"This judgment I have of you," the Queen told her new first minister, "that you will not be corrupted by any manner of gift - and that, without respect of my private will, you will give me that counsel which you think best."

This is one of the few remarks added to the updated Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations that is free of sleaze, sycophancy, narcissism, malice, intrigue or pratfalls. The dictionary editors had to trawl back through 443 years of British politics to find and resurrect the quote as a text for today. It was said by Queen Elizabeth I when appointing William Cecil as her secretary of state in 1558.

By contrast, most political utterances from the 1990s onwards that the dictionary finds memorable are vitriolically lacking in idealism.

The first edition was published in 1996. Since then, the chief editor, Antony Jay, notes in his preface to the second edition to be published on Thursday: "Spin doctors have moved rapidly up the national agenda."

Quotes by or about Peter Mandelson stalk the volume despite his fall from power while the dictionary was going to press. "Control-freak Tony [Blair] doesn't let Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson go around saying anything they like," says Ken Follett, the novelist and former friend of the prime minister. "Peter isn't the Prince of Darkness - though he may be Lady Macbeth."

Simon Hoggart of the Guardian wins immortality for writing: "Peter Mandelson is someone who can skulk in broad daylight."

Matthew Parris of the Times is quoted for his verse: I'm back in charge - don't mess with me. My cheeks are drawn, my face is bony, The line I take comes straight from Tony.

Mr Mandelson himself is in for saying while minister for the dome: "I can have a big say because I am the owner, the sole shareholder. I don't get involved in half measures." He is additionally quoted for refusing, while in the same job, to be photographed holding a balloon at Disney World: "You'll say I'm in charge of a Mickey Mouse project."

He also features for remarking that "every politician is allowed the occasional gaffe, if only to remind the public that they are still human". This was in apology for having called the Guards brigades "chinless wonders" in March 2000.

Tony Blair's new entries include "She [Diana] was the People's Princess...", his protest "This is not a time for soundbites" during the Belfast peace process, and "We need two or three eye-catching initiatives ... I should be personally associated with as much of this as possible" from his leaked memo to his pollster, Philip Gould.

William Hague earns a place for his tribute to Jeffrey Archer at the 1999 Conservative party conference: "This is a candidate of probity and integrity - I am going to back him to the full." The former Labour leader Neil Kinnock gets in for his tribute to Mr Hague: "I have a lot of sympathy with him, I was once a young, bald leader of the opposition." So does the former Tory leader, Sir Edward Heath, for his reply when told by phone of Margaret Thatcher's downfall in 1990: "Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice."

A later entry is Sir Edward's puzzling remark last year about the 1950s Hollywood starlet Jayne Mansfield: "It was not totally inconceivable that she could have joined me as my wife at No 10."

The education secretary, David Blunkett, is included for his pledge in 1995 - "Let me say this very slowly indeed. Watch my lips: no selection by examination or interview under a Labour government" - and his retraction five years later: "I was parodying George Bush ... Watch my lips was a joke. If I were doing it again, I would say 'No more selection'."

George W Bush gets in for a quote three months before his election as US president: "It's no sign of weakness to talk to your dad."

They said it first

•"I have no intention of getting into a war of words with the Women's Institute" Alastair Campbell, after Tony Blair was heckled, June 2000

•"A hard dog to keep on the porch" Hillary Clinton on her husband, August 1999

•"It is becoming difficult to find anyone in the commission who has even the slightest sense of responsibility" Report on European Commission, the Guardian, March 1999

•"The millennium is going to present us with a very sharp portrait of ourselves: drinking is to continue all night and religious observance, as far as possible, is to be kept at bay" Bill Deedes, journalist and former Tory politician, August 1999

•"Under every stone lurks a politician" Aristophanes, Greek playwright, 400BC