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About David: The Nice Things Others Say

These are some of the Nice Things Others have said about me - feel free to add to them!

'One of the best'
"David Maclean, the Tory Chief Whip, is one of the most honourable and respected men in politics. Because so little of their activity is publicised and they all work in such different circumstances, it is hard to evalute the comparative performances of Chief Whips. But it is widely agreed that Mr Maclean is one of the best since 1945. He is also enormously well liked, as one would expect of someone who is always such good company, and his popularity has been enhanced by the way in which he is dealing with multiple sclerosis. As he now needs a walking stick, he has chosen a cromach, or shepherd's crook, similar to the one carried by the colonels of Highland regiments. It is the right appertenance. This is a fighter, who greets adversity with dignity and courage".
Bruce Anderson, Independent - 13 October 2003

'Look outward!'
“Mr Duncan Smith has begun the task of redefining the work of opposition from knee-jerk hostility to everything that the Government does to one of holding it to account…It reinforces the point often made by the excellent chief whip, David Maclean, that MPs must constantly "look outward" beyond the confines of Westminster.”
Daily Telegraph leader - 22nd July 2002

That nice Chief Whip...
"That nice chief whip of the Tories was standing in for the shadowy fellow that does shadow Leader of the House. His name is David Maclean. He used Business Questions to lay out the charges against the Government. Peter Hain congratulated him on a better performance than the Leader of the Opposition's the day before..." (continued in 'The Not so Nice Things Others Say')
Simon Carr, 'The Sketch: If crime is down by a third, how can it still be rampant?' - 26 November 2004

Reassuringly normal?
“I was assured by one of his less old-school supporters that the new campaign manager, recently drafted in from the David Davis camp, was reassuringly normal. The evidence for this apparently was his penchant for wearing short-sleeved silk shirts.”
Jo-Anne Nadler, Too Nice to be a Tory

Fearsome
“Mr Maclean, 50, is said to have a 'fearsome' reputation which he gained serving in the Territorial Army from 1976-1979 as an officer in the 51st Highland Volunteers”.
Western Daily Press - 16 October 2003

Mr Attitude
“To a man like Maclean, former minister for criminal justice, bon viveur, disciplinarian, one time Territorial Army soldier, wearer of the tartan, attitude was not going to be a problem.”
Daily Telegraph - 24 January 2003

No fool!
“a genial, sparky, terrier-like Scotsman, and no fool”
Sunday Telegraph - 10th November 2002

Effective
“David Maclean is proving an effective new chief whip.”
Daily Telegraph - 2nd November 2001

Did Sade once make a song about David?
“Regarded as a shrewd operator”
Independent - 14th September 2001

Hot nuts
“David MacLean (C, Penrith and The Border) saw a problem in blanket legislation which, while effective on hotdog vendors, might inconvenience other mobile restaurateurs. "What advice does he give to the chestnut seller who finds that his hot brazier has been confiscated and then must find somewhere to put his hot nuts?"”
Times - 24th May 2000

Bearer of fruit
“the tactics of some backbenchers, led by the former ministers Eric Forth, MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, and David Maclean, MP for Penrith and The Border, in trying to wear down Labour MPs is bearing fruit.”
Times - 13th March 2000

Far right leftie
“What stunned this Islington man about the debates was that New Labour was attacked from the left by the far right of the Tory Party - and was proud of it. Scots may remember David Maclean, for example, a howling Thatcherite, whose several claims to notoriety included his remark that the beggars on the streets of London were all rich frauds from Scotland. Yet the member for Penrith and the Borders was good-hearted in comparison to the neighbours. He admitted that he didn't see that many refugees in the villages of the Solway Plain. But he was concerned because it seemed to him that "great hardship and injustice" was on the way.”
Herald - 3rd July 1999

Making mischief in cow costumes
“A mischievous David Maclean (C, Penrith & the Border) asked the Ministry of Agriculture to make a statement on the "time taken to obtain a bovine passport". The junior minister, Jeff Rooker, proudly boasted that 90 per cent of passports are sent out within three days. Mr Maclean has since suggested that the public in the queues outside Petty France dress up as cattle and that Mr Rooker be sent round to help out at the Home Office.”
Independent - 3rd July 1999

Parliamentarian of the countryside
“Country Life magazine awarded him the title of Parliamentarian of the Year. In the pro-hunting magazine, the Countryside Alliance organisation said: "The countryside and all those who support it owe David a great debt of gratitude."
11th December 1998

Non-careerist
“David Maclean has created consternation at Westminster. He has done the unthinkable. He has turned down a job in the Cabinet. We don't know exactly which job. It may have been Agriculture, which is a department where he did good work as a junior minister. Or it may have been the Duchy of Lancaster. What matters is that he has refused to follow the inexorable progression of an aspiring MP: PPS, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Minister of State, Cabinet Minister, as quickly as possible. Mr Maclean's remarkable argument was that he was perfectly happy in his job. He was, he told the Prime Minister, 'a round peg in a round hole', as number two to Michael Howard in the Home Office. This is astonishing. The idea that any minister should acquire expertise in a job and spend some years at his post becoming increasingly effective at what he does is at variance with the onwards-and-upwards nature of most political careers. At Agriculture, for instance, Mr Maclean would have followed a remarkable turnover of ministers in short order - William Waldegrave, Gillian Shephard and John Gummer. Each minister takes a good year or two to settle into the job, and then, once he becomes thoroughly familiar with the arguments, he is moved on. Mr Maclean has bucked the trend. He has a challenging job with his responsibility for that fraught matter for any Tory, law and order. Mr Howard is lucky to have him.”
Evening Standard Leader - 7th July 1995

Impressive, but...
“an impressive performer" (continued in the Not So Nice Things They Say About David)
Matthew Parris, The Times

New Conservative
“very much one of the new Conservatives: sharp, tough-minded, not just hard-working but manifestly energetic”
Geoffrey Smith, The Times

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