Iain Duncan Smith

Quotations

  • “What we want to do is reform the welfare system in the way that Tony Blair talked about 13 years ago but never achieved – a system that was created for the days after the Second World War. That prize is now I think achievable.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “Kids are meant to believe that their stepping stone to massive money is ‘The X Factor.’ Luck is great, but most of life is hard work. We do not celebrate people who have made success out of serious hard work.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “We have to challenge the whole idea that it’s acceptable for a society like Britain to have such a significant number of people who do not work one day of the week and don’t have any possibility of improving the quality of their lives.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “I am an optimist about the UK. We have been involved in trade with our European partners, which we will always be doing whatever this relationship is. We are a member of the EU. That gives us benefits. But we have to figure out where that is going. In the world, we are a global…

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  • “When families are strong and stable, so are children – showing higher levels of wellbeing and more positive outcomes. But when things go wrong – either through family breakdown or a damaged parental relationship – the impact on a child’s later life can be devastating.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “No one out there is interested in who did what to whom in Westminster politics.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “It’s fairness to say those who work hard, get up in the morning, cut their cloth – in other words ‘we can only afford to have one or two children because we don’t earn enough’. They pay their taxes and they want to know that the same kind of decision-making is taking place for those…

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  • “Kids are meant to believe that their stepping stone to massive money is ‘The X Factor.’ Luck is great, but most of life is hard work. We do not celebrate people who have made success out of serious hard work.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “Over the years the political establishment has frowned if a mainstream politician mentions marriage.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “Well football teams are perhaps easier to control than political parties, I’m sure the Prime Minister would agree with me, but yeah I think every team needs discipline and a sense of self-belief and that’s important, that’s what leadership’s all about.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “By measuring the proportion of children living with the same parents from birth and whether their parents report a good quality relationship we are driving home the message that social programmes should promote family stability and avert breakdown.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “For families across the UK who are income-poor, but more than that, whose lives are blighted by worklessness, educational failure, family breakdown, problem debt and poor health, as well as other problems, giving them an extra pound – say through increased benefits – will not address the reason they find themselves in difficulty in the…

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  • “When the news is good, the BBC view is: ‘Get the government out of the picture quickly, don’t allow them to say anything about it.’ When the news is bad: ‘Let’s all dump on the government.’” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “The future of Conservatism lies in our beliefs and values, not by throwing them away. We need to shed associations that bind us to past failures, but hold faith with those things that make us Conservatives.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “Getting a family into work, supporting strong relationships, getting parents off drugs and out of debt – all this can do more for a child’s well-being than any amount of money in out-of-work benefits.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “The future of Conservatism lies in our beliefs and values, not by throwing them away. We need to shed associations that bind us to past failures, but hold faith with those things that make us Conservatives.” -Iain Duncan Smith

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  • “For families across the UK who are income-poor, but more than that, whose lives are blighted by worklessness, educational failure, family breakdown, problem debt and poor health, as well as other problems, giving them an extra pound – say through increased benefits – will not address the reason they find themselves in difficulty in the…

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  • Work is transformative. It gives you a greater chance of a greater income. You can affect your life while you’re of working age, so you have scope and opportunity. Pensioners do not. – Iain Duncan Smith

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