Charles Kennedy Quotes

Anybody who enjoys being in the House of Commons probably needs psychiatric help.

The House of Commons starts its proceedings with a prayer. The chaplain looks at the assembled members with their varied intelligence and then prays for the country.

Most Canadians don't understand the House of Commons. They turn on their televisions, see us yelling at one another, and dismiss us as a bunch of fools.

British politics, as the world knows, is a joke. Yet it's rarely funny.

It is very true that D.C. often operates in the land of caricature.

The [House of] Commons, faithful to their system, remained in a wise and masterly inactivity [during the French Revolution].

Our problem with President Obama isn't that he's a bad person. By all accounts, he too is a good husband, and a good father - and thanks to lots of practice, a pretty good golfer.

A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.

I understand the principles of dissent in parliament.

I know these jokes aren't great, ladies and gentlemen, see this is the problem you run into when you're between impeachments.

Look, I'm a member of the House of Lords and I'm the first to admit that I don't understand how one gets new laws through.

Minnesotans know the difference between the job of satirist and the job of senator. And so do I.

I'm a great admirer of 'The Simpsons.' It's very surprising because it's backed by a right-wing television company in the U.S., and quite often it's poking fun at the people who would be its audience.

There is hardly a single person in the House of Commons worth painting; though many of them would be better for a little whitewashing.

A man may speak very well in the House of Commons, and fail completely in the House of Lords.

His Majesty's Opposition

Prime Minister’s Question time is very different from anything in America. It is something that fortunately your President does not have to face.

Parliament is just like Noah’s Ark—many beasts and a few humans.

The House Of Commons has never been a tea-party. It consists of strong-minded, often very idealistic people, who are trying to accomplish something for our country. We are inheritors of an adversarial system and that, in itself, fosters conflict.

I devised the Bert Lance Toe Test then - you go out on the front porch of the house, turn 'The Washington Post' over with your big toe, and if your name's above the fold, you know you're not going to have a good day.

My whole career has been an Ann Coulter roast.

It would be wholly wrong constitutionally for the unelected House of Lords to do anything, to kill anything of a financial nature that has been through the House of Commons not once but twice.

Dialogue is the essence of parliamentary politics.

No British TV company could ever make a series like 'The West Wing' about British politics. It would beggar credibility. No one could write it with a straight face, or perform it without giggling.

It is often quite impossible to gauge the mood of the Chamber in advance, particularly on big occasions. One moment, it is relaxed and good-humoured; at the next, it can be angry and querulous, and the House in this mood can be a formidable arena.