- [There is a lot of booing from the audience]
- Paul Merton: Did you hear that booing?
- Linda Smith: Yes.
- Paul Merton: [to William] Did it register with your brain, that booing?
- William Hague: I was Leader of the Tory party long enough to learn how to ignore booing.
- Paul Merton: You weren't very popular then? Why do you think that was?
- William Hague: Just because I tell jokes doesn't mean you should have political opinions.
- William Hague: My name is William Hague, and in taking on this job, I'll be laying myself open to a barrage of disrespectful remarks and critical sniping from all sides, designed to undermine my position. Nothing new in that, really.