Geoffrey Howe quotes

Geoffrey Howe was a prominent British Conservative politician and lawyer. Known for his roles as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary during Margaret Thatcher's government, he helped shape economic and foreign policy in the 1980s. He is remembered for his influential resignation speech, which contributed to Thatcher’s eventual downfall. Here are 6 of his quotes:

The well-being of the British people and the health of our economy are far more important than any government's commitment to a particular strategy, but to change course now would be fatal to the whole counter-inflation strategy. (Geoffrey Howe)
How on earth are the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England, commending the 'Hard ECU' as they strive to, to be taken as serious participants in the debate against that kind of background noise? I believe that both the Chancellor and the Governor are cricketing enthusiasts, so I hope that there is no monopoly of cricketing metaphors. It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain. View quote
Geoffrey Howe
Denis Healey: Can he assure us there is no question of American military intervention as this could only make the situation worse? Sir Geoffrey Howe: There is no question of that. View quote
Geoffrey Howe
In this case, the United States had particular reason to consult most closely with those Caribbean countries which had called on it to help resolve the crisis. Nevertheless, their lack of consultation was regrettably less than we would have wished. View quote
Geoffrey Howe
The conflict of loyalty, of loyalty to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister--and, after all, in two decades together that instinct of loyalty is still very real--and of loyalty to what I perceive to be the true interests of the nation, has become all too great. I no longer believe it possible to resolve that conflict from within this Government. That is why I have resigned. In doing so, I have done what I believe to be right for my party and my country. The time has come for others to consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties with which I have myself wrestled for perhaps too long. View quote
Geoffrey Howe
I start with the measures which the Government announced last Thursday, and which are the immediate occasion of today's debate, and to which the right hon. Gentleman finally came round – a trifle nervously, I thought - after ploughing through that tedious and tendentious farrago of moth-eaten cuttings presented to him by the Conservative Research Department. I must say that part of his speech was rather like being savaged by a dead sheep. View quote
Geoffrey Howe