Quotes from Ken Livingstone

The whole culture of my background was deeply Conservative.

I mean I get loads of money, all from different sources. You give it to your accountant. They manage it. But you pay corporation tax. If you're then taking it out and spending it on yourself, you have to pay more.

I employed my wife for three years to sit in the attic and type up my autobiography, 700 pages, organise everywhere I go. I'm paying the normal rate of tax on the money I take out for myself.

Short of being prime minister there isn't a better job in British politics than running London.

I can't understand why anyone would want to live the life of a politician if you can't say pretty much what you think. You are not in it for the money: there's unremitting pressure on your life, you give up so much of your privacy. It can only be because of the things you want to do and the things you want to say.

I'm an emotional person; I do occasionally shed a tear.

World wide capitalism kills more people everyday then Hitler did. And he was crazy.

To tackle climate change you don't have to reduce your quality of life, but you do have to change the way you live

When I'm sifting the compost seed or pruning, I argue over issues in my head; I talk to myself.

Anybody who enjoys being in the House of Commons probably needs psychiatric help.

Most people are not shocked that I am occasionally rude to journalists. They are probably amazed I don't punch one in the face.

Thatcher was prepared to destroy the world rather than give in on something she believed in.

I would like to sound like James Mason. I reckon if I'd had a better voice I could have been prime minister. It is the most irritating voice in public life.

I can easily lose myself emotionally in absolute Hollywood garbage.

I do the gardening.

I go all around London advocating lesbian and gay rights.

I came into politics because I wished to change things. You can't do that by lying to people; you have to educate, and persuade, and carry them with you - and it's often a long haul.

Consultation is a good thing when people agree with you, and a waste of time when people don't agree with you

I never came into life with any favours or privileges.

I have only ever borrowed money for investment. I have been sound money all my life.

Politics is not a healthy lifestyle.

I've always been a workaholic. I reckon, on average, I've had less than one day a year off in my working career.

I would like all newspapers to become workers' co-operatives.

The market is a brilliant system for the exchange of goods and services, but it doesn't protect the environment unless it's regulated, it doesn't train your workforce unless it's regulated, and it doesn't give you the long-term investment you want.