Diane Abbott Quotations

You can't defend the indefensible - anything you say sounds self-serving and hypocritical.

Families are struggling against a tide of junk information on junk food.

Outsiders often have an insight that an insider doesn't quite have.

I don't think you can have pain and soul-searching doing the right thing for your child.

I knew what could happen to my son if he was sent to the wrong school and got in with the wrong crowd.

I'm a West Indian mum and West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children.

When fast food is not a treat but a dietary staple, the children surf the internet all day in dark corners of the room and are bombarded with latest gadgets. Things replace parental standards.

I was a postman one Christmas and I developed a morbid fear of dogs.

In Parliament we debate on and we decide the laws that are going to govern the country.

Gun crime is a major cause of fear and distress throughout the UK. The problem is deeply entrenched in a wide range of social and cultural factors and therefore not an isolated issue.

Mental health is often missing from public health debates even though it's critical to wellbeing.

In politics, the people I most despise are those who have no values.

Finally, there's a sense in which I look at this Westminster village and London intelligentsia as an outsider.

My forebears refused to cut the sugar cane for plantation owners, and I am recognisably a product of that background.

My London constituency in Hackney has one of the highest levels of gun crime in the country. But the problem is no longer confined to inner city areas. Gun crime has spread to communities all over Britain.

The honest truth is that if this government were to propose the massacre of the first-born, it would still have no difficulty in getting it through the Commons.

Abortion is an issue of conscience for the Labour party.

I wanted my marriage to work, but it didn't.

It's very lonely bringing up a child on your own.

I'm not thick-skinned at all, and of course I'm hurt by people attacking me as a person.

I spend a lot of time visiting local organisations.

I'm not the only Labour MP who sent their child to public school but I'm the only one who's questioned about it.

My mother liked Jim Reeves. I hated his records. He was unbearable.

Because when you watch U.S. television, all the presenters and reporters, they're all out of central casting.

My family were from Jamaica.

Being an MP is a good job, the sort of job all working-class parents want for their children -- clean, indoors and no heavy lifting. What could be nicer?

Tackling childhood obesity is key.

There are 101 websites out there for debate - this was a blatant last attempt to get someone to stand against Gordon Brown.

You learn from mistakes.

I want to write a best-selling book.

I believe every abortion is a tragedy.

So long as the UK continues to maintain its own identity, it is my belief that the US and the UK should maintain close relations.

There is no reason why the US and the UK cannot have close relations.

It is time Britain put its trust back into the Labour Party. I believe I am the candidate that can make this happen precisely because I am not associated with the past.

I want a Labour Party that is more democratic, more open and listens to its members.

My father was a manual worker.

White people love playing 'divide & rule'. We should not play their game.

She has proven herself to be a likable and strong-willed woman. I am sure she will prove herself very worthy of this place in history and will serve as an inspiration for women the world over.

Many young people carrying real or imitation firearms do so in a mistaken attempt to either boost their image, or from a misguided idea about self-protection. In addition, most London shootings involve members of the black community and are often related to deprivation, gang rivalry or the illegal drug trade.

Whenever I felt like slitting my wrists I used to like listening to depressed singers from the 1970s. It was great music for a misunderstood teenager. And when I'm feeling misunderstood these days, I'll stick on a bit of Leonard Cohen.

In my 26 years I haven't run into a baby who was rolled over on in bed, or who suffocated next to mom. Possibly it happens, but it happens a lot more often with moms who are bottle-feeding and have babies in cribs.

Because when you watch U.S. television, all the presenters and reporters, they're all out of central casting.

because that was the only way they felt they could survive.

This is a historically significant victory for women worldwide but for Jamaicans in particular. Portia has already made history, and looks set to consolidate her place in the history books of the future by becoming Jamaica's first female prime minister. She has proven herself to be a likeable and strong-willed woman. I am sure she will prove herself very worthy of this place in history and will serve as an inspiration for women the world over.