Diane Abbott Quotes

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

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.

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

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?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

I believe every abortion is a tragedy.

You learn from mistakes.

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

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

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

I want to write a best-selling book.

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

My father was a manual worker.

Abortion is an issue of conscience for the Labour party.

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

My family were from Jamaica.

I spend a lot of time visiting local organisations.

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

Tackling childhood obesity is key.

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

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

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

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

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

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.