Quotes from Andrew Neil

On the far left, just as there is on the far right there is a dislike of Israel, not just a dislike, a hatred of Israel.

If the traditional British elite had made a great success of running my country, as successful, say, as the elites of Germany, Japan and America, then maybe it would be a club worth joining.

I would not rule out Rupert Murdoch once again having control of 'Sky News.'

When I was at Paisley Grammar we were equipped to compete with the private-school kids - and encouraged to do so. The sky was the limit, provided we had ability, ambition and a capacity for hard work.

Well, we all make mistakes, and I've made some; getting involved in a price-cutting campaign in Scotland when the biggest slump in advertising history was just around the corner was a mistake.

Class and the snobbery it provokes still matter far too much in Britain, but we are a far more mobile society than we used to be.

I am a better journalist than I am a businessman.

Most children of the underclass are born out of wedlock; relationships are fleeting and unstable (which ensures that what is born into the underclass stays in the underclass). This is a world in which there are almost no worthwhile male role models, which is a disaster when boys turn to youths.

Journalists always want publishers or editors to leave. They're creative troublemakers - that's why you hire them.

My mentor is Alastair Burnet, the greatest news anchor Britain has had.

When one English person speaks, another one immediately classifies him. No class system in the world is so audible, which is also why it is so pernicious and enduring.

The Spectator' has to be managed and people have to report. We all have bosses in this world and that's true of 'The Spectator' too.

Sometimes, I think 'The Spectator' is calculated to embarrass me.

Muslims are not our enemy.

You know, Rupert Murdoch I've said is like an Italian when it comes to negotiations.

Look, I don't want to edit the 'Scotsman.' I have too many other things going on. I have four newspapers to run and two dot com companies going gangbusters.

Newspapers are what matter in this country, not magazines.

Americans have this patrician attitude that they have a God-given right to produce these boring newspapers and not be challenged to do it. 'The New York Times' really thinks it's the BBC.

I'm proud to have played a major part in destroying Fleet Street, a corrupt cartel of unions and proprietors that operated against the public interest.

No-one in their right mind would buy the 'New Statesman' and change it from being a left-wing to a right-wing magazine.

As one of the grammar-school generation, I grew up as part of a postwar meritocracy that steadily infiltrated the citadels of power.

No, you see, unlike some interviewers, I love politics... overall I am not anti-politicians at all. I recognise they are more important than me.

In the highly unlikely event that the 'Telegraph' was to be sold again, then 'The Spectator' doesn't go with it.

The old Establishment has always preserved its position by not being too exclusive - it has been wily enough to absorb the up-and-coming and convert them to their attitudes and mannerisms.