After months of speculation, the General Election 2010 has finally been called for 6th May. With a hung parliament seeming a real possibility, there is more to play for than with any recent election. Gordon Brown is said to be desperate to retain power, David Cameron wants to finally be the Tory leader that takes power back from Labour, and Nick Clegg is, well, Nick Clegg.
Welcome to the UK general election quotes section of Saidwhat. You can click on a person's name to view their quotes, or see the 40 most recent quotes added below. There are sure to be some interesting quotations during the course of the election so be sure to check back. And so it proved - most notably with Gordon Brown being caught on record commenting negatively on a lifelong Labour supporter... eventually after all the campaigning and TV debates were done, the election followed leading to stalemate, then a few days later a Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition government was formed, with Gordon Brown leaving 10 Downing Street to be replaced by David Cameron.
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Election Quotes By Name: A - Z | Gordon Brown |
Nick Clegg |
David Cameron
Latest 40 General Election Quotes
The discussions between the political parties have now reached a critical and final phase. I'm as impatient as everybody else to get on with things, to resolve matters one way or the other.Nick Clegg - View more
Nick Clegg election quotes
The only question that matters: will Nick Clegg be governed by total greed (Labour pact) or a sense of what is morally and economically right for the country? The red pill or the blue pill Mr Clegg, which is it to be...
Date Added: 11 May 2010
It is less than a week since many were telling pollsters that they wanted the outcome of the election to be a hung parliament. Many are now wondering, it would seem, whether in reality that is what they want now they see what it means.Alastair Campbell - View more
Alastair Campbell election quotes
As Nick Robinson said on BBC News last night... be careful what you wish for...
Date Added: 11 May 2010
The idea that the two parties that suffered most in this election, that were rejected by the electorate, that in the case of the Labour party lost a hundred of its seats, should put together an illegitimate government, this is the Robert Mugabe style of politicsMalcolm Rifkind -
Former Tory MP - View more
Malcolm Rifkind election quotes
Many Conservatives are said to be absolutely furious behind the scenes at the fact the Lib Dems seem to be switching sides before their talks have actually broken down with the Tories...
Date Added: 11 May 2010
I'm certainly not going to be saying anything more - and none of the candidates are going to be saying anything more either.David Miliband - View more
David Miliband election quotes
So there are already candidates lined up to take over from Gordon Brown then, whether as opposition leader or as Prime Minister...
Date Added: 11 May 2010
I can't envisage circumstances in which we would enter into agreement with the Scottish National PartyDouglas Alexander -
Labour MP - View more
Douglas Alexander election quotes
There may be one less colour in the rainbow then...
Date Added: 11 May 2010
It's all that some of us feared about hung parliaments. There's complete chaos and confusion. I think the Liberal Democrats feel they can dictate everything to either of the two main parties. Of course, they're not able to do that, and they've got to decide which compromises they're going to make.John Redwood -
Conservative MP for Wokingham - View more
John Redwood election quotes
He may not have been on your TV screens for many years, but he's still an MP...
Date Added: 11 May 2010
There is nothing dishonourable about being in opposition, but there is nothing honourable in collaborating with those whose aim is to destroy what you believe in merely to save your own skinSir Patrick Cormack - View more
Sir Patrick Cormack election quotes
The words 'honourable' and 'dishonourable'... which one does the British public associate more with our politicians?
Date Added: 11 May 2010
All this talk of a rainbow coalition is nonsense. What we are faced with is the possibility of a ragbag coalition containing nationalists within it, i.e. those whose aim is to destroy the United KingdomSir Patrick Cormack -
Retired former Tory MP - View more
Sir Patrick Cormack election quotes
A new phrase for the Lib-Lab et al pact today - the "ragbag coalition"...
Date Added: 11 May 2010
What he [Gordon Brown] did today was not leave Number Ten, but rather ensure he stays there a little bit longer.Nick Robinson - View more
Nick Robinson election quotes
... on Gordon Brown's announcement he will "resign" if a "progressive" (=non-Conservative) alliance goes ahead
Date Added: 10 May 2010
As a serving MP, I agree with John Reid - the numbers are not there. This will not be a sustainable coalition, we will be at the mercy of tiny parties that simply want to protect their nations from the cuts. This can't work. Above all what we need as a country is a period of stability. This rainbow alliance with Alex Salmond and 'Uncle Tom Cobley and all' cannot hold together.Diane Abbott - View more
Diane Abbott election quotes
... the honest and sensible Labour MP Diane Abbott telling it like it is...
Date Added: 10 May 2010
During the campaign Nick Clegg said that he would more than likely support the party that won the election with the most votes and, funnily enough, that was David Cameron - two million more votes than the Labour Party. And yet we saw Gordon Brown trying to hang on. The fact that he's going in September - I think the country actually passed its verdict: Gordon, they want you to go now. And also they would prefer, I believe, the Liberal Democrats keeping to their word and working with the Conservative Party in the best interests of the country.Nigel Evans -
Conservative MP - View more
Nigel Evans election quotes
... he wants Gordon Brown to go now, not hang on until at least the Labour party conference...
Date Added: 10 May 2010
I hope those discussions are successful and it is possible to form a coalition government between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Ideologically and in policy terms we are very close together... This would be a partnership of principle.Andrew Adonis -
Unelected Labour politician who is a "Lord" - View more
Andrew Adonis election quotes
... he's not elected so perhaps he doesn't care that such a government would be totally undemocratic and against the spirit of the election that led to huge Labour losses...
Date Added: 10 May 2010
If the Liberal Democrats choose - and of course it's their decision - if they choose to join with the Labour Party then we will probably end up with someone as prime minister who didn't go through the process in the general election of scrutiny by the electorate. We'll have the second unelected Labour prime minister in succession.Michael Gove - View more
Michael Gove election quotes
... not a prospect anyone wants!
Date Added: 10 May 2010
I think the decision to try and enter a Lib-Lab pact, coalition, is potentially a disastrously wrong one for the country, for the party and for Gordon himself... I think from the point of view of the electorate, the two losing parties trying to usurp the role of the major party - although I disagree with that party - will not be welcomed.John Reid -
Former Home Secretary - View more
John Reid election quotes
John Reid makes it clear that there would be many raised eyebrows in this "democratic" country if the largest party was penalised by not having any say in government...
Date Added: 10 May 2010
We've had some very constructive talks with the Conservative Party and I'm very grateful to David Cameron and his negotiating team. We've had some very positive talks, made a great deal of progress, but we haven't yet reached a comprehensive partnership agreement.Nick Clegg - View more
Nick Clegg election quotes
But yet the deal he does may still be with Labour not the Conservatives...
Date Added: 10 May 2010
Talks are continuing today. Everyone's trying to be constructive for the good of the country. I'm very keen that the Liberal Democrats should play a constructive role at a time of great economic uncertainty to provide the good government that this country deserves.Nick Clegg - View more
Nick Clegg election quotes
... only time will tell if it leads to a deal, and what sort of deal it is...
Date Added: 09 May 2010
You can't have the national interest served in the future without cleaning up the political system and changing the voting systemPaddy Ashdown - View more
Paddy Ashdown election quotes
... whether the electorate in general is as concerned with the voting system remains unclear given there wasn't a surge in the Lib Dem vote after all...
Date Added: 09 May 2010
It wouldn't last five minutes in Parliament. It'd be bad for the country and a disaster for the Labour PartyJohn Mann -
Labour MP - View more
John Mann election quotes
... telling his leader not to even contemplate forming some alliance of every-party-other-than-the-Tories, aka what some parts of the media have dubbed "a coalition of the losers"
Date Added: 09 May 2010
Parachuting another Labour leader in now would be a disaster.Diane Abbott - View more
Diane Abbott election quotes
... although not quite the ringing endorsement it sounds as she also referred to him as a caretaker leader
Date Added: 09 May 2010
David Cameron is going to be prime minister. That's the harsh fact of the matter for anyone from any other political party.Michael Heseltine -
Former mace swishing Conservative MP - View more
Michael Heseltine election quotes
... talking to John Sopel about what will happen next after the hung parliament...
Date Added: 09 May 2010
It's right that the Liberals should talk to the Conservatives first. If the Liberals want to talk to us, Gordon Brown has made it very clear they can do so. The key thing is that government goes on.Alastair Darling - View more
Alastair Darling election quotes
... the Chancellor commenting on the process that's going on behind closed doors right now... good old democracy
Date Added: 09 May 2010
The first thing we need to accept is the result means the only people capable of forming any kind of government are the Conservatives. The maths are against Labour forming any kind of governmentGeorge Howarth -
Former minister - View more
George Howarth election quotes
... if a Lib Dem / Labour alliance could have resulted in a majority, that deal would have probably already been done...
Date Added: 09 May 2010
My duty as prime minister has been to seek to resolve this situation... My resolve has not, and will not, change. I pledged to do everything in my power to fight for the people of this country - to secure the recovery, to protect their livelihoods and to continue to fight for a future fair for allGordon Brown - View more
Gordon Brown election quotes
Some pundits have used the phrase 'kicking and screaming' to describe what it would take to get Gordon Brown out of number ten... are they right? Only time will tell...
Date Added: 09 May 2010
We've now got to prepare ourselves, as a Labour Party, for a period of dignified opposition. I regret that, but our days at No 10 are numberedMalcolm Wicks -
Former energy minister - View more
Malcolm Wicks election quotes
Telling the Labour Party they should wake up and smell the coffee, but will they without their hand being forced?
Date Added: 09 May 2010
We've had some very positive and productive discussions over many key policy areas. We intend to meet again over the next 24 hoursWilliam Hague - View more
William Hague election quotes
On the party's talks with the Lib Dems about either coalition or some sort of working agreement...
Date Added: 09 May 2010
They don't really care if we have a Labour or a Tory government or a mixture, they just want to see the reduction in the deficit.Robert Peston -
BBC business journalist - View more
Robert Peston election quotes
On the attitudes of the markets as to what should happen post the hung parliament...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
My hunch is that a Tory/Lib Dem arrangement can be formed, but not a coalition, which both parties would find too hard to stomach. The reason is that both parties' leaderships have a shared interest in avoiding an early second electionNick Robinson - View more
Nick Robinson election quotes
On what he expects will happen next, but no-one really knows...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
What an unholy, unmitigated mess. And to cap it all, the leader of the party which should have walked away with a massive majority over a government whose reckless spending has landed us with Greek-style debts is engaged in talks with the losing third party over the terms on which he might be allowed to form a governmentNorman Tebbit - View more
Norman Tebbit election quotes
On the result of the general election...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
I hope we can sort things out as quickly as possible, for the good of the country. But we won't rush into any agreement.David Cameron - View more
David Cameron election quotes
Talking about a possible agreement to make him Prime Minister...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
The need for education reform, building a low-carbon economy, reforming our political system, decentralising power, protecting civil liberties and scrapping ID cardsDavid Cameron - View more
David Cameron election quotes
Talking about common ground with the Lib Dems...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
It would seem to me very strange... if the government of the UK was held to ransom over an issue that the voters did not see as their priority.Liam Fox - View more
Liam Fox election quotes
The Conservative MP is not for turning on the issue of electoral reform...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
Gordon Brown has had a good run and whilst he was an excellent chancellor he has been seen as a poor prime minister who is out of touch and aloof. Labour lost votes because of thisJohn Mann -
Labour MP - View more
John Mann election quotes
Calling for Gordon Brown to resign before the party conference later in the year...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
[We are] determined to put the national interest before party advantage... and play our part in delivering the stable and good government.David Laws - View more
David Laws election quotes
On how the Lib Dem MPs were treating their meeting with Nick Clegg about a possible deal with the Conservatives...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
An arrangement between Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP and Plaid could command a majority in the House of Commons. The nationalist parties would, of course, extract financial and political concessions.Nick Robinson -
BBC political journalist - View more
Nick Robinson election quotes
It has also been suggested by some journalists if Labour clung to power despite being rejected by the electorate there would be anarchy in the UK...
Date Added: 08 May 2010
We won't be forming a coalition with any of the London parties, but we will be looking at votes in the House of Commons and judging them on an issue-by-issue basis.Alex Salmond - View more
Alex Salmond election quotes
About their stance to the new parliament, whatever form it may take...
Date Added: 07 May 2010
I leave this job with a faith - a very strong spiritual faith which I have developed quite recently and thanks to many people in the constituency - but also a faith in people and human nature, and finally a faith in the liberalism which got me into politics in the first place, which I have sought to represent as best I can in this constituency and which continues unabated as the strong, deep liberal strain which characterises MontgomeryshireLembit Opik - View more
Lembit Opik election quotes
On losing his seat... something no-one could have forecasted in advance...
Date Added: 07 May 2010
In the words of Arnie Schwarzenegger, 'I'll be back' .Lembit Opik - View more
Lembit Opik election quotes
One of the shocks of the night was his losing a massively safe Lib Dem seat to the Tories...
Date Added: 07 May 2010
Thank you so much for putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear. I pledge that I will do my very best to do you proud.Caroline Lucas - View more
Caroline Lucas election quotes
On her historic election victory becoming the first Green party MP ever for Brighton...
Date Added: 07 May 2010
It is vital that all parties, all political leaders, act in the national interest and not out of narrow party politicalNick Clegg - View more
Nick Clegg election quotes
Despite a disappointing showing for the Lib Dems, he could still be the kingmaker...
Date Added: 07 May 2010
Should the discussions between Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg come to nothing... I would be prepared to discuss with Mr Clegg the areas where there may be some measure of agreement between our two partiesGordon Brown - View more
Gordon Brown election quotes
As anticipated by the pundits, Gordon Brown has not given in just yet...
Date Added: 07 May 2010
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