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Craig Murray

34 quotes

“Uzbekistan is not a functioning democracy, nor does it appear to be moving in the direction of democracy. The major political parties are banned; Parliament is not subject to democratic election and checks and balances on the authority of the electorate are lacking. There is worse: we believe there to be between 7,000 and 10,000 people in detention whom we would consider as political and/or religious prisoners. In many cases they have been falsely convicted of crimes with which there appears to be no credible evidence they had any connection.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is worse: we believe there to be between 7,000 and 10,000 people in detention whom we would consider as political and/or religious prisoners. In many cases they have been falsely convicted of crimes with which there appears to be no credible evidence they had any connection.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech delivered at Freedom House, Uzbekistan on 17 October 2002, cited by David Stern "British Envoy's Speech Reverberates Reverberates in Uzbekistan" Eurasianet.org (14 January 2003).
“I'm an Anglo really, born in England, like Sandy Lyle and Rod Stewart [...] but my father came from this huge Edinburgh family. He was in the forces and was posted down to Norfolk, which is where he met my mum. I grew up down in Norfolk, but I went back up to - and always spent a lot of time in - Scotland.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[On his posting to Tashkent in Uzbekistan] Unless you've lived in a totalitarian state, it comes as a hell of a shock to see the sheer weight of the police presence. There are four policemen on every bloody street corner. There's 40,000 armed policemen in Tashkent city. There are about the same number of plain-clothes officers from the security services too. Effectively the leadership that was there when the Soviet Union existed is still in charge. They've replaced communist ideology with nationalist ideology whilst maintaining the same power structures.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sex. Scandal. Human rights abuse and a touring folk band", The Herald (Glasgow, 19 March 2005)
“One of our slogans has been "British Bulldog, not Bush's Poodle", which has the advantage of confusing people entirely about the political direction we are coming from. This at least gets them to open the leaflet and read more. It was devised by Edward, who used to work for Saatchi and Saatchi. He claims it appeals to both left and right. It could, of course, alienate both instead. I suppose we'll soon know.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So how will we do? Well, surprisingly well. There is real anger at the war. People don't like liars. And Straw is plainly very worried. Unlike previous elections, he has not been out to marginals to support other candidates. Rather Gordon Brown, Robin Cook and even the Iraqi deputy prime minister have been here to bolster him. Neither the Lib Dems nor the Tories see this as winnable; they have not brought in a single big hitter. Of whom is he scared? Me.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our man in Blackburn" The Guardian (5 May 2005).
“Her body invited sex while her eyes screamed, 'Save me.'”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Murder in Samarkand (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 2006 [2007]), p. 164
“The Paston was an old-fashioned grammar [school] that was trying its best to be an independent school [...] It felt as if the teachers were still fighting the second world war, and once a week we were all made to dress up in military uniform and become cadets. Either I skipped school or refused to take part, so I was frequently suspended.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Extract from a blog entry] I am standing to give the voters a chance to reject all the political parties and put an honest man into parliament. I will not put my snout in the trough. I have proved I am not motivated by money by giving up an extremely lucrative career as ambassador on principle, in opposition to our complicity in torture.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Blackburn was a very difficult place to campaign – 37% of votes were cast by postal ballot. It's a rotten borough and I don't come from the area and yet I secured 5% of the vote – which was second or third highest for an independent in the election”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As cited in "Former ambassador Craig Murray to stand in North Norwich byelection" The Guardian (9 June 2009).
“[Those who voted "no" in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum are] either evil, or quite extraordinarily thick.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As cited in "Ex-ambassador Craig Murray to be SNP candidate", The Scotsman (10 December 2014)
“I said this in my talk to Edinburgh SNP club on March 6 and repeated it on this blog last week. There is something delightfully old-fashioned about MI5. Is spraying Q for quisling not rather an obscure reference to today's generation?”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a blog entry cited in "Swastika daubed on Tory office", The Times (12 April 2015)
“While I am struggling to see a Russian motive for damaging its own international reputation so grievously, Israel has a clear motivation for damaging the Russian reputation.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a blog entry (March 2018), as cited in "Israel conspiracy peddler Craig Murray to address SNP activists", The Times (21 January 2020)
“The only possible explanations are: 1. One of the two is travelling faster than Usain Bolt can sprint. 2. Scotland Yard has issued doctored CCTV images/timeline. I am going with the Met issuing doctored images.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a blog posting (March 2018), as cited in "Kremlin dismisses photos of Salisbury suspects as fake news", The Times (6 September 2018)
“Remarkable correlation between Labour MPs who attacked Corbyn in EDM wanting no investigation into Salisbury before firmly attributing blame, and parliamentary Labour friends of Israel, I wonder why?”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A conspiracy to attack the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, perhaps. If you think I was accusing them of being part of a conspiracy to kill Skripal, you are daft.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweets (March 2018) cited in "How conspiracy theories about the Salisbury attack tap into antisemitic tropes", New Statesman (23 March 2018).
“Russia has developed an astonishing new technology enabling its secret agents to occupy precisely the same space at precisely the same time.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Blog entry cited at "Russia is spreading discredited theories about the Salisbury attack", Channel 4 Factcheck (7 September 2018).
“The problem with the world is there are conspiracies [...] The idea that they don't happen is ridiculous. As an ambassador I have seen the establishment from the inside, the workings of GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 with millions in their budgets — what kind of things do you think they are doing? The hands of the British state are all over this. The roots of it were a political conspiracy against Alex Salmond, to destroy both his reputation and career, and why, because he was a threat to the British state, one of the biggest threats in 300 years who had taken the country to the brink of independence.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Salmond blogger's jail sentence 'is too severe'", The Times (1 August 2021)
“I have obtained access to all of Stewart McDonald's emails, after approaching a number of people to find out who might have them. I had no hand in obtaining the emails nor prior knowledge. I am grateful they have been so generously shared.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Blog posting (10 February 2023), as cited in "Former diplomat claims to have SNP MP's hacked emails", BBC News (10 February 2023)
“I want to reassure Mr McDonald that his hysterical ranting about being hacked by a state intelligence service, when he appears by his own account to have fallen for a phishing scam the average 12-year-old would see through, is hilariously wide of the mark.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The emails indicate] the toxic relationships within the SNP group at Westminster, where McDonald regards himself as in a very small minority of Sturgeon loyalists.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Blog posting cited in "Craig Murray to publish Stewart McDonald's emails after phishing scam", The National (Glasgow, 10 February 2023)
“I am now happily in the Outer Hebrides. This makes it much harder to send the police to intimidate me because a) they will have to find me b) I shall be too drunk to notice.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Twitter (12 February 2023), as cited in "Craig Murray moves location amid row over Stewart McDonald's emails", The National (Glasgow, 13 February 2023)
“This morning, lawyers are acting on my request to prepare a counsel's opinion on the legality of publishing those of Stewart MacDonald's emails which are in the public interest to be revealed. This may take a day or two.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Twitter (13 February 2023), as cited in "Craig Murray moves location amid row over Stewart McDonald's emails", The National (Glasgow, 13 February 2023)
“I came back from Reykjavik on Monday morning [16 October] and I was detained at Glasgow Airport by the police after I came through passport control. They took me into a wee room and they said that I was detained under the Terrorism Act, which was an extraordinary thing.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In reply, I said to them, "When you’re speaking at a big demonstration, like a Stop the War demonstration, it's impossible to know who the others are and often these things go on for hours and personally I don't ever tend to stay around much, I just tend to make my speech and leave." But if they're people I know, like the Palestine Solidarity Campaign or Stop the War, then I trust them as a sensible organisation in terms of who they invite.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The whole thing's extraordinary, I don't think anybody can seriously believe I have any connection to terrorism of any kind.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Craig Murray: I was detained under terror laws after Palestine protest", The National (Glasgow, 18 October 2023).
“This is an enormous abuse of human rights. The abuse of process in refusing both a lawyer and the right to remain silent, the inquiry into perfectly legal campaigning which is in no way terrorism-associated, the political questioning, the financial snooping and the seizure of material related to my private life, were all based on an utterly fake claim that I am associated with terrorism.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a blog posting (24 October 2023) on his earlier detainment (see above), as cited in Charlotte Alt "Craig Murray's phone seized at airport under terrorism law", The Times (26 October 2023).
“I didn't really volunteer to fight the British police state, it came after me. But here we are, and here I am, in Switzerland seeking the protection of the United Nations.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My experience of British airports being discouraging recently, I went by public transport from Edinburgh to Belfast. Arriving very late in Belfast due to the storm, I missed the last train to Dublin. Not wanting to stay in Belfast, I flagged down a taxi in the street and asked the driver to take me to Dublin. He did not wish to, so late at night. Then we realised we had worked in the same bar in Aviemore 45 years ago. I have always believed life is governed by forces we do not know.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a blog posting, as cited in "Craig Murray 'seeking protection of UN in Switzerland'", The National (Glasgow, 27 October 2023)
“In the immediate term to avoid any repeat of tanks in George Square, military establishments containing troops not loyal to Scotland should be subject to peaceful and friendly civilian blockade, not allowing armed forces to leave base with their weapons.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ultimately Scotland will take its independence – preferably with London's cooperation, but if necessary without it. Let me put it this way. If, in the end game, you are not prepared to stand unarmed in front of a British army tank to achieve independence, you are not actually a supporter of Scottish independence at all.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a blog entry, as cited in "Craig Murray unveils Scottish independence plan – that could trigger war", The National (Glasgow, 31 July 2026).
“The next morning brings good news. The two shops I specified are both available. They both belong to the local brewer, Thwaites. The one I choose has two pubs to its immediate right and one to its left. Only one of them is a going concern. This is one of Blackburn's most striking features. It has an astonishing number of ex-pubs. Some have been converted to other uses, but many more are derelict. I wonder why there were so many and what factors caused this cull. Something else I have yet to learn. I return to London to find messages waiting from Martin Bell and Brian Eno; both want to help my campaign. Then I receive news from the estate agent. Thwaites has decided it will not let me rent any of its property in Blackburn. Its directors feel it would not be in the company's interests to allow its premises to be used to campaign against Jack Straw.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our man in Blackburn" The Guardian (17 March 2005)
“[As the British Ambassador in Uzbekistan.] At the same time that I was receiving word from Uzbek citizens about the gruesome affronts to their humanity, I was also getting CIA intelligence on Uzbekistan, under the U.S.-U.K. intelligence-sharing agreement. This information — fed to the CIA by Karimov's security services — revealed the same pattern of information as those forced confessions. And it was a pattern that was false, often demonstrably so. One piece of CIA intelligence named a Muslim terrorism suspect with alleged links to al-Qaeda, except I happened to know that the person in question was a Jehovah's Witness, not a Sunni Muslim extremist. Another gave a specific location for a terrorist training camp in the hills above Samarkand, a spot I knew was empty. The CIA was apparently well aware that it was getting material drawn from torture. At my request, my deputy confirmed this with the U.S. Embassy. She reported back to me that she had been told that the United States did not see a problem "in the context of the war on terror." (I immediately reported this back to Britain in a top-secret telegram.) And both the CIA and the British intelligence service, MI6, were accepting and using this intelligence in their assessments, despite its highly questionable validity.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Her Majesty's Man in Tashkent" The Washington Post (3 September 2006)
“[On his early diplomatic career.] You have to realise I never set out to be a hero [...] I was never a great campaigner for human rights. In many ways, I'd always been just as compromised as any other diplomat. When I was working on the South African desk of the London office I had had to send out letters saying we believed that the African National Congress was a terrorist organisation. I didn't think that for a second and nor did anyone else I was working with, but we did it because it was the price of an impartial, depoliticised civil service. The closest I had ever got to any form of stand was by refusing to implement a government directive to persuade the Poles to reduce the size of the health warnings on cigarette packets to conform with EU law.”
Craig Murray (born 1958) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cited by John Crace "Craig Murray: Our man in Dundee" The Guardian (13 February 2007).