11 of Baroness Trumpington’s best quotes
The former Conservative minister died at the age of 96 on Monday.
Baroness Trumpington, who was known as one of Parliament’s most colourful characters, has died at the age of 96. Here are some of her most memorable quotes.
On ageing: “You don’t give a damn about what you say. Other people’s opinions matter less — unless they’re medical.”
On amiably flicking two fingers at former Tory Defence Secretary, Lord King, in the House of Lords: “It was entirely between him and me — I thought. I wasn’t conscious of there being television cameras there. I did that to his face. His family say he is famous now.”
On growing old disgracefully: “At the age of 80, there are very few pleasures left to me, but one of them is passive smoking.”
On daring to contradict Margaret Thatcher: “I thought: if I’m not true to myself, I might as well not exist. Therefore, I’ll say what I think and if that’s wrong, she can sack me. We fought each other verbally and I would stick to my guns and she would provoke me on purpose, and that was useful to her. It meant she was ready for other opponents.”
On her suggestion to use sheep to detonate minefields on the Falklands: “My point was that you can put a sheep out of its misery and eat it. You can’t do that to a man.”
On where she learnt to swear: “I used to go into the woods with the local boys and smoke cigarettes.”
On feminism: “The problem is that strong feminists are apt to put people’s backs up by over-emphasis – just women, women, women, and you cannot have women without men. On the other hand it is very difficult to win a fight unless you exaggerate.”
After David Lloyd George creepily measured her, using a measuring tape, when she was a land girl: “Thank you very much.”
On why she disliked being a land girl: “All apples, no animals.”
