Charles Clarke Quotations

We have a son that plays for one of the schools. I'm very interested in men's basketball.

The faces of the women and children in far-away Spain, widows and orphans of this July third rose before me so vividly that I had to draw comfort from the thought that a decisive victory is... more merciful than a prolonged struggle.

I don't mind there being some medievalists around for ornamental purposes, but there is no reason for the State to pay for them.

The people who will succeed fifteen years from now, the countries which will succeed, are those which are most based on a sustainable vision of the world. That is what we should be training people to do

The fact is, we're looking for a very small number of very evil needles in a very large haystack, which is the city of London.

I am not in any way opposed to medieval studies (or for that matter Latin).

Part of the problem is that he lacks confidence. He is nervous

Yes is the answer to that question. I've enjoyed being in government... if it would be useful for me to serve I would like to do that. [saying he would like to work for Gordon Brown despite his previous opinions of him!]

But it doesn't stop at school. We can all enjoy books throughout our lives - as I certainly continue to do.

Few nations match our rich resource of literature.

One of my passions is that children enjoy their time at school - and reading for pleasure can be an important part of that.

We can all take responsibility for helping to bring about change, and keeping our friends and colleagues safe from domestic violence

I wish we didn't have the problem. I wish we didn't have suicide bombers at all. I wish I could go like that and they're gone,

If we could get one that could get there faster than it, then we would be able to stop the fire from spreading quickly before it gets a head start on us.

I have concluded that the balance now is not right and that it needs to be closely examined in the heightened threat that we now face,

I expect the leadership election to be something like 2008.

I think it is a shocking state of affairs. The concern, possibly anger, that people will feel is entirely understandable.

It is a lack of confidence in our systems of control that can foster bigotry.

I think there's absolutely no evidence whatsoever in any of those areas that his authority is in anyway diminished.

We must protect the traditions of tolerance that we have established in this country,

We worked all our lives basically for nothing.

We have to defend our values of respect of tolerance of freedom and democracy against any who wish to destroy or replace them with some other doctrine, particularly if they seek to use violence to promote their ambition.

Following months of diplomatic work we now have good reason to believe that we can get the necessary assurances from the countries to which we will return the deportees so that they will not be subject to torture or ill-treatment, ... powers to deport individuals and detain them pending deportation.

There was a determination from all colleagues around the table ... to reach agreement,

Proscription is an important power, and not one to be used lightly, ... The list of proscribed organizations is kept under constant review and after careful consideration of all the relevant factors I am satisfied that these groups should now be added to it.

Our equipment we thought was fine. But when you get out there and start fighting it for 20 or 30 hours straight, equipment starts failing. And so we need a lot of repair on some of these older trucks.

Now, at the end, my judgement turned out to be incorrect and we lost the vote.

They were documenting something that two, three, four generations from now they were going to tell about in pride.

All our foreign posts throughout the world are looking at their particular country... and, of course, we have got the names that are widely in the public domain at the moment.

It seems to me we have to give the same rights to those humans who want to travel without being blown up on an underground train,

I told him (Blair) I was prepared to resign if he thought it was right, and he said he didn't think it was right.

I want to encourage that culture rather than the other way round.

They have sent names, we are considering them and they are currently on our warnings index which means there will be a ministerial decision on any individual case of a case coming into those countries,

In future, the recording of biometrics, such as fingerprints, iris patterns or facial image means that we will have a much stronger way of linking identity to the person. A national ID card will be a robust, secure way to establish that identities are real, not fabricated.

I regret that on the question of the level of the bar at which prosecutions can be brought ... that the government lost tonight.

If the judges don't understand that message and don't take decisions which reflect where the people of the continent want to be, then the conclusion will be that politicians ... will be saying we have got to have a change in this regime.

But I can't. They're here. And in this circumstance it is right that our police and security services give proper thought to how we deal with a threat that comes from that area.

Certainly, the human rights of people who are criminals, they have to be looked after, ... But more important in my view are the human rights of the people against whom the criminals commit their acts.

Chief constables responded in different ways, ranging from doing nothing to setting out their views,

By publishing the list today, I make it absolutely clear that these are unacceptable behaviors, and will be the grounds for deporting and excluding such individuals from the U.K.,

I certainly think the foreign link is a very important link to look at.

I appreciate fully that Mr de Menezes' family and the public will want to understand what happened. It is now right and proper that the Director of Public Prosecutions fully and carefully considers the matter.

I am very happy with the conduct, not only of Sir Ian Blair, but the whole Metropolitan Police in relation to the inquiry,