David Lammy Quotes

When a new president comes in, a new president gets to clean house.

The transfer of power is always a test of the constitutional system, a test of its strength.

Uncertainty is normal in the first few days of a new government.

The Opposition aren't really the Opposition. They're just called the Opposition. But in fact they are the Opposition in exile. The Civil Service are the Opposition in residence.

I think that Yulia Tymoshenko should prepare to resign. She understands that well.

I want to talk to these people because they stay in power and you change all the time.

Governing was always difficult for conservatives, but as they return to the opposition, they are rediscovering their skill at blame evasion.

I remember when Tony Blair came into office, and there was a sense I was thinking, 'Well, what on Earth am I going to do now?' until I realized that's exactly what he was thinking.

Going from Flip to Kev, obviously you don't want to see someone ever lose their job. For me it's probably a little more difficult, because other than Bill Blair, Flip is all I knew.

I never translated from my days in the Navy to being a congressman.

I hate changes of administrations, because I have all my villains in place and they are all taken away and replaced with faceless wonders nobody knows.

No government can long be secure without a formidable Opposition.

We can’t change our government unless we change the people who run it.

Any plan of reconstruction is wrong that tends to leave these old leaders in power.

I am for the Party that is out of Power

Almost the first thing Obama did in the White House was to return the bust of Winston Churchill to the British embassy. That suggests a major re-ordering of things. It'll be fascinating to see what happens from now on. It was a genuine break with the recent past - perhaps to re-connect with the past past.

To simply demand that Assad go, and create a vacuum, could make the circumstances worse. To 'protect' Assad and his brutality is unconscionable. So you have to have a transition period here.

Sometimes leaders slide from the role of freedom fighter into the presidency, which they may be unsuited for, but everyone accepts it until they hit the bump in the road.

After college, I became a geologist, mapping what lay beneath the earth's surface. I thought I had my life pretty figured out and all my boxes checked. But then, I was laid off - along with thousands of other geologists. I lost not only my job, but also my profession.

When a new government comes, even the detractors want to give them a chance because they have been voted in by the people of the country.

You may hate Hillary Clinton and you may have good reason for hating Hillary Clinton, but Hillary Clinton is one person who even if she's elected will be gone one day and you still have the task of keeping American democracy going.

No government can be long secure without a formidable opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate.

Today there's a change of guards in Denmark.

Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.

The dictatorship needs to be entirely dismantled. All the rest of the old guard must go.