Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis Quotes

The only way Brexit might have worked without an economic collapse is the Norway model of close integration with the structure of the European customs union and single market without being part of the formal E.U. institutions.

The individuals who intervened in my life, transformed it, didn’t do so in a vacuum. One was a manager of a children’s home, a whole string of them were teachers. What they had in common was that they worked in successful institutions.

Bruce Liddington, who has died aged 70, was the most exotic creature in the Department for Education in the 2000s. In a land of fairly staid civil servants, Bruce had flair and the panache of a brilliant parakeet.

Our European neighbours in France have invested in their infrastructure early and are now reaping the rewards later. This is because wherever high-speed rail has been built between the major cities and economic centres of a country – as in HS2 – it has exceeded demand forecasts.

In Germany, apprentices undergo a final examination in the vocational school and an oral examination and practical test in the workplace. The same should happen in Britain.

Nobody knows the tragedy of a small island divided against itself better than a Cypriot.

I have been called many things in public life, but the cap that best fits is that of the centrist dad.

I have to confess, street politics are not my usual style.

The people should make the final decision on Brexit when they see the government’s Brexit deal.

For decades, British governments – including the Blair-Brown government in which I was an education minister – have done a good job of enhancing higher education but paid too little attention to apprenticeships and technical education.

Labour is the party of the NHS and the environment and fighting for better workplace and civic rights for working men and women.

Brexit is not, thankfully, a question of war. But, like Iraq, Brexit is an act of unprovoked self-harm and a massive strategic mistake that threatens Britain’s credibility and authority in the world.

I’m clear that new schools should only go in areas where there is a need for places. I’m equally clear that we need those schools to have the governance and the leadership to succeed.

Education for all up to 18, and lifelong learning beyond. That is a vision true to Ruskin – the man, the college, and the speech.

School standards need to rise a lot further if the full potential of all our young people, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, is to be realised: there is no room for complacency.

I’ve always believed in one nation even when it wasn’t entirely fashionable inside the Labour party… and I believe one nation means building a really solid alliance between the classes.

Virtually no other state concentrates as much political, economic and cultural power in its capital city. Even Paris is less economically dominant than London and its hinterland.

Theresa May has much to answer for, but it is not her fault that she couldn’t square the circle of the Brexiteers’ lies: nobody could.

Apprenticeships must be more than a re-branding of in-work training if they are going to have a substantive impact on the future economy and the life chances of our young people.

Yes, I have found many people who voted for Brexit and believe it will answer their problems. But they mostly realise that Europe isn’t the problem, however much the E.U. could be improved.

Theresa May is singularly unsuited for high office and lacks political talent.

Night buses serve not only the leisure economy- pubs, bars, clubs, theatres and concerts- but also hundreds of thousands of night workers.

You should be completely honest and open in public about who you are.

Brexit has always been an impossible project, except at the price of massive self-harm.

I was warned by the private sector that we would fail and would fail badly. ‘The state can’t run a railway,’ I was told. Well, they were wrong.

Multinational companies exploit national differences to abuse their workers, to dodge their taxes and to ‘regulation shop’ as a means to avoid meeting their responsibilities.

The reason why I’m so passionate about turning around failing schools is that children who have the misfortune to go to unsucccessful institutions are far less likely to come across the individuals who can transform their lives.

Nothing is clear cut in the debate surrounding high-speed rail, but from its successes elsewhere we can be confident that it pays a great dividend to the society it serves.

The SDP’s founder, Roy Jenkins, was my hero and later mentor.

The partial exception to our London-centric state institutions is the monarchy, which has always had peripatetic tendencies.

In the hands of great school leaders, Teach First can make a spectacular difference.

London’s night economy is huge and it couldn’t function without London’s night buses.

I’m never drunk. I do drink but never more than a glass or two of wine a day if that.

Good government has essentially broken down in the face of Brexit.

I am an electoral reformer and an ex-Lib Dem.

All partners in the workplaces have a key role to play in training a workforce fit for the future.

It is important to understand that the WTO, like the United Nations, is a weak international agency which depends upon financing and support from its largest members.

In the end, pragmatism requires a workable compromise. But none exists on Brexit.

No matter the evidence or the experience, the Conservative party has been allergic to direct state involvement in running our railways.

By neglecting education, the 1974 Labour government failed as surely as on the picket lines of Grunwick.

In the hundreds of hours spent in Parliament debating Brexit, I constantly think of how we could have spent our time better.

Global warming – utterly disinterested in our political paralysis – worsens at a terrifying pace.

International examples prove that high-speed rail pays for itself.

Systematic social and environmental deregulation, and the economics of austerity while enriching the rich, will be the markers of Farage/Tory politics after Brexit. Singapore-on-Sea for the rich; degradation for the rest.

Universities should be supporting Teach First, actively promoting it among their students and financially supporting them to join the scheme, using a small fraction of their income from higher fees for this purpose.

Having achieved something so special as peace, it is criminal to throw it away on a whim.

What most teachers need is very strong leadership and motivation, and when it comes to recruiting teachers you want to have the biggest possible pool possible.

I have three children. A son, a daughter, and HS2.

What we need is fundamental reform to address the deep social and economic problems that are gripping people and communities nationwide, particularly the least advantaged.

Teach First is uniquely placed to help universities broaden the social background of their student intake.

The Conservatives have been unusually badly led by David Cameron and Theresa May.

From the ruins of the second world war, Labour rebuilt Britain and set it on course for European co-operation and membership of the E.U.

Teachers need to have the capacity to spot those that are struggling early on and intervene.

England is so dominant within the U.K. that separate English and U.K. parliaments and governments are a recipe for weakness and instability.

What is clear to me is that social media is a skill and you have to keep working at it. But it hasn’t taken over my life. I think I use it, it doesn’t use me.

Brexit is a cliff, not a gradient. The mistake we are in danger of making is to believe that some Brexits are better than others when the fundamental problem is Brexit itself.

When I was a minister I only went on about things I was going to make happen. I very rarely talked about things I wasn’t.

I don’t answer deeply hypothetical questions.

Developing survival skills in life is incredibly important and I was very lucky that I developed them at a very young age.

I’m prepared to argue with some of my Labour colleagues about doing what it takes to see that every school has the governance needed to succeed.

It is simply not possible to achieve the ‘freedom’ from E.U. economic institutions that Brexiters want without undermining Britain’s economy and security.

Tests account for only a couple of hours within the six years of a child’s primary education, but parents expect to know how their children are doing and the government has a responsibility to monitor and control standards.

As a Londoner who delights in the capital’s dynamism and diversity, I none the less agree with Ken Livingstone that London hosts too great a share of our national institutions. Where sensible, more should be located in other cities, particularly new or reformed institutions that involve new facilities.

It is a vital British and European interest to demonstrate to Putin that Trump is on our side, not his.

It is clear to me that when London has expanded successfully in the past, there has always been a plan.

When a small number of companies control both the generation and the supply of energy, it’s difficult for new players to enter the market.

There are issues that shape every generation and define every age. Climate change is just such an issue and our political generation has got to deal with it.