinating, fun, an enormous challenge and, from my point of view, wholly unproductive...”

“For the first time in history at Question Time, all three parties are represented by a stand-in for the real leader.”

“To see how the post of a permanent President of the European Council could evolve is not difficult even for the humblest student of politics, and it is, of course, rumoured that one Tony Blair may ...”

“[To Harriet Harman] Before turning to domestic issues, I was going to be nice to the right hon. and learned Lady. She has had a difficult week. She had to explain yesterday that she dresses in acco...”

“[T]he Conservative Party is like an absolute monarchy, but this is qualified by regicide. If we take any form of PR back to our parliamentary colleagues, they will be looking for new leadership”

“This country needs an increased capability to protect ourselves, not only against cyber attacks on the government but on businesses and on individuals”

“It remains the case that the single biggest terrorist threat to this country remains al-Qaeda, or people inspired by al-Qaeda, but what has happened is a reminder that it is not the only source of ...”

“I described the euro as a burning building with no exits and so it has proved for some of the countries in it”

“[The EU has] too much power.. there should be powers that are returned to this country”

“The very making of these allegations undermined Britain's standing in the world as a country that upholds international law and abhors torture. As a government we understand how important it is tha...”

“[Without intelligence agencies] terrorist groups would have free rein to harm UK citizens here and abroad”

“It is strongly in the interests of Syria, of the wider region and of the United Kingdom that we support them and deny space to extremist groups”