Words matter. These are the best Bob Ainsworth Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
It’s true that people were told facial hair was not appreciated by the British public, but I just decided to keep the moustache.
Despite the increasingly presidential style of political leadership in our country, teamwork is essential.
My heroes are the non-commissioned officers. If I had another life that’s what I’d be – a regimental sergeant major or a similar rank. That’s where the spirit of the armed forces is.
We cannot allow Afghanistan to become again a haven for terrorists who inspire, plan and provide support for attacks like those of 11 September 2001, of 7 July 2005 in London, and more.
The last thing we want to do is to go into an area and inflict unnecessary civilian casualties. One is too many.
Defence must be more adaptable, able to respond quickly to the changes in the security environment and the character of conflict.
We in the West walked away from Afghanistan at the end of the Cold War and left it as a country devastated socially and armed to the teeth. If we do that again, there will be consequences.
I never expected to be Defence Secretary. It’s a great privilege.
When I was first elected to parliament 18 years ago, one of the many things that struck me and that I still feel now is how the Labour Party, the party of collective action, can, at MP level and above, behave in such an individualistic way.
I have strengths, and I have weaknesses. I don’t pretend to be able to write a great thesis or doctorate – I have no pretensions in that direction.
I come from a pretty tough background and I learned a long time ago not to be bothered.
It’s hard to find good teamwork in practice, and I have never thought that we, as a party, were any better at working as a team than the Tories, despite our core values.
We have tended in politics in this country to concentrate on the domestic, on the here and now – the ‘what’s in it for me’.
On the back benches, you can have your say but no power to do anything.
Stalin’s policies pushed the world into the Cold War. Putin has the potential to be equally as dangerous.
The reasoning for our civil-military plan is that lasting success will be when the Afghan government, security forces and people can resist the insurgents and terrorists themselves.
As the Chief of the Defence Staff says, you don’t defend on the goal line. Defending the interests of the U.K. means tackling threats early and at source, and that means intervening overseas.
You have to make the compromise: resign, stay out of the government, and you can say what you like… but no one has to do anything about it.
If you stand at an election and put a manifesto in front of people saying you’re going to improve health care, you have to stick by that.
The war in Afghanistan is too important to be reduced to a political football. We are fighting there to protect our national security. We are confronting the Taliban-led insurgency to prevent terrorists returning to that country.
