These [poems] are not shockingly untrue to what he has become… They are an indication of what he almost always was…. He was a dilettante in terms of poetry and he was a dilettante in terms of politics. He had a talent for it… but the whole thing turned out to be harder than he thought. – Geoff Page

Of course, we all do… and say silly things in our youth and at university. But few of us do it with such aplomb. The fact that he was so skilful at writing something so… odious, you know, does tend to go to the character of him… He really is quite good at finding a populous voice. – Matthew Karpin