Top 30 Quotes by Bob Ainsworth

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.

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'.

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 last thing we want to do is to go into an area and inflict unnecessary civilian casualties. One is too many.

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.

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.

It's true that people were told facial hair was not appreciated by the British public, but I just decided to keep the moustache.

We are not in Afghanistan because girls were not allowed to go to school, but helping them do so will give the Afghan people hope for a better future.

Our aim is always to minimise casualties and to separate a hardline Taliban from those who have been caught up in the insurgency.

I have always had a keen interest in defence and military history and read more on this subject than anything else.