Tag Archives: Jonathan Powell

It was the rootlessness that went with being the son of an RAF officer that shaped me. I had been to 11 schools by the time I was 9. Jonathan Powell

Since the beginning of time, we have expected our leaders to be supermen, unlike mere mortals. We want them to be much greater than us so that we can look up to them. Jonathan Powell

I started off in radio, then made little films for Granada. I applied for a job at 'Weekend World,' and they turned me down; I'd also applied to the Foreign Office, which accepted me. Jonathan Powell

I'd love to have a proper sailing boat and go around the world. Jonathan Powell

Maybe strong leaders are not quite as alluring as we think, and we should celebrate the fact that our leaders are just like us. Just because one candidate can't remember his whole speech and the other likes to put his feet up on the job doesn't mean they can't govern. Jonathan Powell

I'm a solid Labour party supporter. I aspired to be a Labour MP, but it's difficult to make the leap from the Foreign Office. Jonathan Powell

All the things I've done are about duty and guilt: trying to do your best to better other people's lives. Jonathan Powell

I'm of the establishment but anti-establishment. Jonathan Powell

9/11 changed America fundamentally, far more so than outsiders realised at the time. For Americans, it genuinely was a new Pearl Harbour: an attack on the homeland that made them feel vulnerable for the first time in 60 years. Jonathan Powell

Every time we meet a new terrorist group, we argue they are utterly different and we can learn nothing from the last time. Of course they are different, but some lessons on how we deal with them seem to apply in all cases. Jonathan Powell