Dennis Skinner

I never, ever romanticise life in the pit. It was a hard, dirty, noisy, tiring, dangerous job in a confined space, a…

— Dennis Skinner

Parties are organised happiness but happiness is accidental. You can't legislate for it.

— Dennis Skinner

I'm up at the crack of dawn.

— Dennis Skinner

I've never made a perfect speech or a perfect anything. I always think after, I should have done it that way or…

— Dennis Skinner

I've never done any cross-party stuff. I've no interest in sitting down discussing pensions or whatever with Tories.

— Dennis Skinner

Cameron called me a dinosaur you know? Well I'm the only dinosaur who can ride a bike 12 miles a day.

— Dennis Skinner

I didn't know when Parliament started to pay my wages.

— Dennis Skinner

I solemnly swear that I will bear true and faithful allegiance to the Queen when she pays her income tax

— Dennis Skinner

I still think carefully about what I'm going to say. I use me heart and head technique, in which the heart says,…

— Dennis Skinner

Isn't it essential in any prelude to a war to be sure of your allies and be sure of your objectives?

— Dennis Skinner

We dragged the National Health Service from the depths of degradation. I've got a United Nations heart bypass to prove it and…

— Dennis Skinner

There are only so many things you can do in life, and if you think I'm going to spend my waking hours…

— Dennis Skinner

I wouldn't take Father of the House even if I was offered it.

— Dennis Skinner

I was shaped by a pit environment and the Second World War. My playground was on the pit tip at Clay Cross…

— Dennis Skinner

I used to be very athletic when I was a young man.

— Dennis Skinner

I have bought my flat myself and never charged a penny of it to the taxpayers.

— Dennis Skinner

To be honest, it was slavery. Nobody should have any romantic ideas about working underground. It's very, very dangerous. You always knew…

— Dennis Skinner

I've never bothered about what people say about me.

— Dennis Skinner

I've never sent an email to anybody. I believe in keeping the postman in work.

— Dennis Skinner

If I'd not been a coal miner in the past, getting up very early, I wouldn't have been able to have done…

— Dennis Skinner

I was cycling until I was 68. I used to play football, cricket, tennis, table tennis. I was into road walking -…

— Dennis Skinner

Environment does shape you. My environment, in a pit family, in a pit village, with nine kids in total.

— Dennis Skinner

I have worked out that I am living in London on £27 a day while David Cameron is claiming a damn sight…

— Dennis Skinner

I remember arguing with kids on the street who were talking about Santa Claus. I said don't be so daft - Santa…

— Dennis Skinner

In the public sector, there are a million people in the health service. There ought to be a couple of dozen or…

— Dennis Skinner