In Opposition
After the defeat of the Conservatives, William Hague made her Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, and then Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. She returned to the backbenches in 1999, and stepped down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election. Her memoirs Shephard's Watch: Illusions of Power in British Politics were published in 2000.
Read more about this topic: Gillian Shephard
Famous quotes containing the word opposition:
“The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“I fear the popular notion of success stands in direct opposition in all points to the real and wholesome success. One adores public opinion, the other, private opinion; one, fame, the other, desert; one, feats, the other, humility; one, lucre, the other, love; one, monopoly, and the other, hospitality of mind.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)