Politics & Power Quote by Chris Patten

Patten’s line performs a balancing act that seasoned politicians rarely admit out loud: it sells politics as moral theater while quietly conceding the backstage deal-making that keeps the show running. “Principle and values above all” is the aspirational clause, pitched to voters who want their leaders to sound like custodians of something sturdier than polling. Then comes the pressure valve: “Of course” - a little verbal shrug that treats compromise not as betrayal but as weather. The phrase “make accommodations” is doing heavy lifting; it’s softer than “concede,” less grubby than “horse-trade,” and it frames compromise as pragmatism rather than surrender.

The specific intent is twofold. First, Patten signals to the public that he recognizes the hunger for integrity in politics, especially in systems where cynicism is the default setting. Second, he reassures insiders that he understands how power actually works: you can’t govern on purity alone. That subtext matters because it positions him as a “serious” actor - principled enough to be trusted, flexible enough to be effective.

Contextually, Patten’s career sits at the intersection of high-minded institutional rhetoric and messy realities: a Conservative modernizer, a European commissioner, and the last governor of Hong Kong, where the clash between democratic ideals and geopolitical constraints was not theoretical. Read through that lens, the quote isn’t a platitude; it’s an argument for legitimacy. Values are the brand, accommodations are the operating system.