The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs: An Oral History of Parliament 9781350089266, 9781350089297, 9781350089273

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyrights
Content
Foreword Gordon Marsden
Foreword Donald A. Ritchie
Acknowledgements
Note on the text
Introduction
Part I Background
1 Discussions around the dining table: Politics at home
2 Developing as a politician: Schooldays, university and professional life before Parliament
Part II Politics before Westminster
3 Joining the party: Getting involved in politics
4 Finding a seat: Selection process
5 Vote for me: Elections post-Second World War
Part III House of Commons
6 Welcome to the House: First impressions,atmosphere and the daily life in Westminster
7 Parliamentary business: The Chamber, committee work and procedure
8 Gender matters: Women in Parliament
Part IV Politics
9 Party splits and furious whips: Party discipline and internal politics
10 Making laws: Key legislation and memorable events
11 The Troubles,war,Europe and international affairs
12 Back home: Local politics in the constituencies
Part V Reflections
13 Ups and downs: Great achievements and few regrets as an MP
14 Happy families: Managing personal life and politics
15 Time to say goodbye: Last days in the Commons
Conclusion
Notes
Glossary of MPs
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs An Oral History of Parliament Emma Peplow and Priscila Pivatto

BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2020 This paperback edition published in 2022 Copyright © Emma Peplow and Priscila Pivatto, 2020 Emma Peplow and Priscila Pivatto have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work. For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. ix constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover image: The Other Picture. A scene from the House of Commons in 1987. (© Andrew T. Festing / Parliamentary Copyright) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permissions for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020940977 ISBN: HB: 978-1-3500-8926-6 PB: 978-1-3502-0169-9 ePDF: 978-1-3500-8927-3 eBook: 978-1-3500-8928-0 Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

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Contents Foreword Gordon Marsden Foreword Donald A. Ritchie Acknowledgements Note on the text Introduction

vii viii ix x 1

Part I Background 1 Discussions around the dining table: Politics at home 2 Developing as a politician: Schooldays, university and professional life before Parliament

13 24

Part II Politics before Westminster 3 Joining the party: Getting involved in politics 4 Finding a seat: Selection process 5 Vote for me: Elections post-Second World War

39 52 65

Part III House of Commons 6 Welcome to the House: First impressions, atmosphere and the daily life in Westminster 7 Parliamentary business: The Chamber, committee work and procedure 8 Gender matters: Women in Parliament

81 94 105

Part IV Politics 9 10 11 12

Party splits and furious whips: Party discipline and internal politics Making laws: Key legislation and memorable events The Troubles, war, Europe and international affairs Back home: Local politics in the constituencies

121 136 149 164

vi

Contents

Part V Reflections 13 Ups and downs: Great achievements and few regrets as an MP 14 Happy families: Managing personal life and politics 15 Time to say goodbye: Last days in the Commons

179

Conclusion

213

Notes Glossary of MPs Bibliography Index

217

190 202

239 250 252

Foreword There is an aptness and piquancy, but also a degree of poignancy, about the timing and appearance of this book. Its authors and our colleagues at the History of Parliament Trust, Emma Peplow and Priscila Pivatto, have laboured long and hard in the vineyards of oral history. The project that has produced this very fruitful offshoot – a substantial point of entry into the politics, lives and culture of British MPs since the Second World War – was begun in 2011, just after the financial aftershocks of 2008 and the MPs’ expenses controversy opened up big questions as to how Parliament should operate in the twenty-first century. This book has been completed at a time when the dramas and possible denouements of Brexit and minority government have thrust the workings of that Westminster world and the significance of individual MPs or groups of MPs into unprecedented public scrutiny. Those eight years since our Oral History project began – a major undertaking still in progress, made up of nearly a double century of MP interviewees and described with commendable lucidity by the authors in their introduction – are also years in which the Trust has worked vigorously to broaden its reach and relevance to wider audiences. This book – along with activities which have used oral history to further that aim – is another contribution to that process. But its authors are right to remind us that the spur for this Oral History project, and arguably for the creation of the History of Parliament Trust itself, came from the extraordinary and, perhaps to some in a more buttoned up age, impudent questionnaire the Trust’s founder Josiah Wedgwood MP circulated to his colleagues in the 1930s, seeking their likes, opinions and other thoughts on what moved them. Today’s digital world of social media where not just MPs but vast swathes of opinion makers open up on things (with variable results) at the drop of a hat is an eon away from that. The methodology revealed in this book is measured and thoughtful but not stuffy. The interviewees are not before a judge and jury but given a platform that, as the authors say, ‘allows us to hear how these politicians view their own careers through, in some cases, deep personal reflection’. That iterative process depends for success on skilful and painstaking work by the interviewers which is built up through multiple sessions with their subjects. This knowledgeable group are volunteers, trained by ourselves and the British Library. The Library’s partnership in this venture has been vital and hugely valuable in a project covering ‘all sorts and conditions’ of MPs done with limited resources. The sound archive created is a unique contribution to post-war British history and those who have conducted the interviews the unsung heroes of it. Gordon Marsden (MP for Blackpool South 1997–2019) Chair of Trustees 2016–19, History of Parliament Trust

Foreword At an international oral history conference held at Oxford in 1987, a participant commented that in Great Britain a fisherman was more likely to be asked to do an oral history than a Member of Parliament. At the time, this was both an accurate and justifiable assessment, reflecting oral historians’ intention to record those groups generally excluded from the national narrative. Setting priorities based on their limited resources, they also assumed that Members of Parliament were being interviewed in the media, and that their remarks were being preserved in Hansard. As time passed, however, the value of applying oral history methods at all levels of society, including the political leadership, grew more apparent. Oral historians suspected that there was more to the parliamentary story than that captured in the press and public speeches. In 2011, the History of Parliament Trust together with the British Library launched an ambitious project to conduct life-story interviews with Members of Parliament, recording their experiences before, during and after their official service. The testimony sampled in this book demonstrates that Parliament, like other institutions, has its own work culture, one that involves recruitment, demanding schedules, hierarchies, collegiality, rivalry, formal and unwritten rules, traditions that defy logic, and strains on family life. The interviews also reveal MPs’ motivations, perceptions and emotions, providing unique insights into a complex legislative body. Interviewing politicians presents special challenges. Those in public life are used to being quizzed. Their guard is often up, and they develop skills at evading difficult questions. Aware of such hurdles, the History of Parliament Trust adopted the best methodological practices for oral history: well-informed interviewers who are prepared to ask pertinent questions, who establish rapport to promote candour and most importantly who show a willingness to listen and pursue matters that arise spontaneously. Interviews last many hours and deal with all aspects of their lives, encouraging frankness and self-reflection. These collected oral histories portray service in Parliament as a rewarding, demanding, frustrating and often precarious job that can end in defeat despite a Member’s best efforts. Within the institution, the interviews display commonalities but also show considerable differences in experience due to gender, marital status, education and class. Women MPs reported the problems they faced in entering what had traditionally been a ‘Gentleman’s Club’. Members recalled having had to balance their consciences against their party obligations. They described coping with local constituency needs while having to vote on matters of war and peace. Rather than a recital of specific public issues, these interviews record the dilemmas encountered while Members confronted political pressures and sometimes stood against prevailing sentiments. Donald A. Ritchie U.S. Senate Historian Emeritus and author of Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the Trustees, Editorial Board and staff at the History of Parliament Trust for their support in writing this book and creating the archive. All recordings in the archive are copyright of the Trust, and we are grateful for the permission to reproduce them. The archive would not exist without the support and guidance of the British Library, in particular Dr Robert Perks for his expertise and advice, and the curators and archivists for their assistance in creating the archive and preserving the recordings for posterity. Our special thanks to Dr Paul Seaward for his comments on an earlier version of this manuscript and his encouragement and oversight of the project as a whole. We are also grateful for the guidance offered by Dr Donald A. Ritchie throughout the life of the project. Thanks from Priscila Pivatto to the Columbia Center for Oral History Research for providing a stimulating working environment during her time there. Many thanks to all the former parliamentarians we have interviewed, for their recollections and for their generosity to our interviewers, both with their hospitality and their time. We would like to thank our project volunteers, without whom we could not have created this archive, including Daisy Butler-Gallie, Chloe Wilson and the team at Hansard for archiving support, and Barbara Luckhurst for her excellent portrait photographs to accompany the archive. Many thanks also to the Association of Former Members of Parliament for their help in contacting and promoting the project to former Members. Our biggest thanks go to our group of volunteer interviewers, who have given up their time and expertise to create this archive: Philip Aylett, John Barry, Alison Chand, Andrew Flinn, James Freeman, Helen Gibb, Rosa Gilbert, David Govier, Mike Greenwood, Anne Gulland, Andrea Hertz, Andrew Hyams, Henry Irving, Kevin Jeffreys, Rachael Johnson, Emmeline Ledgerwood, Alexander Lock, Helen Lowe, Jason Lower, Helen McCarthy, Kayleigh Milden, Eleonor O’ Keeffe, Simon Peplow, Malcolm Petrie, William Pollard, Sandy Ruxton, Paul Seaward, Richard Stowell, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, Richard Turner, Christine Verguson, Jemima Warren, Dean White, Isobel White, Jessica Wilkins, Owain Wilkins and Mark Wilson. Finally, we would also like to thank Keith and Alison Peplow for careful proofreading, help with transcription, being on hand for babysitting and many other kindnesses without which the manuscript would not have been completed. Emma Peplow would like to add special thanks to her husband Alex for his patience, advice and love – everything feels possible with him around – and son Lloyd for providing a cheerful distraction from this manuscript (and occasionally sleeping!). Priscila Pivatto would like to thank her husband Daniel for his unwavering support, which has made it possible for her to pursue her dreams and to work on a project she loves.

Note on the text One of the challenges of working with a sound archive is the process of transcribing extracts. When oral sources become written words, parts of their meaning change or might be lost. We have made an effort to keep the quotations as close to the original verbal form as possible. The reader should expect narratives from a conversational encounter and not a well thought-out written text. Yet, we have included some small comments, and made adjustments and omissions to make the text accessible to the reader. In general, large omissions or changes are denoted, but small ones for readability have not been. When [Long omission] is used we have taken extracts from two different parts of the recording, possibly from different interview sessions. Extracts in this book are taken from the History of Parliament’s Oral History project with kind permission of the History of Parliament Trust. This book is an invitation to readers to consult the History of Parliament sound archive held in the British Library and to listen to the interviews themselves.

Introduction

People in the House of Commons generally believe in politics. I believe there is only two ways to run society: you either run society by politicians or men with submachine guns, there’s no other way. So I have a great respect for the process of politics and therefore the people who practice it. Now that’s not a very fashionable thing, the fashionable thing is to attack politicians and say they’re all in it for themselves and so on and so forth. I think that some of them are, but generally that’s not true. Generally people are there because they believe in things, and/or they believe in the process of politics. John Allan Stewart (Conservative, 1979–97)1

Westminster is at the heart of British politics. It is, according to one former Member of Parliament (MP), a ‘bewitching’ place for the politically engaged.2 This book focuses on one aspect of Westminster life – the House of Commons – and explores its recent history through the eyes of those who together create the ‘Commons’: the MPs themselves. The History of Parliament project was founded to study the history of Parliament through the lives of its Members. Since the History of Parliament Trust (HPT) was formally established in 1940, it has published thousands of biographies of MPs who sat between 1386 and 1832. It was with this approach in mind that in 2011 the HPT embarked on an ambitious project in collaboration with the British Library: to create a sound archive of as many living former MPs as possible. Inspired by the HPT’s founder, Josiah Wedgwood MP, who had tried to capture his colleagues’ ‘minds not deeds’ with a questionnaire in the 1930s, our intention is that this archive will become a vital source for future historians, including our own.3 The project has limited resources and is largely volunteer-run, but has grown to create an archive of over 175 interviews with hundreds of hours of recordings. The archive is held in the British Library, with a number of recordings now available online.4 This book is the first major publication based on the archive and intended largely as an introduction to its value as a source for researchers not just of politics and Parliament, but also of the varieties of British social life. The authors have worked on the project from its early days by organizing, conducting and analysing interviews. In this chapter we will explain how the project works, discuss some of the problems and benefits of oral history as a source for Parliament’s history and describe how we chose the extracts included.

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

Project approach Conducting ‘life story’ oral history interviews of politicians is unusual in the UK.5 British oral history has traditionally focused on ‘unheard’ narratives from communities who are excluded from conventional historical sources. There are some oral history projects in the UK covering women and ethnic minority MPs, or Labour activists, but by and large political oral history projects focus on those who did not get in to power, particularly on the left.6 MPs are some of the most well-recorded individuals in our society. Every word uttered in the Commons Chamber is committed to Hansard. In addition, for the well-known politicians at least, there are published memoirs, biographies, numerous contemporary media interviews and articles. It is perhaps unsurprising that they have, to date, not been of particular interest to oral historians. However, the HPT sound archive is comprised of ‘life story’ narratives, by which we mean that we are interested in every aspect of a politician’s life and not just their time in Westminster or a particular event in their career.7 We start at the beginning: their childhood and upbringing, and allow the former MP to lead us through their life experiences in their own words. Nor do we stop when they stood down or lost their seat. In this way the interviews are very different to a standard media interview or article. They are longer, richer in detail and allow us to hear how these politicians view their own careers through, in some cases, deep personal reflection. The interviewers are volunteers, trained by ourselves and the British Library. Mostly they have experience in either political or oral history as postgraduate students or academics, but some are journalists or former parliamentary staff. They are supported by us throughout; we set up the interviews, provide reading lists for background research and offer feedback on interview technique. The interviews can be shorter than in projects which rely solely on professional oral historians, but as the project has progressed we have built a dedicated and experienced team of interviewers, leading to longer, more detailed and much richer recordings. The interviews follow no fixed questionnaire, and we encourage interviewers to allow the former MP to lead the narrative. Instead we have a ‘schedule’ of questions, a list of topics we are interested in and some suggested opening questions designed to encourage the interviewee to talk. Topics start with home life and move on to school, university or early professional life before turning overtly political: when they joined a party, finding a seat, their first election. We then consider Parliament: first impressions on entering the Commons; the staff, office and social spaces; reflections on the Chamber. We discuss their political careers: their ambitions, relationships with whips and, if in government, how this changed their views (although in general we do not focus on ministerial careers). We explore their constituency party and casework, political causes and memorable events. We conclude by discussing how they left Parliament, reflecting on how Parliament impacted their wider and professional lives afterwards. As we intend to cover a politician’s full life experience as far as possible, we aim for as long an interview as time allows. We prefer the interview to take place over several sessions at the subject’s home. This tends to produce an easier and more relaxed atmosphere. Interviews range in length from just under an hour to twentyfour hours.8 Over the course of the project, the interviews have become longer and now

Introduction

3

average four and a half hours in total. Multiple sessions allow both interviewer and interviewee to reflect on the previous recording, build more detail about certain topics and probe areas that may have been treated superficially at first. The interviewer is just as important to the success of the interview as the interviewee: by building trust and establishing a rapport, the two shape stories together during the interview. We encourage the interviewees to be as frank as possible. They have the opportunity to close their interviews to the public, entirely or in part, for up to thirty years. Relatively few have taken up this offer.9 We have found that when the narrator knows that they have the option to close the interview, they are more likely to speak openly. Most often those who request to close their remarks do so about other individuals; we find that at times they are reluctant to ‘name names’. As a rule we do not interview until we understand that an MP has come to the end of their political career, normally after they have been out of Parliament for at least one term. The delay means that our subjects are a little more removed from the events they are discussing, and have had time to reflect and perhaps to reinterpret them. On the other hand, the distance softens some of the distorting effects of political controversy, and means that the interview is an opportunity to view their careers in some sort of perspective. Once complete, the interviews are archived in the British Library with a growing number now available online. They are not transcribed; we instead follow the common practice in British oral history of providing time-coded summaries that can be searched for topics of interest. If this means researchers have to take time to listen to the interviews this is no bad thing; the best way to use the archive is by doing so. The narrator’s voice, their tone and the rapport between interviewer and interviewee all make for a better understanding of the words spoken, in the context of the full interview, thus providing a richer historical source. This book provides only a small sample of the many personalities and topics covered in the archive, so we certainly recommend readers listen to the interviews by themselves.

The sound archive By September 2019, 178 MPs have been interviewed with 170 open fully or in part. We choose interviewees for practical as well as methodological reasons. As a volunteerrun project with limited resources, we have tried to match interviewee and interviewer geographically allowing for easy repeat visits. We have volunteers based throughout the country but so far they have been more heavily concentrated in the South East. This means that there are some gaps in the archive, most notably Northern Ireland, and we have a slightly higher proportion of MPs who represented London or the South East.10 Our aim has been to include as wide a variety of perspectives on Parliament as possible. Interviewees come from a broad range of backgrounds, from Lady Olga Maitland, the daughter of an earl, to union official Harold Best; with varying career trajectories, from those who have held some of the highest offices of state like Michael Heseltine to those who have been regarded as mavericks, like Tam Dalyell; and with careers in the Commons of varying length, from Elizabeth Shields’s thirteen months

4

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

to Teddy Taylor’s forty-one years. We want the archive to reflect the full experience of Parliament. The first of the interviewees to enter the House of Commons was Denis Healey in 1952. The majority (105) entered Parliament for the first time before or in 1979; seventy-two were elected between 1981 and 1997 and only one got his first seat after 1997. Most of them (117) left the House before or during the 1997 election. We began by interviewing older MPs before moving to those who left the House more recently, so this balance has changed as the archive has grown and will continue to do so. Therefore this book focuses on Parliament in the latter half of the twentieth and early part of the twenty-first century, with many narrators reflecting on cultural changes that occurred in particular with the large Labour intake in 1997. We have tried where possible to mirror the party balance in Parliament over this period,11 with eighty-two interviews with Conservatives, seventy-three with Labour, twenty with Liberal/Social Democrat (SDP)/Liberal Democrat (LD), one Ulster Unionist (UU), one Scottish National Party (SNP) and one independent MP.12 Not surprisingly, the two major parties dominate our recordings, reflecting the endurance of the two-party system. Our interviewees tend to reflect the social, gender and ethnic make-up of the House of Commons at the time. As a result, there are far fewer interviews with women than with men. We have conducted interviews with 146 men and 32 women. The difference seems large, but the proportion of women (18 per cent) is actually much higher than their presence in Parliament during the twentieth century, particularly before the 1997 election and the Labour Party’s introduction of all-women shortlists. Before the 1987 general election, less than 5 per cent of MPs were women; in 1997 the proportion of female MPs jumped to 18 per cent; after the general election in 2017 32 per cent of elected MPs are women (but most of these women are still sitting). Women MPs’ experiences of Parliament, by and large as ‘outsiders’ in this period, are the subject of Chapter 8 and are particularly revealing about Commons culture (although, of course, their experiences feature throughout the book). We have interviews with MPs from Christian, Jewish or no particular religious background, but none to date from other religions. We also have no interviews yet with MPs from ethnic minorities. As we do not interview MPs until they have retired from front-line politics, the number of nonwhite retired MPs we could interview is currently very small,13 but we are aware that this is a perspective missing from the archive.

Oral history – complications People construct memories in the present, about the past, with an eye to the future.14 We are not searching for some kind of ‘objective truth’ in these interviews, and they should not be treated in this way. As many oral historians argue, an oral history interview is a narrative told by the interviewee at the time of recording in collaboration with the interviewer; the ‘interaction between narrative, imagination, and subjectivity on the one hand, and plausibly ascertained facts on the other’.15 We are dependent on what people tell us about their lives and they themselves are dependent on their own memories. As with a political memoir, the narrator gives his or her own perspective on

Introduction

5

his or her life. But in contrast to the memoir, an oral history narrative is based on an interaction with the interviewer, and takes place on the spur of the moment.16 Therefore, one should not expect to find fully accurate accounts of complex events in oral history interviews. First, naturally, there are factual errors in these interviews. We have certainly not noticed all of them, either at interview or subsequently, and some may appear in these transcriptions. Historians of Parliament are luckier than most oral historians in that often there is an ‘official’ record for them to check memories against. We rarely correct factual errors at interview, by and large only if the interviewer has the knowledge to hand, for example the exact size of a parliamentary majority. We are mostly interested in personal memories of a politician’s life, and so we are not trying to trip up or undermine their own narrative. For this reason, our interviewers would not contradict a perspective put forward in an interview, but if it seems surprising or unusual we encourage them to probe further and perhaps provoke a deeper reflection. Second, ‘errors’ in memory may well be simply how the interviewee remembers that event contemporarily, having constructed the memory in light of subsequent experiences. At one end of this spectrum, certain events discussed in this book might be adjusted because of hindsight: the fall of Callaghan’s government in 1979 and the Iraq War votes of 2003 come to mind.17 We would not assume that these errors are deliberate lies. There is another set of issues, common to all oral history projects but perhaps particularly problematic in ours, dealing with narrators who have had public lives and are used to a large degree of scrutiny. Many will have had some form of interview training for the media, and they are often used to dealing with the press. One issue is that of ‘practiced narratives’, when a good anecdote or story has been perfected in the retelling. This is particularly the case with MPs who have written their own memoirs or who have been asked about specific incidents on several occasions. We find some stories that are told to us in the same way, even using the same language, as printed in other sources. There are certainly some passages of this kind among the extracts in the text as they are often the most concise and eloquent sections of a recording, and are probably the way these incidents are now remembered by their narrators. Where possible we ask our interviewers to explore these moments when they recognize them, to ask further questions and for more detail, to encourage the MP to question their own memories about the incident. The second issue is that of ‘legacy building’. The MPs are aware that this interview is going to be recorded for posterity. Like anyone in these circumstances, they may use it to paint their actions in the best possible light; the interviews are never going to present the entire truth about the careers, decisions and experiences of our interviewees. Again, our approach is not to seek ‘the truth’, but to probe for detail and understand the motivations and actions of the interviewee. Those using the archive should recognize that this is not an objective narrative of events, but use it as one source among others. To take an everyday example, it is striking how many of those interviewed refer to Westminster’s drinking culture, so strong in the later twentieth century thanks to all-night debates and long hours of waiting around. In Chapter 6, there are tales of bar fights, MPs falling over drunk and being sick in the Chamber. Yet few of the MPs talk about drinking themselves, and very few admit to drinking too much. Some

6

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

may have done; but since heavy drinking is even less acceptable now than it was then, there are some things that they are unlikely to confess to in a public interview.

Oral history – benefits Taken as a whole, the archive conveys an impression of what it was like to be a politician at Westminster in the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. It shows the variety of people who became Members – not just because we have worked hard to ensure MPs from different social and political backgrounds are represented, but because the narrators are all individuals whose experiences and viewpoints are all different. Although we can, and do, begin to categorize MPs based on what they have in common, there was no one reason why they chose a life in politics; no one way to be selected for a seat; no common understanding even on what the role of MP was. Some loved Westminster and all of its conventions; to others it was deeply ridiculous and at times could be intimidating. Perspectives might change over the course of an individual’s own career, and these reactions could not necessarily be predicted by social background or gender. The archive is one of individual experiences, and taken together they present different political cultures inside one institution. The stories they tell and the explanations they give for their actions build a picture of British politics over the period – the things that inspired them, such as a desire to correct an injustice, and the pressures they faced, such as a divided constituency party or intimidation from the whips’ office, all shaped British politics. One good example was the formation of the Social Democrat Party (SDP) in 1981 and why moderate Labour MPs chose to leave or remain in the party, as discussed in Chapter 9. MPs had to decide based on their personal loyalties, their calculations for their political future and take into account the nature of their constituency party. Each decision was an individual one. Furthermore, these narratives give us an idea of what it felt like to represent a constituency in Westminster. In the extracts MPs describe being fascinated, delighted, passionate, excited, angry, nervous, frightened, disillusioned, exhausted and many other emotions. Some narrators’ voices still broke years later when speaking about specific pieces of legislation, constituents’ casework or the impact of a political life on their families. Some politicians may be cynical political operators, but most entered politics with ideals in mind. Many were deeply affected by the people and problems they had to deal with; and all were irrational at some point or another. Finally, these stories take us behind the scenes in British politics, from manoeuvring at constituency party meetings to Northern Irish Republicans and Unionists singing carols together in Westminster bars. Parliament’s distinct and at times baffling mixture of conventions, precedents and ‘the way things were done’ are put on full display in these extracts, as are the reactions, both positive and negative, to them. MPs could fit in and use this culture, try to subvert it, or try to meet it head on, all in order to make their mark or further their political causes. It can explain why some were successful and popular and others’ careers were stifled or they were disliked. It also rarely makes it on to the pages of Hansard. Over time, these conventions and customs change, and

Introduction

7

our stories reflect on those changes. Many of them describe, for example, the 1997 Labour landslide, the influx of female MPs, the changes in sitting hours and the shift in Westminster’s culture, with less (late-night) socializing, less drinking and less overt sexism – although recent exposure of bullying of staff suggests that many of these things still remain (see Chapters 6, 8 and 12).18 What emerges is a richer, messier and more complicated view of Westminster and its role in British politics.

The interviews and extracts These extracts have been selected and arranged to cover the stages in MPs’ careers, highlighting similarities and differences along this path. In Part I we discuss the narrators’ backgrounds, with a focus on how their political views developed and what caused them to plunge themselves into activism. We discuss their early backgrounds in Chapter 1: their parents and home life, the wider community they lived in, the economic or other cultural influences on their childhoods. Chapter 2 moves on to education and early career: schools, university and first jobs. Both these chapters describe key influences on the narrators’ political views – perhaps growing up in a community where Tories were ‘considered strange’, battling with unions to preserve a family business, the inspiration of a family member or teacher, taking part in a protest with friends. Part II explores politics before Westminster: the decision to join a party, being selected for a seat and election campaigning in general. Chapter 3 discusses the direct decision to enter active politics: for some an entirely natural development based on years of experiencing politics with family, for others a specific life or political event pushing them to get more involved. Much of this section largely focuses on constituency parties and Chapter 4 emphasizes the power of their selection committees. Getting selected meant grappling with preconceived ideas of ‘what an MP looked like’ and tactical decisions about which seats to apply for; it might involve years of committed service to one local party or seemingly endless travel around the country looking for a safe seat. Election campaigns, and how they changed over the years, are discussed in Chapter 5: exciting but often exhausting times for our narrators, culminating in the delight or devastation of election night itself. Part III sees MPs arrive at Westminster and their first encounters with parliamentary culture. In Chapter 6 they describe the shock and confusion of arrival at an institution without induction, only limited office space and bewildering procedures. They describe the bars, the smoking room and dining rooms, long hours of filibustering and late-night votes. Chapter 7 focuses on the business of the House and its committees: making maiden speeches, dealing with interruptions, the complications of Chamber and committee procedure. It includes the reactions of those who felt they did not belong among them – those from working-class backgrounds, with strong regional accents or no experience of the public schools or gentlemen’s clubs that Westminster so closely resembled. Chapter 8 focuses on the experiences of the relatively few female MPs who sat during this period, how they dealt with an overwhelmingly masculine culture, and its often unabashed sexism.

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

Part IV focuses on politics: on parties, legislation and moments of political drama. In Chapter 9 our interviewees talk about party discipline and the whipping system, including what happens when party management breaks down and parties split. In Chapter 10 they recount legislative battles and campaigns: how backbenchers could make an impact on events. Chapter 11 highlights issues of war and peace: the Troubles in Northern Ireland and their impact on some MPs’ lives, the ever-divisive political issue of Europe, debating sending troops into war. Politics in the constituencies is the focus of Chapter 12, where the MPs talk about the difficulties they faced balancing their constituents’ needs, local parties’ wants, and their own time and ambitions. Running through these chapters are memories of the key political dramas of the last seventy years: the Suez Crisis (Chapter 11); entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) and subsequent referendum (Chapter 11); the fall of James Callaghan (Chapter 10); the formation of the SDP (Chapter 9); the Falklands War (Chapter 11); the Brighton Bomb (Chapter 11); battling Militant Tendency in the Labour Party (Chapter 12); the fall of Margaret Thatcher (Chapter 10); the Maastricht Treaty debates (Chapter 11) and the 2001 Iraq War (Chapter 11). In Part V the MPs reflect more broadly on their time in Parliament, and a role that could take over every aspect of their lives. In Chapter 13 they talk about their achievements and regrets: while many can take pride in their accomplishments, they did not quite change the world as much as they had hoped; either because they discovered the power of an MP was much less than they expected or because their careers did not go the way they had hoped. In Chapter 14 they talk about the impact of being an MP on their family life: failed marriages and feelings of guilt for being largely absent parents and the financial impact of becoming an MP. Finally, Chapter 15 discusses leaving – whether by defeat, or retirement – and reactions to doing so: anger, relief, anxiety and regret at losing the platform of the Commons to raise issues they cared about. The extracts in this book are a small selection from a large and growing archive. This text is intended to be an introduction and guide to a large and varied set of interviews. In making difficult decisions about what to include, we have tried to present a range of opinions and perspectives, but also to indicate common experiences. The chapter introductions draw attention to the perspectives that appeared most often, and explain which tended to be held by those of one party or from one background or those which were unusual. The chapter introductions also highlight the themes we have uncovered while listening to the interviews. We hope that the themes and extracts themselves can help researchers and also give a taste of the type of material in the archive not explored here. The interviews included here suggest a surprisingly diverse political class in terms of background, motivations and perspectives. Yet it is one that shared a commitment to their work in Westminster, and often a frustration at the barriers they faced in pursuing their campaigns and ambitions: party discipline, Westminster’s resilient political culture and the limits to the power of any one individual to achieve change. But this is not simply a ‘political class’. Just because they worked within Westminster’s political culture does not mean that they all accepted it or liked it. Nor did they all work in the same way: some display different ideas of how to be a ‘good’ MP – constituency

Introduction

9

worker, party loyalist or an independent advocate. And many of the interviews show the mixture of motives at work in political life, even within the same individuals: to work to improve the lives of others; but also ambition for prestige and respect; devotion to party; or an abstract interest in political philosophy. The accounts of political life presented here are partial, biased and filtered by memory. Yet they demonstrate it vividly in personal terms. Collectively they present a diverse and overwhelmingly human perspective on British politics: real people with complex and different backgrounds, living in the real world and struggling with real dilemmas.

Part I

Background

1

Discussions around the dining table Politics at home

[My family] had quite strong opinions, all of us. It used to be quite a struggle to get the family together for Sunday lunch. […] We used to have tremendous discussions about politics and international affairs and a lot of fun. My father was a very good raconteur too. A lot of fun, a lot of laughter – but a lot of really serious hard talking and argument. I just got captivated by all this. So, really if you like to say, I am really a prisoner of my upbringing. Frank Judd (Labour, 1966–79)1

What led our narrators to become interested, and later actively participate, in political life? For roughly half of the former MPs in the archive, this interest started in the homes and communities they grew up in. More often than not these experiences resulted in the political attitudes that you might expect – Mildred Gordon’s left-wing radicalism was shaped by the 1930s East End of London, her Labour councillor father and the Cable Street riots, for example – but this was not always the case.2 Labour MP Michael Barnes’s father was a Conservative agent.3 Many MPs interviewed attribute their basic values to their family, forming ideas of right and wrong that were later expressed politically. Some of those who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, particularly those from a privileged or a religious background, talked about public service or giving something back. Not all came from religious homes or continued to hold religious beliefs, but for those who did, values from the church, chapel or synagogue (all our interviewees to date have Christian, Jewish or nonreligious backgrounds) could influence them late into their lives. Derek Foster said he was ‘certain that it was being a Christian which drove me into politics in the end’.4 For the majority of our narrators, their families were political in the sense that at the very least politics was discussed in the home and their parents voted. In many cases it went further. A significant portion had parents or wider family who were MPs, ministers – in one case even prime minister.5 Political activism was, for these interviewees, ‘normal’. This covered all classes and parties. Olga Maitland’s home life was dominated by a daily household ritual of political conversation, drinks and dinner hosted by her father, an MP and later peer;6 Jim Sillars’s father danced for joy with

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

his four-in-a-block council housing neighbours on hearing the 1945 Labour landslide result.7 This family involvement encouraged, in some, early activism themselves. Several remember helping in election campaigns as children. For the children of MPs this had a deep impact on their childhood. Emma Nicholson said that ‘the constituents came first’ for her father,8 and both she and Llin Golding discussed the hardships faced by their mothers raising families with fathers away in Parliament.9 Some felt inspired by their family’s activism. Hilton Dawson remembered feeling his grandmother’s presence when he sat in Parliament,10 and Ann Cryer ‘couldn’t imagine my life without a political aspect’, and traced her political commitment to her Independent Labour Party (ILP) grandmother.11 Several MPs were grateful for wide, direct, sometimes financial support and encouragement from their families. For some this was only after initial discouragement to test their resolve. This involvement was not always without conflict. Michael Irvine described his Labour MP father’s efforts to keep him in the Labour Party, and his disappointment when he decided to stand for the Conservatives.12 Some attributed their early political beliefs to family and community circumstances, such as poverty or periods of unemployment. A working-class background did not necessarily lead to left-wing politics. Elizabeth Peacock remembered her mother’s ire at her vote being taken for granted by Labour councillors just because they lived in a council house.13 Forming attitudes could be subtle: Members of all parties described socializing only with others who had similar views, but this was more often mentioned by Labour Members, who could believe that there was ‘something wrong’ with Conservative voters. But not all came from political backgrounds, however. Some remembered their families only discussing politics on election day. Peter Jackson’s father actively discouraged his political interest as he believed it was a distraction from his studies.14 So a political home was not necessary to form a future MP, but in many cases it certainly helped. *** My father insisted that we should always read a good newspaper, every day. [...] He would still insist that you’ve got to keep yourself informed in as broad-minded a way as possible. [...] How did liberalism permeate the household? It was something to do with tolerance, fairness and justice, and, not in any religious sense at all, but always considering others when you were considering yourself. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)15 During the war obviously floor coverings were scarce and expensive; it was quite common to put old newspapers on the floor, particularly in wet weather. My mother was always complaining that whatever she asked me to do, I’d sort of stop half way and started reading the newspaper [laughs]. So I sort of took an interest in current affairs, and was conscious of what politics was about. Roger Sims (Conservative, February 1974–97)16

Discussions around the Dining Table

15

What I can remember, actually, is developing an interest in politics and starting to read the Guardian. [...] and I can also remember subscribing to left-wing journals. [...] So from a very, very early age I became political, to such an extent that I became very politically conscious, conscious of Britain’s role [after the Second World War] and not wanting to be conscripted [into the RAF]. I said to my father, ‘I’m going to volunteer to be a Bevin boy,’ and he said he would kick me out if I did.17 And I was a bit weak. Peter Jackson (Labour, 1966–70)18 My father said to me one time, [I was] just a boy. ‘You’re on about the Germans, it’s not the Germans, it’s the Nazis. The Germans are like us, ordinary folk just like us. [...] The difference between the Nazis and our society is that they promote the thugs.’ [...] That was me getting taught the difference between an ‘ism’ [and a people]. Eric Clarke (Labour, 1992–2001)19 My father had a great influence on the way I saw things. He was a socialist, but he wasn’t in any sense whatever a party man. He was a person of independent thought. He wasn’t a joiner, none of my family ever were joiners, they were all individualists. He certainly tended to see things from a socialist point of view. He was anti-Hitler, antiMussolini, anti-Stalin too, I’m pleased to say, a large number of socialists in those days weren’t. Not only did I as a child get interested in politics through him but I started off imbibing his attitudes and opinions [...] It was a good start. Bryan Magee (Labour/ SDP, February 1974–83)20 I think it was the public service element in [my parents’ lives] which I admired. I didn’t set out to emulate it, I just became involved. Kenneth Warren (Conservative, 1970–92)21 My parents were at that stage school teachers, and my dad was on the local council. [...] So we grew up in a household where we always talked about what was going on in the world, where [...] we were always, we just were encouraged to think and be involved. I do remember once when I was probably a teenager he said [...] to my brother and I: ‘I don’t care what you do, but you’ve got some responsibilities for other people. You should be involved in public life in some way.’ It was just what we were brought up with. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)22 [My maternal grandmother] thought Jews from privileged families should give public service. When she heard I’d left the navy, aged seventeen, she took down a photograph of me from a mantelpiece beside one of Queen Mary, banded it and put in a drawer and never took it out again. And I heard about this, it upset me slightly, and when I failed to get into the Royal Academy of Music, I determined to get on with trying to do public service through politics. […] I didn’t grow up in a Tory atmosphere. I grew up in a British patriotic and public service atmosphere. Serve the country: queen and country. Royal Navy is better than the army and the air force. Churchill won the war. [...] Nothing about Conservative Party doctrine. Toby Jessel (Conservative, 1970–97)23 My parents actually were Christian Scientists; it’s something I found a bit difficult to handle as I grew up. They were very staunch readers of the Bible. They would go to

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

church twice on a Sunday, something called a testimony meeting on a Wednesday, so my childhood was surrounded by the church – church activities. I went to a church school, so religious, Christian values very much affected my thinking politically I think. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)24 My father and mother were both practicing Christians without ramming it down our throats. [...] That was part of my life and it remains part, [...] it does [inform my politics]. It’s a difficult marriage, [...] you find yourself in contradictions. Take assisted dying [...] I will make up my mind, when [the issue is debated in the House of] Lords, [...] I will take into account the views expressed on behalf of the Church of England by the Bishops in the Lords. [...] It is just an illustration of how occasionally you do look for guidance on a matter which isn’t party political. Douglas Hurd (Conservative, 1974–97)25 I took confirmation in time for my twenty-first birthday. [...] During that discussion [with the priest] on confirmation, he spoke about my life experiences and how I viewed things, the values that I thought were correct in life. He said, ‘What are you doing with those values? [...] So if there’s an opportunity to play a part, then it’s duty, your own sense of responsibility to play a part. Whether it’s in religion, in politics or in life [...] just take those responsibilities.’ [...] It was [...] because of what he was saying [...] I decided at the age of nineteen, twenty to join the Young Socialists, thinking to myself, ‘Well, he’s right, if you don’t do anything other people will make decisions for you.’ Frank White (Labour, October 1974–83)26 *** I was very influenced by my father. [...] Ovington Square life was intensely political. In the evenings it was a complete tradition, the ping of six o’clock [...] out would come the drinks for the evening, it was generally whisky, and then the conversation would start. They would argue and toss issues around – my parents and whoever else was around – before a rather late dinner. [...] Those evenings swapping of ideas over drinks were really a big factor in our lives. We as children, of course we couldn’t follow what was going on, but we heard about it, we could feel it, we could sense it. [...] You could sense all that buzz. My mother [...] was very good at cutting through the talk and getting to the essence. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)27 [My father was] a great believer in nationalisation, particularly in transport, because he’d seen what had happened in between the wars with the laissez-faire attitude to rail services. So I was brought up with that very strong sense of it matters who owns it. [...] There’s a better deal for working people when they do own it. [...] [Politics was discussed] all the time – the local candidates but obviously they loved Aneurin Bevan. He was worshipped in our household. Alice Mahon (Labour, 1987–2005)28 [My earliest political memory] was the 1945 result. I knew, I was just a child, but I knew something significant had happened because my father who must have been listening to the wireless rushed down the stairs [...] to tell [our neighbours] and they

Discussions around the Dining Table

17

were literally dancing up and down the path with great joy. So obviously for me this was very, very significant, my father saying we’re in at last, sort of thing. After that I didn’t really bother terribly much until the ’51 election when Labour were defeated. I just happened to be there in our kitchen with the old man, and he was in a dreadful state. After listening to him about the disaster and the woes to come, I remember going out and I was very surprised that the sun was still shining! Jim Sillars (Labour/SNP, March 1970–9; 1988–92)29 During the war because we had a big garden we had to use it productively. [...] My father chose to keep geese on the lawn, and he named all these geese after members of Attlee’s cabinet. So the worst of the geese, a tall, long-necked thing called Stafford after Sir Stafford Cripps, our cat was called Herbert after Herbert Morrison and all the animals in the menagerie were called after Labour cabinet ministers. I only figured this out many, many years later. [...] There were political things like that. My father never talked about politics, international politics and so on. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)30 My father was a member of the Labour Party. [...] He didn’t overdo it, but we did discuss politics from time to time, the deficiencies or otherwise of the government of the day and what was going on. Everything in the house had to stop when the news came on the radio, father needed to listen to the news and hear what was going on. Through that I got an interest in various things and in politics and, I suppose, almost automatically became something of a Labour follower. Ben Ford (Labour, 1964–83)31 I was aware that my father, he worked as a gas fitter, [...] but he was also a trade union shop steward. I had no problems with that at all, but it did teach me that there was such a thing as the trade union movement. [...] One of the proud boasts that my father had was that he never, ever, called his men out on strike. I don’t like strikes, I abhor them, I always think there are ways round it to avoid it. That was brought home to me by my father. [Long omission] I developed a passion for wanting to run my own business. It was in my later school years that that developed and that associated me, I suppose, with the Conservative philosophy of entrepreneurism, standing on your own two feet, living within your means – as against what my father was experiencing as a shop steward and being associated with the Labour Party. There were the differences and they became more pronounced as I grew up into the latter teens. John Powley (Conservative, 1983–7)32 [My mother] was a quite strong Conservative, in fact the whole of her family, the large family, brothers and sisters, were totally divided on this issue. There were seven of them all together and one, two, three of them were really staunchly Conservative and the others were staunchly Labour. It provided a backdrop of a lot of discussion. My father was very much a Liberal, an old-fashioned and not a Liberal Democrat by any means. […] There was always a lot of discussion about politics in the house. [...] I had a choice because my parents were on opposite sides of the divide so I decided to do something different. Anne Campbell (Labour, 1992–2005)33 ***

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

My earliest political memories would be my Auntie Evie and Uncle Harold leaving [the local] Labour Party and joining the Conservative club. I know it’s humorous now but I didn’t see the humour of it then, I just thought: well, she’s moved, she’s gone. [...] At local elections [the Conservatives] wanted kids to take numbers and to run messages. One of my earliest memories would be in the 1951 election campaign running messages – I think there’s a photograph in the Bolton Evening News [of me] on a bike with a ‘Vote Bell’ sign in front. Frank White (Labour, October 1974–83)34 [Because my father was a Labour member] the local parliamentary candidate for Tynemouth used to come to our house [...] so I got to know her and then when the election in 1945 was called, I persuaded my father to let me go canvassing with him, not on my own, obviously, but I got a bit of a taste for it, I must admit. A number of school pals and I went to the meetings of the Tory sitting Member and we were over the moon when we asked some questions, and it was reported in the press the next day that some young schoolboys had asked questions which he’d found rather difficult to answer. Obviously from a very early age I was very interested. [...] We won the seat in Tynemouth for the first time and so I met now the Member of Parliament. [...] I must admit that even at that very tender age I sort of thought it must be very nice to be a Member of Parliament. And then I thought ‘don’t be so silly, it’s not for you.’ So that was how politics started for me. Denis Coe (Labour, 1966–70)35 My interest in politics started with the 1945 general election. That sprung from my father being in the trade union. [...] That was my first awareness of such organizations. I was involved in the 1945 general election when I was fifteen years old. [...] I canvassed, I took numbers at polling stations. [...] After the general election, I went out on my own in the area where I lived, in three weeks I enrolled just over a hundred new members. So as a reward for that I was allowed to break the rules [on age] and I became a party member. I took the principle lead really in setting up the branch of the Labour League of Youth, so I was chair of the Essex federation [...] and then vice chairman of the National committee of the Labour League of Youth. Arthur Latham (Labour, 1969– 79)36 [My parents] were active in the local party and members of the trade union; I joined the union the day I started work and I still pay my union dues. Election times then, the way of communicating with the electorate was: instead of just somebody delivering an election address, it would be addressed personally and inserted in a brown envelope. Which meant that those envelopes needed to be written and we all would be given a pile of a couple of hundred or whatever envelopes to write up, sitting around the table. Best handwriting! Neat! [Laughs] No crossing out on the envelope! And you would work down the electoral register so that everybody within the ward who was able and eligible to vote, this process would take place of writing the envelopes, stuffing the envelope with the election leaflet, for eventually it to be delivered. And that was done from an early age. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)37 My father was influenced by Father John Groser, who led rent strikes in the East End. [...] He influenced my father to join the Labour Party – he hadn’t been interested

Discussions around the Dining Table

19

in politics at all. Because my father became a Labour councillor I went with him delivering leaflets and knocking on doors and seeing places that were more decrepit than I ever knew existed. [...] He was in charge of baths and washhouses. His great joy – real joy – was if he got a new machine because the women not only did their own washing [there] but they’d also take in washing to make some money. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)38 Oh, when I was about three [I thought I might like to get involved]. […] It was clear that this was a way in which you could help other people very significantly indeed. […] Having so many [MPs in the family] meant that the whole spectrum was more or less covered. I even had a distant cousin who was chairman of the Monday Club.39 So there was plenty of difference among them all. […] Obviously I adored my father [Sir Godfrey Nicholson, MP for Morpeth and Farnham 1931–66], I loved his work – it wasn’t precisely what I would have done. I had a rather large uncle called Reggie Manningham-Buller, Lord Dilhorne, who was lord chancellor at a point. He was a little bit different but very close to my father. There was another uncle, James Lindsay, who was overturned sadly by Jeremy Thorpe. [...] Then there were a variety of other cousins who were Members of Parliament, and were always some who were in the House of Lords. So there was a mass of difference. Emma Nicholson (Conservative/ LD, 1987–97)40 My father [Ness Edwards, MP for Caerphilly 1939–68], obviously, [was a political influence] but my mother was a strong influence as well. She didn’t go to work once she had five children, and she was on her own most of the time because my father was in London or out with the union doing something so she gave up work. [...] During the war [...] there was terrible bombing in London, and [my father would] go up during the bombing. My mother would be left at home worrying about him and not saying anything at all about it. He just saw it as his duty to go up. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)41 My grandfather was a Tory MP [Sir Arthur Heneage, MP for Louth, 1924–45], a very nice man, liberal minded. I remember when I said to him, ‘Granddad, actually, I’m a Labour supporter,’ he said, ‘Well it’s good to have members of the family on both sides of the house in difficult times!’ [...] My father’s sister had married the editor of the Times, a guy called Robert Barrington-Ward. So I think the idea of public affairs was in my mind from a very early age. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)42 There’s a photograph of me [...] in the farmyard wearing a blue rosette for the 1935 election, [...] I was five. [...] I was always interested in politics. I remember vividly following the 1945 election [...] when my father [Anthony Hurd, MP for Newbury, 1945–64] was standing for the first time. Douglas Hurd (Conservative, 1974–97)43 Early on I decided I definitely wanted to be foreign secretary. [...] I thought that this is my area, it absorbs me, it interests me no end. We even made a family video film of what we would all do when we grew up, and I’m there walking with an Anthony Eden type hat and an umbrella trying to be foreign secretary. Richard Luce (Conservative, 1971–92)44

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

[My uncle, Anthony Eden, prime minister 1955–7], used to come and stay in the New Forest. [...] For example, if he was making a great speech in Southampton, [...] he would come over after that. [...] I wasn’t privy to [family political discussions]. I don’t think they were always entirely harmonious yet, they got on very well. [...] [But] I wasn’t politically conscious at all. John Eden (Conservative, 1954–83)45 [My father, Ernest Armstrong, MP for North West Durham 1964–87] stood for Parliament when I was very young. He was eventually elected in 1964, but he stood twice before that. [...] It came through absolutely family stuff. We were always involved, I used to love it. I used to love going out sticking leaflets through people’s doors and all that sort of stuff. I remember we were on my dad’s very first election leaflet, and my mum put her foot down and said none of us should be on any more leaflets. He was the one who was standing. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)46 I was lucky because the Inter-Parliamentary Union used to send MPs to various countries and [my father, Alfred Bossom, MP for Maidstone 1931–59], used to take me; it was allowed. I began to get an interest in politics and also met MPs; it was always a mixed delegation, so I began to meet MPs off the record on these trips. [...] That was after the war, I must have been well in my thirties by then. Clive Bossom (Conservative, 1959–February 1974)47 Whereas I suppose today you get a lot of fathers who are interested in football. […] With me I would go with my father to political meetings, council meetings and obviously I was about eight, nine years of age and people instantly knew who I was. ‘Oh, that’s Tommy’s son.’ So as I grew up and became more and more involved, it wasn’t ‘what is his background? Who is he?’ [...] Everybody knew me and knew my father’s involvement. Tom Cox (Labour, 1970–2005)48 *** [My grandma] was a powerful influence, really. We used to go there on a Sunday and after Sunday tea she would play games with us but actually sit down to give us a lecture about things. One thing I’ll never ever forget is the – I think I’d said off the cuff that something was impossible and she fixed me with a glare: ‘Nothing is impossible. Nothing! You can do anything.’ [...] I remember debating with myself for days about that. […] I used to come back to her, I used to feel her presence sometimes standing up in Parliament – Grandma [laughs]. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)49 My father was deeply interested in history, art and in politics but at a distance, because frankly he didn’t think much of any politicians. [...] He was more cynical, but nonetheless he did provide support. He initially tried to discourage me, but looking back I realize it was not discouragement because he didn’t think I could do it, it was to test my resolve, because he realized it was a hard career I was going to follow. He was splendid, because when I wanted as a young woman to try my wings in local government, he was the one who actually paid for my election campaign. My local party didn’t do anything of the sort; you had to fund it yourself. He was the mug, if you like, that funded these election campaigns and gave me general support and enabled

Discussions around the Dining Table

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me to live at home without making too much contribution so that I could pursue all these activities. Janet Fookes (Conservative, 1970–97)50 I remember telling my father [17th Earl of Lauderdale, MP for Lanarck 1951–9] that I made up my mind to go into politics, and my father did his level best to stop me because he knew the disappointments. He knew the highs, he knew the lows. But once I really made clear that this was to be it, he was wonderful in the way he backed me every step of the way. He was absolutely amazing, but he did try very hard to dissuade me. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)51 One day I played truant from school and I went and spoke at Hyde Park. I had spoken at Hyde Park before, very precocious at sixteen, and I had spoken at other open-air meetings. [...] I asked my mother if I could play truant and she said, yes, which was very good of her, but there was an awful row when the headmaster heard about it. Richard Body (Conservative, 1955–9; 1966–97)52 From a fairly early stage I thought [being an MP] would be interesting. My hope was to follow [my father, Arthur Irvine, MP for Liverpool Edge Hill 1947–79] as a Labour MP, and then I went up to Oxford. I became [...] secretary of my college Labour club. I’d had a very happy time at school, and a very happy time at my college and university, but I couldn’t stand the Labour club. [...] I remember I said as much to my father and he expressed some concern because he thought that things weren’t going quite as he planned or hoped. I said to him why I didn’t like the University Labour club. They all had long hair, in those days I was very much short back and sides, I’d been to a rather expensive public school. [...] My father [...] said: ‘Well, I’m going to put that right. I’m going to take you up to my constituency in Liverpool.’ I was made to meet lots of Labour Party supporters. Surprise, surprise they were all aggressively short back and sides. There had been a bit of selection in the process I think! [Long omission] When I got selected for Conservative [...] candidate, [...] my father didn’t like it a bit. He was composed, but I could tell he didn’t like it. He said to me: ‘You’re going against your family traditions, which are non-conformist.’ I had quite a hard time from him, just for a couple of days. Fortunately, my aunt was staying with us and she teamed up with my mother to say that he was being unfair. [...] I remember he obviously took this on board, because he wrote me a letter [...] and in it he said that although in his view I was taking quite the wrong path, he wasn’t going to let it come between us and spoil the very good relationship we had. [...] It was quite a formal letter, but at the same time affectionate. Michael Irvine (Conservative, 1987–92)53 *** I was born in 1923, in Stepney, East London. [...] It was very poor. My grandfather [...] had saved enough money and bought his own house, we lived in a large house that belonged to him. [...] The teacher [at school] taught stories about buggy rides. I remember one little girl saying, ‘We’ve got those buggies at home.’ My mother laughed when I told her this, and explained what the buggies were, that she had at home – there were bugs in all the homes. I remember my mother every week with a toothbrush and

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

ammonia going through every crack in the springs of the bed thoroughly [...] because the houses were infested. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)54 Looking back on it – there were things that happened in my life that were major factors in me developing my political thinking. One being the fact that for many years of my childhood my father was seriously ill, and frequently in and out of hospital. There was one occasion [...] someone was sent, who was junior to him at the company he worked for, [...] to tell him he’d been made redundant because he’d been off sick for so long. Little things like that stick with you, and it made me think quite deeply. [...] I can recall seeing him totally broken when he lost his job. You don’t forget that kind of situation. That made me start thinking. When Harold Wilson came on the scene, by then I was in my teens, I then was very much a Labour supporter, because I was offended by the grouse moor image of Alec Douglas-Home and people like this who appeared to be running the country, and experiences of things like the eleven plus, my father’s situation. [...] I was becoming aware of injustice because it hit me personally smack in the face. [...] I joined the Labour Party when I was sixteen, as soon as I could. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)55 My father being in retail [he owned a chain of retail stores in the Bristol area], having then, in the mid-seventies, fifteen, sixteen shops, which were small grocers, I remember inflation around that time was 20 something per cent, and him having to put up [staff ] wages by an amount [above the rate of inflation] agreed not by him but by a wages council which was loaded against the small business people. I thought [as an elevenyear-old] that was unfair. Adrian Flook (Conservative, 2001–5)56 [My parents] were Conservatives; the original family must have been Liberals. […] My mum was a fierce Conservative, basically because they had their name down for a house, and after the war the Labour government put so much emphasis upon ‘homes for heroes’ and state housing that they weren’t able to get the house they’d wanted. She always held that against the Labour Party, that somehow they’d done her out of her first marital home. […] It wasn’t critical conservatism, but they were basically instinctively lower-middle-class Conservative voters. David Curry (Conservative, 1987–2010)57 My mother decided [to move to the North East with an uncle during the Second World War] to a place just outside Blaydon called Swalwell. We had as good a time as one could have I suppose. The Durham mining community, they would share their last slice of bread with you, they were very good to the evacuees. [...] Talking about the miners they were a great influence on me, because I used to sit at their feet hearing about the wicked colliery owners, Tory governments and the rough times they’ve had. In 1945 the general election came and I was eleven. I felt I won the election for Labour, I was going backwards and forwards in my bike with a rosette to the committee room and back. Tom Pendry (Labour, 1970–2001)58 It was, frankly, the natural – I wasn’t conscious of it in my very early years – but it was the natural political environment I was brought up in. I was a socialist by birth and background, whether I liked it or not I think basically. [...] Until we moved to the Wirral at sixteen I don’t think I had met a Tory or seen one. Ted Rowlands (Labour, 1966–70; 1972–2001)59

Discussions around the Dining Table

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Growing up in the Welsh valleys – if you saw a Conservative Party poster you thought there was something wrong with the family. It was nearly all Labour posters. I just felt that there was something odd about being Conservative [laughs]. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986-2001)60 When I went to Sweden [as an adult] – we had visited on holiday and we thought this seemed a bit of a utopia. Particularly Stockholm with its public transport that went all the time and good public services, but it was interesting because it turned out not to be quite as one would think. [...] [I taught English as a second language] and one of the first classes I had was Old-Age Pensioners, who I thought were absolutely amazing in Sweden in those days. They had good pensions, they lived in warm, properly insulated houses, they could go to classes like mine, they were encouraged to do ‘keep fit’ classes, all sorts of things. We’re talking about 1969, it wasn’t like that here. [...] That sort of set my life off in a different direction [...] partly in terms of how I viewed the world. [Long omission] But actually going and living under a socialist regime in Sweden, that was the thing that made me realize how important individuality was. I didn’t want to live in a straitjacket society basically. Diana Maddock (LD, 1993–7)61 *** When I decided that I was going into politics [...] at the tender age of thirteen, my brothers, to whom I mentioned this fact, teased the life out of me. I was going to be a Member of Parliament: ‘Ha ha ha ha’. They thought this was very funny indeed. Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–97)62 My mother was a Conservative voter, because she thought that was what refined, polite people and the queen did. My father voted Labour, because he came from a very big, very poor family and he thought that the Labour Party were on the side of the poorer people. [...] Sometimes they would try to trick each other and one would say that they hadn’t been [to vote], but they had. If one had got wind of the fact the other had been, they would say ‘I’ve got to go and cancel her out, or him out.’ So there wasn’t a lot of talk about politics in the family. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)63 No, [my family were] not [political] at all. My father was an old Lloyd George Liberal. My mother claimed, I’m not sure that she actually did, but she claimed that she had one voting principle all her life, and that was that she would vote for the candidate she thought was going to come bottom. Because, fair do’s, he’s put his deposit up and wouldn’t want to lose it. Ivor Richard (Labour, 1964–February 1974)64

2

Developing as a politician Schooldays, university and professional life before Parliament

Going back to the general election of 1945, this would have me at the age of twelve, I decided that I would run a school election. [...] I was a candidate as well as the organizer. I stood under the patriotic colours – red, white and blue – with a dreadful slogan: ‘Don’t be muddled, be Mudd-led.’ I romped home. This appealed to me quite a bit, the idea of power through slogan [laughs]. Two years after this I joined the Young Conservatives. I was the youngest member they’d ever [had] and they didn’t know what to do with me. David Mudd (Conservative, 1970–92)1

School and later university or early professional experiences helped to develop or solidify political opinions and encouraged activism for a significant number of interviewees. This was especially the case for those such as Timothy Kirkhope who acknowledged that their home life was not very political.2 The diverse set of class backgrounds of those who went on to become MPs is particularly reflected in their educational and workplace opportunities – and these experiences helped to create the politicians they became. A minority admitted to very early ambitions to enter political life, if they did not necessarily understand what this meant at the time. Jeffery Archer, for example, wanted to be prime minister from the age of four.3 These ambitions were often fostered and political opinions formed at school. The type of school they attended was often formative, and for this generation of MPs the later debate on the future of grammar schools brought their experiences of the eleven-plus exam sharply into focus. A significant percentage of interviewees from working-class backgrounds attended grammar school or even gained scholarships to private schools. For these, the higher standards of living and in some cases a sense of entitlement they saw in their schoolmates could create firm left-wing views. Others, however, were very grateful for the opportunities they gained through the grammar school system and wanted to preserve them for others from their background.

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Teachers could be either an inspiration to emulate or authority figures to rebel against. We have almost as many examples of conservative-minded pupils rebelling against left-wing teachers as left-wing pupils being inspired by them. Teachers could be of practical help to students wanting to study politics; some schools helped to build confidence and interest through political institutions: school councils, mock elections or debating societies. Some were introduced into politics through friends made at school. University life had a similar impact for those who attended. The freedom and intellectual atmosphere could develop a new interest or mature an existing one. Again, tutors and lecturers could both inspire or repel students, particularly those with leftwing views. Some took the opportunity to explore different political philosophies by joining multiple societies, either to help decide their own political opinions or because they were so interested in politics. As Chris Butler remembered, you could ‘spend all your time on politics’, and certainly several seemed to concentrate on politics to the exclusion of much else.4 Student politics, principally through the Unions at Oxford and Cambridge but also through the National Union of Students (NUS), could create a contact base very useful for later careers (see also Chapter 4). Ann Widdecombe, for example, gained a second undergraduate degree at Oxford after her first in Birmingham entirely to ‘[build] a base for [her] political future’.5 There were mixed reviews of the standard of student politics; debates could ‘bowl [you] over’ or be ‘trivial’, depending on your point of view.6 A number of our interviewees were involved in the radicalism of student politics in the 1960s and 1970s, both on the left and as moderates. A few were energized by it, others shocked. Yet as is always the case for students, for some the social attractions were more important than politics. Working life could prove just as formative, especially for those who had not been to university. This was perhaps more so for Conservative business owners, who came to believe that politicians and civil servants did not understand their world – or social workers who were struck by the level of inequality they saw. Unions could influence our interviewees in both ways: John Sykes’s defining political experience was begging a union to remove a secondary picket from his company during the Winter of Discontent;7 Maria Fyfe’s was fighting for, and winning, equal pay for women through her union.8 Most were already politically inclined by the time they started work. For some, a successful career before Parliament was a precondition for their decision to stand: they wanted financial independence first to ensure political independence from the whips’ office in Parliament and financial security afterwards. For those already involved in politics juggling their working lives and political commitments could be tricky, but at times working in a local authority or charity could complement a political life. Indeed, useful skills could be learned in surprising places; Jill Knight’s stage training stood her in good stead for a life in politics.9 *** I was going to be prime minister when I was four. No doubt about that. In fact I was trying to work out what I was going to do after I’ve been prime minister. [...] The thing

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

that fascinated me most about politics was: there was always something new tomorrow morning; you never knew where you were going or what you were doing. So exciting! […] So, yes, I wanted to do it from a very young age. Jeffrey Archer (Conservative, 1969–September 1974)10 [My friend and I] planned theoretically I would become prime minister and he would become first lord of the admiralty. [...] [I was] about fourteen, fifteen perhaps. [...] It remained an aspiration. [...] One of the things you had to do [at military training in Aldershot] was to write an essay. [...] I think it was about [ambition], and I set out there that prime ministership was one of my aspirations. Geoffrey Howe (Conservative, 1964–6; 1970–97)11 One thing I do remember was that on governors’ days [...] we’d all assemble [...] for lunch. [...] The governors would march in up to top table and we’d all have to stand up. [...] One of the governors was Douglas Glover MP, who was a giant of a man. He would march past our table. [...] I can always remember to this day looking up at him and thinking to myself, ‘Well, my goodness, he’s a Member of Parliament. Well if I work hard enough and prove all those people wrong, maybe one day I’ll be Member of Parliament as well.’ John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)12 It was quite an exciting time. The Conservatives had been in for quite a long time; it was the run up to the 1964 election, things were beginning to buzz. [...] Alec DouglasHome had come to Bolton for one of these outdoor [rallies] about a mile and a half from school. I nipped out, went down into town, stood in the crowd with one or two people who were heckling. [...] By the time I got back to school I was being looked for because one of the school governors had actually been on the platform. [...] I used to spend all my spare time [...] in the Labour Party office with the Labour Party agent who was my hero. Absolute hero, knew everything and everybody within politics. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)13 *** So I ended up in the public school. [...] Interestingly that was why I became a strong Labour Party supporter. Because I had a home, and saw working-class people, their ambitions and how they were thwarted quite often. I knew people who were made to leave school, classmates at sixteen because their parents needed the money, and I saw others who, it seemed to me, assumed that their life was going to be cushioned. I also saw what I thought was the worst sort of public schoolboy – many of them were very nice, I was friendly with many of them in those days – but there were quite a group who had an arrogance and conviction in their own abilities which exceeded their ability. I stood for the Labour Party in [school] mock elections in the 1950s. George Turner (Labour, 1997–2001)14 I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to go to a girls’ boarding school in Monmouth; it was probably the defining event of my life. [...] I didn’t have a very academic family and at the time I went to boarding school my family were living in a caravan so we were pretty hard up. Going to boarding school meant I mixed

Developing as a Politician

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with different people than I was used to, richer people than I was used to, more privileged people than I was used to. That was the beginning of my becoming very politicized as an individual, because I felt that by an accident of birth many people were able to have access to this better education. [...] I felt that that wasn’t fair, and also it was normal in the school for teachers, if ever politics was discussed, to make an assumption that people were either Conservatives or Liberals. So I became a socialist, because I was rebellious, wanted to be different. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997– 2001)15 The one thing that gave me the breakthrough was something we’re very proud of in Glasgow these days, and that is we had about five grammar schools. [...] Because I got into the Glasgow High School for boys [...] it was a fabulous opportunity. So of course I got to university. [...] The thing is that’s what drove me into the Tory Party, although I had a lot of problems with them, because it was the Labour Party who decided to abolish the grammar schools in Glasgow. It was a terrible thing they did because the people who suffered were poor children like myself who had a chance to break through. Instead you were just cut off in class situations. Teddy Taylor (Conservative, 1964–79; 1980–2005)16 I went to the Cathedral School in Wakefield, and I detested it from start to finish. I think partly because I lost so many friends, my friends from junior school went mainly to grammar school or to other schools. [...] I found the school a very brutal place. [...] Corporal punishment was very widely used in a way that I thought was actually quite brutal. Perhaps that created in me a very strong belief, which I followed through in politics, that physically assaulting children is not a great idea. I used to really detest the way some of the teachers treated the pupils. [...] My biggest regret was not being there in my final year when I would have qualified to play in the staff-school rugby league match because I was big enough to do a bit of damage and I would have damaged one particular teacher significantly [laughs]. I regret to this day missing that opportunity. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)17 The core of [my studies] was history and economics and my teacher was a great influence on all of us. He was a romantic socialist. [...] Everything was wrong, but it would never be put right and so forth. But of that if I took a dozen of us I think there were ten who were committed to voting Labour. [...] The day of [polling] in 1945 I went round on my bicycle instead of going to school. The following day, the Friday, the headmaster summoned us. [...] I said, ‘Please sir, I’ve been campaigning in the election because I thought it was very important.’ [...] ‘Ridiculous – you have a detention for half a day.’ That was the price – a price worth paying. So that was the degree of politicism in these seventeen year olds then. William Rodgers (Labour/SDP/LD, 1962–83)18 I went and had a conversation with the head teacher. [...] I said to her: ‘I want to leave Liverpool, I think it is going downhill fast, it’s losing population, strikes are destroying it. […] This is not the way forward, I don’t know what is but I’m pretty sure it’s not here, what do I do?’ She said, ‘University: [...] Oxford and Cambridge?’ ‘How do I get in to Oxford and Cambridge?’ […] She said, ‘There are two or three girls in your year who are perfectly capable of doing this. If you are willing I will form a

28

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

tutorial group’ […] Then we had to work out what my subjects were going to be. […] I said, ‘Well, I’m interested in politics.’ […] So she encouraged me to do things like joining the Liverpool Municipal Debating Society […] and she gave me a reading list for that summer. […] Really it took off from there. Edwina Currie (Conservative, 1983–97)19 I would always be happy to debate politics in class, right from being in the third form. I remember our English teacher there was a socialist, if not a communist. I can remember having lively debates with him which had nothing to do with learning English at all, but they certainly were instructive. I always respected him for his point of view. I don’t know what he thought of me, a snotty little third-former with my point of view. At any rate it was where I learned to debate things, and I got a reputation at school for being the politician. […] It was always said to me that one day I would be in the House of Commons. John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)20 *** One of things that we always did [at school] we always ran elections. So from the age of seven onwards in that primary school I was standing for election, making little speeches and things. […] Then I went to a girls’ grammar school […] whereby we had our own form councils which sent a representative to school council, which consisted of all the form councils plus the prefects and a representative of the teaching staff, and we made our own rules – we really did. They were mainly to do with school meals, homework, school uniform. The nice thing about it was that I think it taught us the way democracy works in a very practical way. [...] Because we did that, we didn’t ever learn anything like civics – we did history of course, and geography, English, religious studies – but we never learnt any civics or politics in my day, but we practiced it. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)21 It was actually at that time a very enlightened school, we had lots of societies. You were encouraged to write papers, to write heterodox papers. I wrote a number of papers for school societies including one that said public schools should be abolished. The masters thought it was rather interesting to have someone rebellious like that. They were all very tolerant about it too, because despite my rebellious views, I did in the end end up as head of the school. Dick Taverne (Labour/SDP, 1962–72; 1973–September 1974)22 The Korean War was on, I think. My teacher had been in the RAF and he decided to have a mock election. I stood for the Communist Party. I always remember I must have been actually quite good without realizing because he heckled me! [Laughs] Jim Sillars (Labour/SNP, March 1970–9; 1988–92)23 I never got into politics until I was about fifteen, sixteen maybe. I only got into politics accidentally, neither of my parents were active in politics. [...] At school my interest was debating, that’s how I got into politics, because I was very active in the debating societies. [...] In acting too, I’ve always been an actor. [...] Mostly [the debates] were [about] things like international security issues. [...] One of my debating opponents

Developing as a Politician

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was a guy called Jeremy Beecham, he’s now Lord Beecham, he’s a socialist. Timothy Kirkhope (Conservative, 1987–97)24 I’d been the ‘lieutenant’ to a lad called Norman Fairbairn. [...] I don’t suppose he knows about his seminal influence on my life at all, but I hated school dinners. [...] One day in the school yard there had been some particularly awful soup and Norman Fairbairn was a lad in the year above us and we were all together in the playground, [...] he said, ‘Let’s have a demo.’ I picked up on that immediately and embraced that delightedly. I was his wing-man as we got the other kids to march up and down the school yard shouting, ‘We want our money back!’ [Laughs] Having no idea how much money my parents paid and not being that bothered about it, but it was just great and glorious fun. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)25 *** Communists at university were regarded as the in thing, if you were a lecturer at university if you weren’t a communist you weren’t quite upmarket. [...] I decided to go in for history [at Glasgow University]. [...] One [lecture] was about Gustavus Adolphus, and his [motivation] was to find an outlet for surplus metal. I was furious about this; you had no idea how angry I was. I shouted and said ‘rubbish’ and walked out of the class. [...] The lecturer seemed quite pleased. [...] For them everything had to be to do with trade. I went to see them, they couldn’t have been nicer. [...] I said, ‘I just can’t put up with this.’ They very kindly arranged for me to [study] something else [...] so I switched to economics and politics. Teddy Taylor (Conservative, 1964–79; 1980–2005)26 There was one philosophical professor [at Edinburgh University] who had stood for Parliament as a Labour member. [...] I liked his approach, so I joined the Labour Party just before the 1951 general election. Ron Murray (Labour, 1970–9)27 By the time I went up to Oxford I was entirely used to living with, and being, one of a well-educated [group of] people from different social classes. [...] What was new to me was the intellectual life, the relentless criticism and analysis of ideas. [...] The same critical analysis was applied to my political ideas in a way it had never been before. [...] In a way it all suited my personality very well, because I was just fascinated by it. [...] I came to realize that a lot of the adolescent political ideas that I’d had [...] they were idealistic and lacking in realism. [...] It changed my ideas and it changed my approach to politics. That did have an enormous effect on me. Bryan Magee (Labour/ SDP, February 1974–83)28 *** As a student at Oxford I joined all the parties to see what they were like, as one did in those days. [...] I decided that on balance having tried them all, the Communists wanted to tell you how to think, the Liberals had good ideas but I didn’t think they would ever be in government. [...] On balance the left of the Labour Party seemed to be

30

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

more of a threat than the right of the Tory Party, so I came down with the Conservative Party and got more and more involved with them, being on the committee of OUCA [Oxford University Conservative Association] in Oxford and so on. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)29 There was a lot of political activity going on [at Cambridge] across the spectrum. Some people used to join the Cambridge University Conservative Association [...] but they’d also join the Labour club, just because they were so interested in politics. Sometimes they’d go to the Liberal meetings as well. There were also subgroups like PEST, Pressure for Economic and Social Toryism, which was on the left of the Conservative Party. [...] The Monday Club on the right, [...] I used to go to their meetings as well. You could spend all your time on politics frankly. There was the Union as well. There was a lot of politics and lots of visiting speakers, ministers and suchlike. Also there was the opportunity to practice public speaking, not only in terms of debating within your own college or in the Union, but also Central Office used to pay a lady called Stella Gatehouse to train up and coming Conservative hopefuls to speak better. [...] I used to go to quite a few of those. Chris Butler (Conservative, 1987–92)30 The first thing I did when I went up to Oxford was to try and join the University Conservative Association. I’m not quite sure why, but I thought, alright, let’s see what they’re like. I went along to see the chairman of the University Conservative Association, who was then a man called Viscount Stormont, who became Earl of Mansfield. [...] He was rather a nice chap but I went to tea in his rooms in Christ Church, not his room but his rooms, I mean palatial. I looked at this and I looked at him and we talked for about ten minutes, I thought: ‘not for me, I can’t do it.’ That’s I think what I call the osmotic legacy of being brought up in the valleys came out. I really couldn’t do it. [...] I became pretty non-political at Oxford. I joined the Union and made two speeches, both of which were dreadful [laughs]. Ivor Richard (Labour, 1964–February 1974)31 If you want to know where politics came from, the answer is Cambridge, Cambridge Union. That was because by 1948 the Conservatives were fighting back. They’d suffered this crushing defeat in ’45. [...] I quite quickly found myself the college representative of the University Conservative Association [...] because I had been going to meetings. [...] The thing was the meetings and then the Union. I never became an officer of the Union but I remember being absolutely bowled over by some of the speeches that one heard in the Union, the political speeches that one heard in the Union debates. Patrick Jenkin (Conservative, 1964–87)32 I never wavered from [my desire to be an MP]. [...] That’s partly why I chose the subject [at Royal Holloway] that I did. Happily in our first year we were all required to do what was described as ‘voice production’, I suppose that was the modern equivalent of the old-fashioned elocution. I was very interested in that, and when the year was over I asked the tutor [...] if she would take me privately. We did a certain amount of poetry reading but mostly public speaking. [...] In the end I concentrated on the public speaking, and she suggested that I should do the exams for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Janet Fookes (Conservative, 1970–97)33

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I wasn’t fantastically political [at Oxford]. [...] I joined the Labour club; I wasn’t a leading figure or anything like that. But I was absolutely gripped by politics. I read politics all the time; I had AJP Taylor as a tutor, who was very exciting. The general feeling of my friends basically was anti-Tory; we felt the Tories had been in long enough. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)34 *** I joined the Labour club [at Oxford] straight away. [...] When we had meetings with cabinet ministers you had 300, 400 people there. It was big business. In the Labour club I was very active, I became the editor of the magazine. We had a core group, [...] I became the chairman, [...] then Shirley [Williams] was the chairman and I was the deputy. So I was very much involved. I joined the Union, which was the great place which everybody said was the route to Westminster. I was a member and made speeches occasionally, but I thought it was rather adolescent. They were all showing off, I was rather more serious minded. [...] A lot of [my peers went on to lead public lives] – for example, Robin Day, [...] William Rees-Mogg, who became the editor of the Times who I meet in the House of Lords, my close friend Dick Taverne. [...] Really quite a lot of others either directly or indirectly. One man Tim Renton became Tory chief whip. [...] I tried to recruit him to the Labour club. [...] The fact is that Oxford was much more political than Cambridge. William Rodgers (Labour/SDP/LD, 1962–83)35 I was more active in the first year of [Edinburgh] University. I stood for the student council. After a year I realized this was trivial politics; it wasn’t what I was in politics for. I had the great good fortune in 1974 [...] an absolutely inspiring young man came to the Labour club and ask for support [in the election]: his name was Robin Cook. I worked for him tirelessly in that campaign, he then employed me, my first summer job was with Robin. Nigel Griffiths (Labour, 1987–2010)36 We decided we would go to a [...] Oxford University Conservative Association meeting. […] The three of us all spotted a young woman there, […] afterwards we went to the Randolph Hotel with the guest speaker […] for coffee, and [one of my friends] […] spilt some coffee over [her], he dashed off, […] in a fit of shyness the [other friend] dashed after him to see if he could help. So I said to the young woman, ‘Can I walk you back to your college?’ Well, we got married – we were together for three years at Oxford. Charles Wardle (Conservative, 1983–2001)37 We [with close friend Seretse Khama, future president of Botswana] both joined the Communist Party at Oxford, but in my case it was a very peripheral interest. I was keen on the secretary of the Communist Party, which was not reciprocated, as she discovered that my motives for joining were not entirely pure. Erik Lubbock (Liberal, 1962–70)38 *** [At the College of St Mark and St John, Chelsea, during the 1960s, I got involved with student politics]. In NUS we were battling against the left, and the Communists, there was

32

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

a full-time student Communist Party organizer from Communist Party headquarters. […] Very significantly during that period there were a lot of people involved in the NUS who are still around today. […] I suppose my closest friend from those days […] is Tom McNally [MP for Stockport South, 1979–83]. […] The best known would be Jack Straw. I led the campaign against Jack Straw because he was then the left-wing candidate in the student world. I defeated him the first time he stood as president of the NUS. […] We were called the hard-line moderates. [...] We held the line right through the ’60s. […] I went to Paris in ’68 during the student riots, expressing solidarity with the students. It was a pretty remarkable experience – horrific in some ways. The brutality of the CRS [Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité], the armed military police, was just unbelievable. But the violence of the students was pretty remarkable as well. […] They were having these twenty-four-hour debates […] bit like the debates [...] at Putney during the civil war. […] It was all very exciting. Ian Wrigglesworth (Labour/SDP, 1974–87)39 Warwick [University] lived entirely up to my expectations. There was some sort of event, an occupation, every single term. [Laughs] I just loved it. […] I did find the course […] very stimulating. […] I defined myself as an anarchist at university; we used to have hard-bitten old men who’d spent decades in prison in Spain coming to talk to us about the Spanish revolution. […] They were a stronghold of support for the provisional IRA [Irish Republican Army] as well. I kept out of all of that stuff. […] We had a student killed on a demonstration, in London, a fellow called Kevin Gately. […] Really pleased I didn’t go to that one. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)40 At that time, which was the early 1970s, [the University of Sussex] was a very radical and energizing place to be. A lot of people teaching there were, you know, very solidly on the left. Some of the student politics I wasn’t involved with at all, some of it I found quite difficult. Partly because a lot of it was focused on direct action, and that didn’t feel like my approach to politics really, [...] it wasn’t my comfort zone. […] That bit of it surprised me a bit, shouldn’t have done. I was terribly naive, […] having become middle class although [I was] not from a middle class background. […] The rest of it was energizing and exciting. Chris Pond (Labour, 1997–2005)41 Cambridge was changing: 1968 had happened. We were now into the early ’70s. There was a progressive radical spirit in the air. One of the most perfect vignettes of Cambridge radicalism was, I remember, [in] the early ’70s. [...] We had a sit-in at the Old Schools; I completely forget what the issue was. [...] We invaded the great Combination Room of the Old Schools for about two or three days. The vanguard of students as they came through the doors [...] held everyone up behind so that they could roll the William Morris carpet up so that it wouldn’t get damaged. That’s a combination of radicalism and Cambridge for you. Chris Smith (Labour, 1983–2005)42 *** Working life could be equally formative for our interviewees’ political views. I worked for ten years running a manufacturing group. […] In that time I had been asked […] to become involved with the CBI [Confederation of British Industry]. […]

Developing as a Politician

33

Somebody at the CBI said why don’t we put you up for the CBI national council? By this time it was serious politics, with the West Midlands branch we were meeting […] Birmingham MPs and from the area, so Betty Boothroyd [MP for West Bromwich West, 1973–2000] was there, all sorts of people were there. […] That was where the political bug was beginning to bite. […] It was increasingly obvious in the West Midlands that the political audience wasn’t always receptive to what was really going on in business. Charles Wardle (Conservative, 1983–2001)43 [Working at Waddington’s games] instilled in me a sense of prejudice against the public sector, really, bureaucracy and things like that, which looking back was damaging because it was inaccurate. I had a certain arrogance about private industry: I am from industry, I employ people, what I know is best, we are the wealth creators of Britain. I hear people in industry say that nowadays and I want to punch them because actually people in the academic world, people in the public sector are intellectually just as able, but just have totally different standards of public accountability. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)44 I had a fairly progressive attitude to industrial relations in those days, but I have to say I lost it completely during that winter [1978–9]. I remember having to go, because of the strikes, secondary picketing, and general chaos and anarchy that prevailed in the time, I remember going with one of our shop stewards […] to union headquarters, somewhere in Leeds. There were lots of men wandering around in boiler suits holding pieces of paper, and actually what they were doing was holding the country to ransom. […] Frank and I then had to go to see some kangaroo court in the evening to try and get their permission so that a secondary picket would be taken off [our company’s] front gates. I had to go there, on bended knee, to beg this committee, this kangaroo court, so that the oil could be delivered into the tanks otherwise the oil tanks would dry up, heat would stop going to the kilns, the kilns would cool and crack, and then thousands of people would be out of work. Fortunately we got this permission and I went back and went straight to the front of a line of lorries – I was only twenty-two at this time, I had to do all this and see all this anarchy around me. [...] I remember a driver coming in almost in tears because he’d had threats and his wife and family had had threats because they’d delivered oil to a hospital, through a secondary picket. [...] I looked at the whole [situation] and thought, ‘This cannot carry on.’ That’s what fired me into politics, big time. I became quite a political animal after that. The only way of sorting this country’s problems out at that time was to vote for Margaret Thatcher, and get involved in it. John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)45 [My career as a social worker] reinforced my political outlook, because in South Leeds at that time I was working in a very tough area, with very bad slums, awful poverty. It made me feel very deeply about what we needed to do about the circumstances of people. As quite a young man I saw stuff that most people never see, in terms of child abuse [and so on]. It had an effect on me and my outlook, and made me very passionate about issues such as poverty, healthcare and social services. It was a huge learning experience. [...] I’d always had a comfortable background, we never had a lot but I never went without. [...] It was a big influence on my thinking and partly the reason

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why I stood for council: the political side of my life was a way of getting rid of some of the frustrations over how little you could do for a lot of these people. Politics, rather than social work, I saw was the solution to their circumstances in many instances. It kept me sane I think, politics. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)46 I went to work at the gas board. […] What got to annoy me was this: there were two ladders of promotion, one was for the clerks and one was for the secretaries, and you weren’t allowed to cross over. Girls left school being told to learn secretarial skills […] and in reality the clerks were paid more. I thought they should be paid the same for work of equal value. […] We had to fight it first of all in our own union. […] I remember our male colleagues said to us: ‘Of course you shouldn’t get the same pay as us. We compose the letters, you only type them up.’ So I said to other women in the branch, why don’t we just one day type exactly what we get. […] We corrected spellings, we got addresses right. So [instead] we typed up exactly what we got. This lasted one day and they gave in, they took it up with the management. […] Eventually enough pressure was put on that equal pay was won [nationally]. Maria Fyfe (Labour, 1987–2001)47 *** I was also by then managing children’s homes and fostering, various resources for children in Lancaster. So I was doing this thing which is now almost outlawed, which is sort of twin tracking, being a councillor in one local authority and having a serious influence on another authority about how policies operated. [...] I managed to secure an exemption [to the rule that high-level council employees could not sit on the council]. I was challenged by a Tory councillor. […] I got a letter […] that said I had absolutely no influence whatsoever on the policies of Lancashire County Council, which I thought was rather good. The thing that I did have huge influence on was the lives of young people. […] At the same time as a councillor I was able to influence the housing policies of the local authority to provide housing for young people leaving care. I sometimes think politically, in terms of having an effect on people’s lives, more than an MP, that was the most effective period of my life. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)48 It wasn’t easy; [...] I was selected as the candidate for South Ayrshire [...] in October ’76 [...]. I was a councillor at Edinburgh Lothian, chairman of the education committee, and running Age Concern Scotland, so it wasn’t very easy. I used to get up early in the morning and go to [Age Concern] offices [...] before anyone else, get everything going. Go to a council meeting one day at eleven o’clock, stay there for lunch, go back to Age Concern till about five. Then drive down to Cumnock and address a meeting of widows, or pensioners, or whatever, as part of the campaign. Then drive back again and then go to bed. Then get up, and not do exactly the same the next day. [...] It was hard but it was probably the most exciting time of my life. George Foulkes (Labour, 1979–2005)49 I’d had a bit of a stage training, because I was on the stage for a little while. […] I was a WAAF [member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force] for some time; I was on the

Developing as a Politician

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stage there with the girls’ Gangshow. When I came out of the WAAF, I was in London a bit in Cabaret. […] Stage training helps you a lot, because it helps you ‘produce’ your voice. […] You [learn certain lessons]; you must remember that if you don’t look at your audience you lose your audience. That’s why it’s really the kiss of death to read a speech. Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–97)50 1965 I clearly thought I had sort of made it. I was earning a lot of money […] I felt I could launch into politics. […] I took the view that I would very much like to be a Member of Parliament, but I had no ambitions to be a minister or anything. [...] The key was, could I be financially independent by the time I was forty? I was not prepared to stand for Parliament until I was financially independent. I could see a number of people who lose their seat in their mid-fifties, can’t earn a living, can’t educate their children. […] I never wanted to be rich, but I wanted to be financially independent, and I got it. I was forty-two when I got in, which was near enough, for me. John Wakeham (Conservative, 1974–92)51 I would say involvement in the world of business was essential as far as I was concerned for the House of Commons. […] I am deeply, deeply grateful for having had that practical experience. But there’s another feature of earning one’s living outside the House of Commons which I think is significant, that it gave a degree of independence that was invaluable. […] I needed to earn a living. Edward du Cann (Conservative, 1956–87)52

Part II

Politics before Westminster

3

Joining the party Getting involved in politics

I came back [from Kenya] knowing that I [would have] to be involved in politics. [...] You see I had grown up in a very monocultural atmosphere in Sunderland, and I just thought that was the way the world was. That we were the beginnings of the welfare state and that was where everybody was going. That sounds really naive now. [...] You didn’t really know how the rest of the world was, and I’d come from a family where we were more interested in that than most. What I did get was a knowledge and understanding that the world can be different, that you can organize things in different ways, that leadership matters, and that choices you make therefore are very important. So I came back fairly convinced that I wanted to be involved politically, whether it ever was a full-time thing I wasn’t bothered about, but I really wanted to make a contribution. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)1

Having either grown up with or developed an interest in political life, the next step for the interviewees was to become more formally involved in politics. Some of them were politically active from their early teens. Others remembered a specific decision to join a party, whether because of ambition to pursue a political career, a desire to make changes in society, or social or local causes. These decisions were very personal and were often seen as an important turning point, leading to a future in Parliament. For those active in their teens or early twenties, the political youth movements of the 1950s and 1960s – the Young Conservatives, Young Socialists and Young Liberals – were very influential, mixing politics with social events: a ‘marriage bureau’2 that provided ‘foot soldiers’ at election time.3 As at university, some joined a wide range of organizations before finding their political home. The Young Conservatives were more popular among Tories than their counterparts were among members of other political parties. For those with a strong interest in politics the social side of these organizations could be too frivolous, but they did offer good opportunities and valuable experiences for many. Particularly on the political left, it was wider changes in society that spurred them to become actively involved. The experience of the Second World War, and either support

40

The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

of or opposition to Clement Attlee’s 1945 government, inspired one generation. For some younger would-be politicians the atmosphere of the 1960s, the ‘general feeling that the world was wrong and could be put right’, meant that formal political engagement was an almost natural step.4 Others were inspired by either particular politicians – Harold Wilson was mentioned even by Conservative Michael Stern – or new parties or party groupings.5 The Bow Group6 and a desire to change the Conservative Party ‘in the hands of a lot of toffs’ encouraged some to join.7 Rosie Barnes was so attracted to the values of the newly formed SDP that she was propelled into activism.8 A change in their lives or lifestyle could trigger more active involvement, such as a new job, leaving university or moving to a new area of the country. For women this often revolved around childcare responsibilities, perhaps as in Marion Roe’s case, waiting until the children were older to have more time to pursue politics.9 People who became members of the Labour Party would often recall a specific issue of particular importance to them personally – education policy, or maternity care, for example – as encouraging them to get involved. Some, of all parties, simply thought that they could do the job better than those currently in office. Others joined their local parties with few ambitions of their own but gradually became more heavily involved. The excitement of electioneering drew some in: Michael Heseltine remembered impulsively joining the Conservatives campaigning in Swansea in 1951 without knowing why;10 and Diana Maddock described getting ‘hooked’ on campaigning with her local Liberal Democrat Party.11 For those who did have clear political ambitions a job working directly in politics was one way to gain experience and contacts – as a party agent, or in party organizations like the Fabian Society.12 Many considered becoming a councillor a vital first step on the way to standing as an MP; in some cases it was more enjoyable and important than their later careers in Parliament, with a chance to make a direct impact that few MPs could enjoy. A few found it less stimulating, particularly when their fellow councillors were complacent or inactive. But in all cases it provided a valuable apprenticeship for Parliament. *** I’m married to a fellow Young Conservative. [...] It was the social side that attracted people. Nowadays young people have got plenty of money and there’s plenty of choice as to what to do. In those days there wasn’t, and it was a case of ‘where can you meet other young people?’ [...] It was a colossal organization and of course it gave the main party a lot of foot soldiers in election time. [...] After 1959 [...] I joined the Young Conservatives, then I became a branch chairman, a constituency chairman, I was elected [...] onto the Greater London Young Conservatives council. [...] Then I joined what was called in those days the Conservative Political Centre when I got too old for the Young Conservatives that was supposed to be the intellectual heft of the party. Michael Knowles (Conservative, 1983–92)13 There were outstanding figures who came up through the Young Conservatives because they were articulate and leaders, but basically the Young Conservatives were a marriage

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bureau. They were enormous. The Guildford Young Conservatives, when I went there in ’66, had about 4,000 members. […] They were immensely influential, and very well handled and run by the Conservative Party. […] Some were innovative, some did form groups, but policy wasn’t their thing. [They] were organizational, bringing together a lot of people and maybe trying to latch them on to the Conservative Party for the future. There was a very heavy social element [...] and very effective. David Howell (Conservative, 1966–97)14 We were pretty fed up with the Young Conservatives then because it was completely social. That sounds like a contradiction but [...] every week was [a trip to] an ice rink or [something]. Very little politics. By then [...] I had been asked to do a debate at a Young Conservative branch [...] and I went [...] and I got hooked. [...] But when I came back from my first time in Guildford [...] we decided to set up a new Young Conservative branch in Newcastle which called itself a political Young Conservative branch. We put out a notice through doors; [...] it was quite a rude, provocative type of note. [...] About fifteen people turned up. [...] We were active, we were activists, you know, we caused quite a lot of trouble because we challenged the local association who were having a cosy time. The MP got worried about us. We marched on the civic centre in Newcastle when it was opened at public expense to demand that the people having the opening dinner should pay for their own tickets. [...] We were [...] then straight into what I regarded as a Conservative approach, and they didn’t like us really too much. Timothy Kirkhope (Conservative, 1987–97)15 [As national chair of the Young Conservatives] I was on the party’s National Executive, aged twenty-seven, I was on the little committee that had to say whether people were suitable as parliamentary candidates or not. Amazing the power that the YCs had. Of course, if you were going to make the same speech every weekend, after a few weeks it becomes very good indeed and I could make people laugh. So I would be the highlight of the conference, not quite the highlight of the conference, I’d be the main internal speaker and then we would have some cabinet minister or shadow minister and that was the format for the conference. It was extremely good fun. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)16 I remember when the Conservative Party set up an organization in the constituency, they came to the little village called Gomersal, which is in the constituency and called together to see if there were any Young Conservatives, so my mother said ‘you’d better go along to that’, so I duly went along and to my astonishment found myself coming out as chairman of the local branch. I became eventually chairman of the constituency YCs, and then I became chairman of the Yorkshire area YCs, and then I gave that up because by that time we were changing the constituency slightly and we were trying to get together with the National Liberals to have one united association, which we did, and I was the chairman of it. And then it came to 1959, well before that, we were desperate to have a candidate, and they said, ‘Well, come on, Mike, why don’t you have a go?’ So I did, and I got [the incumbent] down to [a majority of] about sixty I think it was, but he won. […] He died the following year, in Strasbourg, and so there was a by-election. I’d already told my partners I’d finished with politics, now I’ve done my stuff, but I’m afraid

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

everybody said, ‘No, you’ve got to carry on.’ So I did. And I won the seat. Michael Shaw (Conservative, 1966–92)17 I had no very strong political views. I wasn’t absolutely sure which side of the political fence that I was likely to fall down on. Indeed I am one of the very few members of the Fabian Society [...] who became a Conservative Member of Parliament. [...] I used to go because, in a way, it was for me part of what I thought I would have got out of going to university when I was busy working. [...] I also became an active Young Conservative during the same time. I also became a member of the Young Farmers’ clubs, I won public speaking competitions, and represented them abroad. [...] I was pretty active in all those sorts of things. John Wakeham (Conservative, February 1974–92)18 [The Young Socialists] used to meet every Sunday night, and we’d have a speaker at our meetings. We would be involved in supporting candidates in elections, so we would be canvassing, going out knocking on doors. We would go to work in parliamentary by-elections all over the place during the ’60s and ’70s. I gradually got more and more engrossed with politics. The more you get around [...] you meet interesting people, you learn about things and the whole drama of politics becomes absolutely fascinating. [...] The ’60s was an amazing time to be growing up because so much was going on. [...] There was lots of hassle around race, apartheid [...] that I was very, very conscious of. We’d have speakers from all over the place, [...] we’d do debates with young liberals and young tories. It was just a genuinely interesting time to be involved in politics as a young guy. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)19 *** I think that the fear of invasion [during the Second World War] was probably the single most powerful, effective experience of my life because it came at a very impressionable age. [...] I lived in a state of high tension until I was nine and the war was over. [...] From the very beginning I thought that my life should be devoted to peacemaking. Robert Maclennan (Labour/SDP/LD, 1966–2001) I could have taken a job at Oxford, I was offered a fellowship at Merton College. The main reason I went into politics was to stop a third world war because wars are made by governments and you can only really influence that if you are involved in politics and indeed government. Denis Healey (Labour, 1952–92)20 I remember 1945 very sharply – the Labour landslide of 1945 – and the sense everybody had this was a new start, a new beginning, something very dramatic and unusual, and the world would never be quite the same again. That really had an impact on me I think because I would be, what? About twelve then I suppose. [...] There wasn’t any politics during the war in any meaningful way, so it was a sudden release of the tensions in 1945. John Cartwright (Labour/SDP, October 1974–92)21 The autumn of my final year [in Oxford], in 1956, was Suez. I felt passionately about Suez. […] There was this not very convincing claim that Britain and France had to move in in order to preserve the viability of the Suez Canal. Which Parliament went along with

Joining the Party

43

and this finally made me say: ‘Well, if Parliament is the place where something like this can be stopped, possibly, by the votes of Members of Parliament, that’s where I would like to be. That is where I want to be.’ Michael Barnes (Labour, 1966–February 1974)22 My father used to attack me because he said I was too right-wing; some people in the [Labour] League of Youth also said I was too right-wing. I was a bit torn: I wasn’t thinking of joining the Tories or anything, but you get fed up of [being called] a rightwinger. It was partly because I thought nuclear weapons were a deterrent, if they were a deterrent they were preventing war, and that might be a good thing actually. I was also very, very aware of the events leading up to the Second World War and the awful effect of appeasement. So people going around saying we mustn’t do anything about dictators, we must leave them in their country: well no, actually. They are a profound danger. That sort of view is not popular in the Labour Party, although it became popular for a while when people realized how disastrous appeasement was. Clive Soley (Labour, 1979–2005)23 *** I guess I was ambitious. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my life. I wanted to change the world. My mindset was that you changed the world through politics, so the logical conclusion is to become an MP. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)24 I said, ‘I don’t want to be someone who carries out policy. I want to be someone who helps make policy, I mean in Parliament.’ So I joined the Labour Party, I came out in trade union [activities] and all the other things. I joined the local Labour Party, tried to make a name for myself. In ’59, four years after I came out of the Army, I was selected for, of all places, Finchley – [against] Mrs T. [Margaret Thatcher]. Eric Deakins (Labour, 1970–87)25 I guess I wanted to make a difference, change the world, whatever – do something useful, and being a councillor seemed like possibly part of that. It’d be a useful thing to do, we had control of education, public transport, social services etc. etc. [...] I found the idea of being part of a team trying to do something in terms of improving public services a very attractive proposition. [...] As an academic [...] the thing I found frustrating was that so much of it seemed not to be about the real world – mathematical modelling in economics had become really, really big. [...] I thought [...] that branch of academia was not in touch with the real world. Interestingly my criticism of politics is in a sense the opposite, it’s strongly anti-intellectual. Roger Berry (Labour, 1992–2010)26 I’ve always felt deeply concerned to try and work for a better world. But particularly two issues – global poverty and the potential threat posed by nuclear weapons – struck me as two overriding – these were the things that were going to be vital for the future of the planet in a way. As I thought about it I started thinking – yes, I would like to get more actively involved in politics. Malcolm Savidge (Labour, 1997–2005)27 [My predecessor] didn’t have a great success and I thought it could be done better. So that’s where vanity comes into it. It comes into all politicians’ lives, I can assure you.

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[…] I thought, well, I can do this anyway and I can do this as well, and I would like to do it because my family have always wanted to do things like that. There are one or two things I would like to change. I felt, I suppose arrogantly, rather critical of the people who did go into politics in Northern Ireland in those days. […] I said, well, why don’t I have a shot at it? I want to show that we can produce people here who will take a wider interest in the world and look at things outside the Northern Ireland case as well as sustaining it. Robin Chichester-Clark (Ulster Unionist, 1955–February 1974)28 When Ernest Bevin came up to Glasgow on occasion I was introduced to him, I was introduced to Hugh Gaitskell, quite a number of other Labour politicians, of course I met Conservatives as well but that was more through my father’s social and medical connections. After the Attlee government I was very impressed by the social legislation, particularly the National Health Service. [...] I think in my early teens I became more and more of the view that the Labour Party was the reforming party that was trying to represent all the people. Robert Maclennan (Labour/SDP/LD, 1966–2001)29 [In the 1960s there was] just a general feeling that the world wasn’t right and it could be put to right, and that it was up to this new generation to try and put it to rights. So it was just listening to everybody and everything and thinking there was a lot of work out there to do. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)30 When people [ask me] why did you get involved in politics, I quite often say it’s because I grew up in the 1960s when we really did feel that we could change the world. Through campaigning, voting and making decisions. It was the time of Harold Wilson coming to power in Britain, Kennedy in the United States; it was the time of Martin Luther King, the Paris events of 1968. It was a lot of really optimistic radical thinking that affected all of us who were young. We wanted to go out and be part of changing things. Chris Smith (Labour, 1983–2005)31 The 1960s was an interesting time in lots of ways. A lot of the single issue groups [...] by which I mean Young Oxfam, Shelter was formed – the anti-apartheid movement was very strong. I got involved in all of those actually really before I got much involved with the Young Liberals. It brought me to try to look for a philosophy if you like – something that encapsulated what it was all about. That’s what brought me into the Young Liberals. Graham Tope (Liberal, 1972–February 1974)32 *** I joined the Labour Party in 1954. I joined it in the village of Cwmcarn where it was emphasized to me that you joined a working-class party and that the Tories were a middle-class party and you should keep your class loyalty intact. […] Politics was a class affair then [...] and it was rigid class too. I was told in no uncertain terms of the side I should be on and I was. Kenneth Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)33 By ’58, ’59 Labour was doing nothing. The circumstances in Southport were that Liberals were the main anti-Conservative force. I suppose it’s part of my personality and make-up that I’m more libertarian than Labour. [...] The whole purpose of a liberal

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society is to try to accommodate the personality of individuals. [...] I had this view. [...] I was not going to be put into any kind of mould or straitjacket. I happened to be involved with Liberals but I found that that is what I am. The thing is, once you realize you are a Liberal it is a life sentence. Michael Meadowcroft (Liberal, 1983–7)34 It was while I was with Age Concern, I didn’t particularly think in terms of political parties, that George Foulkes, who was to become an MP in 1979, had suggested to me that I might want to join the Labour Party. I’d had said to him, ‘Well, I’m not that entirely sure that I believe in everything that any one party stands for.’ He said, ‘Well, you know, from where I’m stood you seem to think along the lines of the values and principles of the Labour Party, so you can always come in, and you can try and contribute to changing it, the bits that you don’t like. If in the end it doesn’t add up and overall it doesn’t appeal to you then you can always leave.’ That would’ve been about 1974, I guess. Well, here we are several decades later. Linda Gilroy (Labour, 1997–2010)35 I was very grateful to a significant person – George Rodgers [MP for Chorley 1974–9] – who was the chair of the [local] party; he was standing for election for Chorley. [...] George was the first person that I got to know and he encouraged me a great deal. I have vivid memories of a debate in the constituency; because I was shy, I didn’t speak in meetings. It was about South Africa or something. He just looked at me from the chair and said: ‘Helen, you feel strongly about this’ and I had no option. [...] It was certainly a change from me being the behind-the-scenes organizer, political education secretary, good on the telephone, good at chatting to people, enjoyed all that, but speaking in public no, wasn’t for me. I’ve always been grateful to George for making me. [...] We didn’t have a women’s organization in Hightown. I said ‘no, no, no, we’re not having one of them, I’m not going to be left making the tea.’ I was good at canvassing. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)36 The three things I suppose I felt strongly about were health, education and housing. What I would say I am is a believer in equality of opportunity. I think everyone should be given a good start in life. If you’ve got decent accommodation, decent schooling and a decent health service then I would say by and large the rest is over to you. [...] I would have always been a Labour voter up until that point; I never became actively involved in politics. [...] Then the Labour Party started to go way to the left, especially in London. [...] So I’d got very disillusioned with the Labour Party, and at the time the Tory Party seemed very right-wing under Margaret Thatcher. The thing that I think tipped the scales for many people was the privatization of water, [...] the idea that people can own water – I mean water drops out of the sky, it’s given to us. [...] I felt [this] was just outrageous. [...] So when the SDP was formed it seemed, to me, a perfect encapsulation of my views really. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)37 I think the real trigger [for joining the Labour Party] was the scandals in the Conservative Party, and I was quite inspired by Harold Wilson and his ‘white heat of the technological revolution’. That I found really exciting and the Conservative Party was falling apart at that time anyway. I don’t think I would have ever joined the Conservative Party but that was the trigger for me. I was quite inspired by Harold Wilson, the fact he came

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

from Huddersfield, which was near where I was born and brought up, [and that] was an additional trigger, I think. These things do influence you. So I felt he was somebody that I could really relate to. Anne Campbell (Labour, 1992–2005)38 My first vote was in 1964, and I voted Labour because I believed Harold Wilson and the ‘white heat of the technological revolution’. At that stage I was just completing my training as an accountant; I wasn’t really interested in politics. Albeit I had stirrings of political ambition and hadn’t yet decided which party to join. [...] In the years after ’64 I decided that I did want to pursue a political career. [...] I decided on the purely practical grounds that, shortly after I qualified I became a partner in an accountancy firm, which meant I was self-employed. In order to get on in the Labour Party at the time you had to be a member of a trade union, you had to be active in a trade union, which wasn’t for me. I didn’t fancy the Liberals, so naturally I joined the Conservatives. Michael Stern (Conservative, 1983–97)39 I’m not sure that we were especially anxious to be councillors; it was more a question of another avenue of propaganda. We were very hot on trying to convert people to what we saw as the true path. We thought Labour Party members were pretty stodgy, and not really socialists at all [laughs]. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1970–97)40 There were a group of people who met at [Federation of University Conservative Association] gatherings, probably about twenty of us to begin with. [...] The Bow Group really came into existence because we felt that the Labour Party had a stronger intellectual component in the Fabian Society. We therefore formed ourselves into a challenger of the Fabian Society. [...] We set about producing a lot of pamphlets and so on: the first one [...] was on ‘coloured’ people in Britain. We’d noticed that in all of the Union debates in all our universities, the handful of then colonial or Commonwealth students almost all voted Labour. Geoffrey Howe (Conservative, 1964–6; 1970–97)41 We thought that [the Conservative Party] was in the hands of a lot of toffs, and people who were insulated against the normal pressures of life, [who were] not really sympathetic to business at all, or trade, and it was about time there was a change. […] We knew we wanted to get away from socialism and from Conservative socialism and ‘upper-class-ism’, and we wanted to go for a market economy. We wanted to follow the German example, we admired [Chancellor of West Germany] Ludwig Erhard and the social market economy doctrines, and we noticed that the whole of continental Europe was adopting market economics, moving away from socialism and doing very well, thank you. […] The Bow Group was ancillary to the Conservative Party. It was the shake-up organization inside the younger generation of the Conservative Party. We began publishing documents and working on research and generally making a noise. That led to links with other dining groups and slightly young revolutionary groups inside the Conservative Party. That led one to meet all these other people, and the logical thing began to be – as we were all full of ideas for reform – that we needed to get into Parliament. So one began to look for a seat. David Howell (Conservative, 1966–97)42 It was really with [the Bow Group’s] encouragement that I went down to Greenham [Common].43 When I wrote my report […] I wrote about what I actually found at

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Greenham, how I could feel that there was a huge amount of emotion, a lot of money behind them. I felt that they were trading on propaganda and misinformation which needed a really hard think about how to respond. At that time there was no response. […] I said we needed to have a grassroots fight back with other women. ‘Ooooh! Oh gosh, Conservative women don’t go and do that, you know, we don’t put on woolly hats!’ That’s why in fact Virginia [Bottomley], Anne [Widdecombe] and Angela Rumboldt were so terrific, actually, as they were prepared to fly in the face of all that. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)44 Then something idiotic happened, which was that by the mid-1970s, and the humiliation politically of those years. The Tory Party was obviously gearing itself up to an election that it thought it could win. It would have been odd if somebody with my background, and also feeling that it was embarrassing what a joke the country had become, if I hadn’t had some sort of outside yen about politics. Robert GascoyneCecil (Conservative, 1979–87)45 *** Some interviewers needed something to change in their lives before they were able to get involved in politics, or a very personal issue pushed them into doing so. [With my] children growing up, I [was] beginning to think what am I going to do with the rest of my life? Having literally been within [my] four walls. [...] The more I thought about it, the golf club didn’t really appeal, neither did the Women’s Institute I confess. [...] This was in the 1970s; there was a lot of disruption within our country at that time. [...] The more I thought about it the more I began to think: ‘What sort of country are my children going to inherit? And if I don’t like what I see going on now, shouldn’t I be doing something about it?’ I then decided [...] I was going to become a Member of Parliament. The only problem was I had to work out how to get there having been just a housewife! [...] So I arrived [for a meeting] at Conservative Central Office. [...] [The party official] said, ‘You’re the first person ever to come into this office and say that, they usually [...] say [they] know everything about politics, where’s the safe seat?’ [Laughs] [...] She told me that in those days Conservative HQ organized courses on those four things, speech preparation, delivery of speeches, TV and debating. [...] I did those courses; [...] it was the best thing I ever did. [...] So I came back to my constituency, [...] within literally a few days I was secretary of the local [Conservative] women’s organization. [...] They were just fantastic to me. I never hid my desires [...] and they gave me tremendous support. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)46 Then I got married, nowhere to live. [...] So I said there’s got to be a better life than this. So I joined the Labour Party. [...] It was [made up of] smart, working-class people who never had a chance. [...] Housing, housing was terrible. You had all these houses that were still standing, they were damaged, but you couldn’t buy one. You had no chance on a waiting list [for a new home]. It was ten years literally. [...] People did live in [the damaged houses] but nobody would let you buy one or lend you the money. [...] Here I was, by this time I was doing well at work, I was in the drawing office [...] but we just

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couldn’t get a mortgage. [...] We never had a house with running hot water until I was twenty-six years old. Joe Ashton (Labour, 1968–2001)47 I joined the Labour Party – I think it was in 1968. [...] I had twelve months when I was unemployed and that reminded me of all the struggles and miseries of my mother and father struggling with unemployment in the 1930s. It developed a sort of anger with society because I was highly qualified, and if I couldn’t easily get a job then what chance had people with no qualifications and no experience? So this became a very important issue for me, and it was something which absorbed me in my early years of politics: youth unemployment. Derek Foster (Labour, 1979–2005)48 I was then very much involved with the Common Market campaign, Federal Union,49 all of those things which were all-party activities. It was actually an extremely able Labour supporter, [...] who said at a meeting [of the Federal Union], ‘Of course, we all come to these meetings and we talk about what we want to achieve. But we should all realize that we will never achieve any of these objectives unless we persuade the political parties to adopt some of our policies. Therefore those of us who are here’ – like him – ‘who are active in the Labour Party, are trying to persuade them. But there are other people’ – of which I was obviously one – ‘who are active with us, delighted that they are, but who play no part in real politics. And I think they ought to think about whether that’s the most useful thing for them to do.’ It was him [...] he knows, it was a member of the Labour Party who finally kicked me [into doing] something about it. So I joined the Conservative Party. John Wakeham (Conservative, February 1974–92)50 So then when we came back from Oxford we were political animals really. We were members of the Labour Party but we joined the local Labour Party, and just got more and more involved. We did every job: collecting subscriptions, delivering leaflets, selling tote tickets, organizing socials, being officers in the party, conference delegates. [...] My husband became a local councillor but the children were quite young so I didn’t do that, but I was always involved. I can remember my son, he was in a pram, pushing it backwards and forwards with my foot while I was doing an agents’ course for the Labour Party [laughs]. [...] I sometimes went out on demos, when [Margaret] Thatcher sold all the council houses I went with friends and we took all the kids. [...] Every general election we worked flat out for the candidate. I sort of came to the realization that we were doing all the work, so perhaps we should stand! Eileen Gordon (Labour, 1997–2001)51 We had local elections and somebody knocked on my door. [...] I said I was going to vote Liberal, nobody had been elected in Southampton as a Liberal since about 1919, so this was quite a strange sort of thing. [Interruption] I had just stopped work, I was six months pregnant. After the election the same lady [invited me] to join the Liberal Party. I thought ‘I’m going to be at home, why not?’ So I said yes. Little did I know that that would colour the rest of my life. [...] Then there was a group of people who were campaigning very hard to get somebody elected to the council. [...] We had something called the Association of Liberal Councillors, who practiced what we called community politics, which was actually getting involved with your community, trying to deal with the problems, and then people would see that you were serious about

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what you were doing. [...] The result of that was I got hooked on campaigning. Diana Maddock (LD, 1993–7)52 There were some SNP guys [speaking] on a platform [...] [at] the place in Edinburgh where you could get up and speak, bit like Hyde Park corner. They were going on about independence for Scotland. [...] I started saying to them: ‘Well if you want it so much why don't you do what the Irish did, get elected and refuse to take part?’ Suddenly they both got off the soap box that they were on and walked away. So, faced with an empty soapbox: what am I going to do? I’m going to fill it. Nature abhors a vacuum [laughs]. So I started speaking to these people and all of a sudden a group of about fifteen or twenty of them came back, didn't they, with their mates. So I did a sprint for a bus, and caught it very fast on the run. Clive Soley (Labour, 1979–2005)53 [When we moved to Liverpool] at that point I became political, [...] one of the things was having my first child and feeling the maternity services hadn’t been what they should have been. So I then started joining a lobby group on maternity services. [...] That switched me on. I joined the Labour Party because I thought it’s no point [just] trying to improve the maternity services, I will join the party. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)54 What actually [led me to be more involved] was the reform of local government, which took place in 1974 when Norfolk County Council took over from Norwich City education. One of the consequences of that was my youngest daughter [...] had her starting date for school changed – delayed. [...] I had always thought that it was a good idea for education to be started pre-five and so did Norwich City. [...] I decided I’d had enough of just complaining, so I actually then stood for the county council. George Turner (Labour, 1997–2001)55 *** Others, already interested in politics, sought employment within parties or political organizations. The big thing really was that I got this job as international secretary of the Labour Party. That was the most valuable period of my life, because the British Labour Party was very popular all over the world with socialist movements. I used to go to the Socialist Party conferences all over Europe, East Europe as well as West Europe. I met people who joined government with the Communists as well as people who were very anti-communist indeed. I met socialist people in India, Burma, China – everywhere. […] It was absolutely critical I think, because I learned more about foreign affairs during those six years than I could ever have learned otherwise. I met people of key importance, all of whom became ministers, many of them prime ministers. Denis Healey (Labour, 1952–92)56 [As an agent] often I was organizing parish elections, county council elections and [my husband’s] election, all at the same time. […] One thing I am, is a good organizer [laughs]. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was just getting him and the other people to the

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

right place at the right time, seeing that they had the right material, seeing that they could get from door to door. It was much better organized, grassroots organization, in those days. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)57 It was an ideal job for me [at the Fabian Society] I had a staff of twelve people, which was a good experience. [...] I had lessons which carried over to when I became a minister. [...] I built the research programme, I drove around the country going to universities [asking people to write pamphlets], I wrote one pamphlet myself. [...] I was involved in organizing things of various kinds, and I had a lot of personal contact with leading politicians. William Rodgers (Labour/SDP/LD, 1962–83)58 During the five years at the [Fabian] Society it really made up for my not having gone to university. [...] I was basically full time in politics. [Long omission] At that time we produced one or two pamphlets a month, [...] at least half of these I edited. I organized conferences, summer schools (where I met my wife!). There was [...] a lot of research done in preparing for office. [...] In ’59 there certainly was an expectation that we might win so one was preparing policies for the Labour government. [...] It was a quite considerable education. I became well informed on a large number of issues. But what I wanted to do was to go into the House. Richard Leonard (Labour, 1970–February 74)59 I came down and I started in the South East doing the same job [for the party] but I decided I wanted to become a Member of Parliament by this time. Because how ever much you do in politics in the end, I’m not sure if it’s true today but it certainly was the case, that if you want to do anything at all you had to get into the House. [...] In those days you were not allowed to stand as a candidate if you were employed by the party. [...] So I knew if I was going to stand for the party I had to cease to be a political education officer for Central Office. So again I was on the hunt for a different profession, because you can’t rely on politics, as you know. Fred Silvester (Conservative, 1967–70; February 1974–87)60 *** For many, their experience in local government was crucial to their parliamentary career. I’d spend at least one evening a week [as a councillor] walking around the ward knocking on doors, [...] then popping into a pub and so on. [...] I enjoyed that, the enjoyment of local government is that you can actually get things done, that you can see affect people directly. It also gave me a taste for solving problems. [...] You can actually get justice out of the machine, which is not always possible for the ordinary citizen. Michael Knowles (Conservative, 1983–92)61 [When sitting as a councillor in Bristol] we established an equal opportunities unit, in the days when this was ‘loony left’ stuff. Our personnel department went completely ballistic. [...] At the time in Bristol, we are talking the ’80s, the big equality issues were essentially gender and race. Race was a big issue, there had been riots in Bristol, racism was pretty rampant in many areas of public life. At that time I also became very involved

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in disability issues. [...] As a council we moved on some of those areas pretty effectively. Also some trivial things, I’ll never forget when we told the chief exec that the sign of the door on the chair of the council said ‘chairman’ [...] the group’s decided he’s now called ‘chair’. [...] The chief executive found this completely incomprehensible, [...] he just couldn’t comprehend anything about [...] the use of language and the implications for equalities. It was quite nice to be at the cutting edge. [...] Looking back on it, what most people were saying was incredibly moderate and reasonable in terms of what people would say now, but at the time, some of the press just went quite berserk. Roger Berry (Labour, 1992–2010)62 We used to begin our [Islington Council] meetings at seven in the evening, we’d break at nine o’clock for coffee and sandwiches and then reconvene at nine thirty. [...] At nine o’clock all the SDP faction and their Labour supporters headed off to the mayor’s parlour [...] for drinks, we meanwhile stayed in the room. [...] At half past nine when we had clearly indicated that proceedings would start again, I suddenly realized none of the other group were in the room at all. So I restarted the meeting at nine thirty. By the time they walked back into the room five minutes later we had got through twentytwo items of business, and I was so pleased to see the look on their faces [laughs]. Chris Smith (Labour, 1983–2005)63 I hated [my time on the local council]. It was a council that was a lot of old men, and they didn’t know how to work with women other than to patronize them. [...] I was never going to lose my temper with them but it was a very sobering experience. I discovered that most of them weren’t political at all; they knew what they wanted for their ward. Meetings were organized so you were in County Hall all day so that you could get your expenses for all day, get your subsidized lunch. [...] I used to say it was the best day club in the county. [...] I learned a lot from it, which was then very useful when I was local government minister [laughs]. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)64 I very quickly became involved in local issues. [...] There were campaigns against lead in petrol, [...] and aircraft noise of course. Heathrow was the big, big issue in this area. I got involved in all those local campaigns and very soon, because I was already a Liberal, my father was a Liberal and my grandfather was a sort of congenital Liberal, I got involved, became part of the local party. Then when one of the local councillors in Kew died, I was selected and took his place. I won Kew at a by-election. I was on the council for nine years, nearly ten years, and I was chair of social services as well in that time. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)65

4

Finding a seat Selection process

I was being interviewed by people who had never seen me before. So you are a fresh face, you put your best foot forward and you try to persuade them that you will be a good representative. I suppose that I had many of the credentials classically associated with Conservative candidates. I had an attractive wife, I had a family, I was self-employed [...] and quite fluent. [I] had a background that sounded, you know, acceptable. So that was one’s experience and I did well against that. Michael Heseltine (Conservative 1966–2001)1

Our interviewees, having moved from political consciousness to activism, now faced the daunting task of finding their seat. In some cases they needed to undergo a process of national vetting (such as the Conservatives’ candidates list), but they always needed to win over a constituency party who had the power to choose their candidate. Local parties and local party officials, especially in ‘safe’ seats, wielded considerable influence over which individuals actually went to Westminster. Many interviewees have seen the system as a major obstacle to attempts to increase the diversity of MPs (see also Chapter 8). Memories of selection frequently take up a considerable amount of time in our interviews, reflecting just how important this stage was to MPs’ careers. For some the process could be remarkably easy, but for many getting chosen for a winnable seat took years and many false starts. Hopefuls might travel the country in the run-up to elections looking for a constituency, or spend equally long in dedicated service to a particular constituency party before they were selected. As with anything in political life, connections were crucial to selection. More often than not family connections to a seat worked in favour of our interviewees, although this was not always straightforward. Connections within the party could help speed up the process – former chancellor Hugh Dalton helped Michael Barnes and Bill Rodgers, and Bill Rodgers in turn later assisted his university friend Dick Taverne.2 Through all this the power of local officials stands out. Some interviewees remember cases of candidates chosen by local parties despite not being on the parties’ approved lists, underlining both the many routes to being selected, the power of the local parties, and the determination of many of our

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interviewees. In the Labour Party, another route lay through the unions, who controlled the selection of certain seats thanks to their links with local parties. Other MPs underwent a form of training through local government, party work or courses. A significant number discussed the need to ‘build a CV’ or their ‘reputation’ in the party before being able to stand. They could take much longer to find a seat than those who were able to make use of good contacts. The amount of career planning involved in many of these MPs’ careers, and the fact that many were deeply involved in their party or local government from a young age, would suggest that the ‘career politician’ is perhaps not such a new phenomenon. Many thought carefully about which seats to apply for and some would avoid marginal seats. Yet for the generation elected before the 1990s it was not common to be parachuted into a safe seat after becoming a special adviser in Westminster, and many were contemptuous of this practice. Not everyone admitted to actively hunting for a seat, and sometimes they might play down their ambitions during the interview. Liberals, Social Democrats and Liberal Democrats often suggest that they stood just to ‘keep the party alive’ in a particular constituency, and ended up in Parliament following a surprise victory.3 Colin Breed explains each step on his local government career as ‘an accident’ until he became MP for South East Cornwall.4 Some from other parties also say they decided to run to ‘keep the party together’ or ‘just to make numbers’.5 Former MPs frequently compare the selection process to a ‘job application’, and describe the details of the application form, speeches, interviews and the interaction with the selection committee. Hopefuls encountered deeply ingrained ideas about the ‘ideal MP’. Particularly in the Conservative Party, this was a white, middle-class, married man; single men faced discrimination as constituency parties assumed that they were gay and thus to be avoided. But all parties displayed homophobia at times. Conservative parties could also have an idea of the preferred background of their candidates – whether they should have a business background, be well connected or not, what part of the country they were from. In all parties women struggled to be seen as suitable candidates (see also Chapter 8). A candidate’s local connections, or lack of them, could be important for all parties; Liberal Democrats in particular prided themselves on choosing those with strong local ties. Political views also had to fit – Conservative candidates described hating the expected questions about hanging, and Labour candidates could be caught out, or benefit from, divisions between left and right.6 *** When I went to the selection conference, I made a pretty bad speech and the women who came out later and told me they voted for me made it very clear that Betty Boothroyd [...] had made a far better speech, but they voted for me because they knew my father, or they were patients of my father. So, I always believed that my selection, somewhat surprising selection, owed more to my father than certainly to me. David Owen (Labour/SDP, 1966–92)7 In about 1984–5 [my father, Ernest Armstrong, MP for North West Durham 1964–87] decided he was going to stand down. So he talked to me and he said: ‘You’ve got to

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The Political Lives of Postwar British MPs

decide whether you want to go for it or not. [...] But if you do, I will just keep out of it all.’ So I thought about it and I said to him, ‘Well it would be stupid not to, given that I’ve gone for all the others [locally] and we will just have to handle it.’ So he then didn’t go to any meetings, any party meetings after that, until after the selection. [...] Some were quite hostile because they supported the guy that my dad had defeated. That was the big thing I had to deal with: who I was. Was I an independent person? People began to understand I was a fairly independent person, and I won the support of some significant people in the other half of the constituency as it were, who had not known me at all. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)8 I was walking in Fleet Street one day when my friend Bill Rodgers, who was general secretary of the Fabian Society, said, ‘Hello Dick, are you interested in standing for Parliament?’ I said, ‘Why’d you ask?’ He said, ‘Well, there is an interesting constituency – Putney – where they are adopting their candidate, one of the wards decided to have a brains trust of four candidates and one of them has dropped out. I’ve been asked could I find somebody else, so I thought of you.’ I said, ‘Okay that sounds quite interesting I’ll go along.’ The brains trust was the next day and I managed to get nominated by that ward. [...] To my enormous surprise I suddenly became the candidate for Putney in the 1959 election. Dick Taverne (Labour/SDP, 1962–72; 1973–September 1974)9 We’d just bought a house and I was painting the wall and [...] the telephone rang and I picked it up and the voice said ‘Bill’ and I knew who it was, that was Hugh, Hugh Dalton. ‘Would you like to come to tea’ and I said, ‘Well, actually do you mean today, I’m sort of painting.’ ‘Well, I think today would be best, you might like to know that somebody else is coming, George Chetwynd who is the Member of Parliament for Stockton […] I think he’s giving up Bill.’ ‘Of course, I’ll come to tea,’ I said. Hugh was very good [with] young men, [...] and he introduced me to the MP and the then Member of Parliament said, ‘Well, I can’t give a recommendation, but the biggest working men’s club, which was very well run, just after Christmas [...] there’s a very big event and if you come I’ll introduce you to people.’ So, I went to the club and I was introduced to people and eventually I was selected. William Rodgers (Labour/SD/LD, 1962–83)10 In the Cambridge University Conservative Association, I was fairly near the top and I was in charge of the various study groups which were being run by the Conservative Association throughout the university. I went up to the Conservative Research Department to see a chap I didn’t know at all well. [...] So, we were talking about what the study groups ought to study when he suddenly said: ‘Would you like to be the Conservative candidate for Consett County Durham at the [1950] General Election?’ I never heard of Consett and I had never set foot in County Durham. However, he picked up the telephone and rang the area agent and said, ‘I have a candidate for you for Consett.’ A few days later I arrived in Consett and went before the selection committee of the Consett Conservative Association and as I was the only candidate there, I was chosen. Philip Goodhart (Conservative, 1957–92)11 [My selection] was not on my initiative at all. I was aware in April ’97 that there was a general election coming up, but I saw no role for myself except as a voter. The background is that Neil Hamilton who had for fourteen years been the Member of

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Parliament for Tatton, obviously a Conservative, he was under a bit of a cloud at the time.12 [...] He was sitting after redistribution on a theoretical majority of 22,000, which is huge, and the local Labour and Lib Dem parties, the national parties, knew they couldn’t dislodge him alone, so they came up with the idea of somebody outside politics running against Neil Hamilton as an independent, and they, Labour and Lib Dems, would stand their candidates down. [...] In the first week in April ’97, I was opening an exhibition of Bosnian war photographs taken by a mate of mine [Tom Stoddart] whose partner in life at the time was Kate Hoey, Labour MP. She looked at me meaningful across the dinner table afterwards and said, ‘Why not you?’ So I said: ‘Well, I will think about it.’ You know, the most regrets in my life have not been about what I have done but what I haven’t. I said, ‘I’d kick myself for not trying.’ It also helped that I was out of favour with John Birt, the director general [of the BBC], at the time so I didn’t see my career in the BBC going anywhere. So without having the slightest idea in what I was getting into I said: ‘Ok, consider me.’ […] So, it happened that I became the independent candidate for Tatton with the support of both the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. Martin Bell (Independent, 1997–2001)13 I saw that the Monmouth seat was vacant. [...] In a very Welsh way, one of the wards’ [representatives] saw my name, asked someone who they knew who was on the staff at Swansea [University] to have a cup of tea with me. I was never interviewed other than with this one individual, and he got me the nomination of the Caerleon Labour Party. I had never been to any form of political selection in any capacity before, either as someone voting or as a candidate and I was lucky enough to get selected. Donald Anderson (Labour, 1966–70; October 1974–2005)14 What happened was that [the Glasgow Springburn constituency Conservative Party] just said they wanted me and I said I would be quite glad to do it. Then the national party phoned up and said, ‘I’m terribly sorry you are not on the candidates list, you can’t do it.’ So, eventually, after a battle because the [Springburn] chairman was a real tough guy and shouted at them and said, ‘We are going to have him as our candidate whether you like it or not.’ [...] So eventually they had to ask me to go through for a special meeting in Edinburgh and they said, ‘Don’t worry you will be approved, you know.’ But I had to go and meet someone who was the chairman of the [Scottish] party. I said, ‘Och, I don’t fancy doing that at all’ but eventually the chairman of our local party said, ‘You are not going to Edinburgh. We are in charge not these bloody Tories,’ you know that kind of thing. It was very embarrassing, so eventually we came to a compromise [...] that I would have a meeting in Glasgow with one of their people. So they sent officials from Edinburgh to Glasgow and they interviewed me and then decided that I was an appropriate candidate. So I went back to my friends in Springburn, ‘I’m glad to say that I’ve been approved’ and so they said, ‘Look, they didn’t approve you. We approved you.’ Teddy Taylor (Conservative, 1964–79; 1980–2005)15 I was going through the process of having to convince the party each time that I should be on the list of candidates. That in itself, at that time, presented the most incredible problems. If you were liked by the vice chairman of the Conservative Party who was in charge of candidates, then you were on the list. There was undoubtedly a massive amount of prejudice against people from the North East of England. People in London

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who made these decisions had a snooty view at someone from the North East. Yes, they could fight a North East seat, but not anywhere else in the country. I thought that was appalling, but that’s the way it was. The party was like that and the vice chairmen almost inevitably were rather sort of pompous people, mostly from sort of backgrounds of the Guards and, you know, the clubs of London. [...] One saying to me, first question when I went for an interview: ‘Which clubs are you a member of?’ So I think I’d said something like I was a member of some [...] cricket club or something, and he said that it wasn’t quite what he meant. I was saying something to him about, I don’t know, horses or something and [the interviewer] said something on the lines of ‘I play polo. Do you play polo?’ Polo to me was a mint. I know that sounds a bit ‘chip on the shoulder’ from me but that’s what it was like. [...] Also the questions started things like, ‘Which school did you go to?’ I was very proud to be able to say RGS [Royal Grammar School] Newcastle. ‘Oh yes, provincial grammar, yes, yes, tick, tick.’ That was the attitude. And you didn’t have any kind of fairness about this. There was no sort of objectivity. It was just if they liked you or they didn’t. So I think that held me back a bit. I wasn’t allowed really at that stage to go out of my region to fight a seat. Timothy Kirkhope (Conservative, 1987–97)16 I said to my wife, ‘Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen, but I’d just like to see what it’s like to appear before a selection committee. […] I’ll get myself onto the list of candidates, I’ll apply for a couple of seats but I won’t get them,’ which indeed I didn’t. […] [Then] South Dorset came up, which was a safe-ish Tory seat in those days. […] They’ll probably give me an interview because I’m reasonably local. It was also my grandfather’s seat, so they were laying themselves open for all sorts of charges for becoming a hereditary seat. [My wife] said, ‘Well, you’d better not get it,’ because she’s always intensely disliked politics, with some reason. To my astonishment I got into the last four. I said to her, ‘Don’t worry, they want Jock Bruce-Gardyne’ and they packed the last four [to favour him]. I was an old Etonian toff, been in California, never stood for a seat before, clearly not a hope. […] Dear old Jock […] misheard a question and he gave a most unfortunate reply. […] We had this agonizing wait, went on for about two hours. Apparently they voted and voted and voted and then very, very reluctantly they chose me. […] So I looked at my wife and I thought she’s never going to speak to me again [laughs]. I came in and the chairman was very upset, as were most of my future constituents. Anyway, we made it up afterwards, I think. [Long omission] [I didn’t join the Conservative Party] until I realized I had to to become a candidate! [Laughs] I wasn’t really interested in becoming a politician. What really tripped me into it was, one, idle curiosity about what it was like to come before a selection committee, so there must have been some sort of subconscious attraction I suppose. But also poor old Jock mishearing a question otherwise I’d had gone away and not tried again. So it was pure luck or bad luck, I’m not quite sure which. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (Conservative, 1979–87)17 *** I got persuaded, really, by trade unions. I was on the Trade’s [Union] Council and we used to have a regional Labour Party that met in Bridlington, and I went to the regional Labour Party in 1980. I just got bombarded with people saying you’ve got to stand.

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Tony Benn was there speaking to a fringe meeting. He said the same. Barbara Castle came up to Halifax. [...] She said, ‘I hope you’re going to put in for it.’ [...] I think people were plotting on my behalf. [Long break] My selection process was good, I thought. Very fair. Very democratic. Alice Mahon (Labour 1987–2005)18 I should have been the MP for [Sheffield] Brightside and the bastards stitched me up. [...] [The trade union] didn’t even put me on the shortlist. That was what they did. I was in a small union, a technical union, but the big union said, ‘This is our seat.’ That was how it was with the Labour Party. [...] All the seats were allocated, because they bought seats in Parliament. When I got into Parliament there were something like 130 Labour MPs who were not receiving money but their constituency party was receiving money, which paid for all the local council elections and all this sort of stuff. So, there was a great scramble and the real top guys in the unions wouldn’t be seen dead as an MP; they had much more power. Joe Ashton (Labour, 1968–2001)19 The trade union, which was always likely to have a strong list of possible parliamentarians, was asking trade union districts to nominate people. […] It was a very rigorous selection process; [...] it took place over the weekend. The week before you went you had a choice of six subjects, and you had two hours to write an essay on that subject. Once you were there you did two one-hour essays, sight unseen. […] Then you did interviews with Members of Parliament, then they brought [in journalists] and you did a press conference with them on the issues of the day. Then you did a general knowledge quiz – that was the easiest part of it. […] Then the coup de grâce at the end, they got a lot of students in from the local college, and their job was to heckle you. Ten minutes before you got to speak you got an envelope [with] your topic, you had to speak for ten minutes. In the end it was tallied up – I didn’t think I would get on the panel. [I was left-wing] and the AEU [Amalgamated Engineering Union] was very much a right-wing trade union in those days, and I thought they would sift us out. To my surprise I got on the parliamentary panel. I said to the general secretary, ‘I didn’t think you’d let me on.’ He said to me, ‘Don’t worry laddie, once we get you on the panel we’ll soon tame you’ [laughs]. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1970–97)20 My career was a shock because of such shuffling going on. How I got to be a candidate, basically, was because you had splits. This [constituency] used to be dominated by two things: Singer’s [sewing machine factory] and the [ship] yards and dominated by trade unions. My predecessor Hugh McCartney, I think he was an engineer; the [seat] was split between the engineers and the shipyard workers. So that when you came to select people to be candidates, it tended to be a fight between the unions and the non-union [members] that was how it was in the Labour Party. But somehow when I came along and somehow let my name go forward, it was because they hated each other so much that I won [laughs]. That’s how I became a candidate. Tony Worthington (Labour, 1987–2005)21 *** Reg Pye, [...] a very wise, old campaigner […] said to me, ‘You go away, and you build yourself a CV.’ That’s what I did, by becoming elected to Bexley Council, by chairing

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a major committee there. [...] In 1975, I became chairman of the [Conservative] Association in Bexleyheath [with] our then new MP Cyril Townsend, who was a great friend. […] So I created my CV, if you like. James Couchman (Conservative, 1983–97)22 I applied to Conservative Central Office, as it was, in Smith Square, to go on the candidate’s list. They looked at me with certain amount of disfavour and said, ‘Look, we know nothing at all about you, from what we know you [might] come straight from Transport House, [Labour Party headquarters]. Go away and work for the party for a bit. When you’ve done that you can come back.’ So I thought ok. So I threw myself into constituency work in Islington. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)23 I’d had to go for interviews and go on a course and do this, that and the other. I remember passing this course somewhere in the Midlands. [...] I was given a pass to fight a northern seat. So, I was judged fit for fighting a northern seat, which was good enough for me [laughs]. It must have been something to do with my accent. John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)24 Very few people would have gone [to Parliament] in their twenties. You assumed you were going to have to go and do something else and gradually build up a political career. I did it the absolutely conventional way: I joined my local association, I stood for the council, I got on to the council, I held office in the local association, I held office at area level, then at national level. I mean I did it all, in the standard sort of cursus honorum. I left Oxford in ’72; I got selected five years later in ’77 for my first seat which in those days was always a foul one. […] Then I fought David Owen at Devonport which was a marginal seat and then I got my safe seat. So, it was fifteen years between leaving Oxford and getting into Parliament, which was not at all unusual then. […] If you went through it at that time, by the time you arrived in the Commons you knew exactly what you were taking on. […] But now you can get a safe seat fairly early and people just don’t know what it’s about. Ann Widdecombe (Conservative, 1987–2010)25 Some [constituency party] delegations go to the party conference on the lookout for a candidate. [...] In the case of a safe Conservative seat, as this was, at a Labour Party conference they will be looking for somebody who will be vigorous and active and they hope a good candidate, but accepts the fact that he is not going to win. That is likely to be a sort of young, ambitious person, so to speak winning his spurs, wanting to learn about how to organize and conduct a campaign and get experience of about addressing public meetings, canvassing, all the other things we have to do. There was a group of people like that from Mid-Bedfordshire and they lighted on me. So it was they who so to speak that chose me, it wasn’t me who chose them. Bryan Magee (Labour/SDP, February 1974–83)26 I was disappointed [when I lost the seat] because I think I was not a bad MP, I was getting better. I had enjoyed my time at Bolton. They did invite me to stand again. I considered it very carefully indeed but I decided to accept the advice from several friends [...] who said I should put my name forward for a safer seat. [...] I went to Altrincham and Sale which was Tony Barber’s old seat, and the man who held sway

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there [...] from the tone of his questions was quite obviously backing somebody else, in fact he was unnecessarily hostile. I went to Nantwich where the sitting MP was giving up, and there I gained the impression that all they wanted there was an MP who was wealthy enough to keep them socially entertained. [...] The other seat I applied for was Bridlington, in Yorkshire [...] and they actually asked me, I couldn’t believe it, ‘If we choose you as our candidate, will you come and help us during the general election campaign?’ I couldn’t believe it! [...] Perhaps that was safe seats for you. [...] There were still a lot of people I’m afraid in those days who treated Westminster as a club and they thought they were safe as houses. [...] I felt that I couldn’t just sit around waiting to get offered somewhere else. It was time to get on with something else. Laurance Reed (Conservative, 1970–February 1974)27 I got myself put on the candidate’s list for the Conservative Party. I was clearly a Conservative. [...] I put myself forward for Poplar, the East End seat; it was a clear Labour seat. Because in those days if you wanted a political career, you start in the Labour seat, you go to a marginal seat then you go to a safe seat. You don’t do what [David] Cameron and [George] Osborne have done: parachuted straight into safe seats. You worked your passage. And I worked by being a councillor first of all, and I went and worked and so I stood for Poplar in the 1964 election. Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)28 There was a heck of a lot of competition. We all complained like mad about the special advisers. We were furious about the special advisers because these wretched people, their political CVs looked absolutely wonderful, they were all working with government ministers and secretaries of state, and they were at the heart of things, etc. People like David Cameron and George Osborne, although of course their time came a little later. Those of us who were not special advisers knew that really the special advisers got the pick of the crop when sitting MPs decided they were going to retire in plum constituencies. We knew that they were going to get all the best seats. [...] The selection of these special advisers did arouse a great deal of resentment among [us]. We regarded ourselves as the party’s foot soldiers. We were the ones out there, knocking on the doors, getting the abuse, putting the leaflets through letterboxes and all this, and the special advisers, they were up in the Whitehall smarming about with their secretaries of state. It did make us very cross. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)29 *** I wanted to be the agent, I saw the work I was doing as agent was important and that if I could keep the party going that was what I wanted to do. When [my husband] John had to retire as an MP to become general secretary of his union, I went and saw a number of people in the constituency and asked them if they would like to stand, number of people who I thought could win the seat and hold the seat, and they all said, ‘No, why don’t you do it?’ [...] So in the end I did it, because there was nobody that I really felt would hold the party together in Newcastle and win the seat. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)30

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I’d had Joe [my son] by this time and [the party officials] came back and said, ‘Rosie, Tim Ford has stood down [as our candidate], it is only a sort of token thing to stand in this campaign.’ So, I thought, ‘Well, I’ll take six weeks or so and we’ll go around with Joe in his pushchair and do my campaigning to keep the SDP’s name alive in Greenwich,’ happily accepting that the [party] workers were all going to be redirected to Woolwich. I was accepted as the candidate [for the next general election] on that basis. Then of course, events being as they are they don’t always follow the preconceived plan, so there was the by-election and I won, and Joe wasn’t even two. So it was a bit of a shock to the system actually, because I had never thought of being an MP, I’d never been a councillor, I hadn’t had any ambitions to be an MP I was just supporting the Social Democratic Party by standing. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)31 I didn’t decide I wanted to be an MP. I never did, really. It was just: how do we progress liberalism? If it has to be progressed by not just a council seat but by the parliamentary seat, who is going to do that with the most effect? In all my life I’ve always believed that the party is more important than the representatives. [...] I’ve always, by the same token, accepted the advice of my peer group that I respect and so if [...] they said, ‘Michael, this is something you should do,’ ok, I will do it. I did that. It was a question of how you promote the cause best and if that was for me to be the candidate, ok so be it. Michael Meadowcroft (Liberal, 1983–7)32 I was forced to become a Member of Parliament. I never set out in life to be [one]. I was certainly a strong Conservative and I chaired many Young Conservative meetings all over Sheffield, but I never set out to be a Member of Parliament. What happened was in the Hallam constituency where I’d grown up; my mother was actually still Conservative Ladies’ chairman. Sir Roland Jennings, my former MP in Hallam, rather than Sheffield, suggested to me that I might put my name on the candidates’ list. They were finding difficulty in getting people to do such a silly thing because there wasn’t a hope of getting into Parliament. But because of my reputation in Sheffield as a Young Conservative I was persuaded to put my name on the list of candidates. I then found I was on the shortlist of three. I can’t say what pressures went on behind me. I found myself the prospective candidate for the Hallam division of Sheffield. John Osborn (Conservative 1959–87)33 My wife had been a relatively long-term member of the Liberals; I wasn’t a member, but she was. [...] I [only] went round and shoved things in boxes for people. When I was in Exmouth I actually became a member, not an active member. [...] [After moving house, local Liberal members called] to see if either of us would be prepared to be the candidate for the local election. [My wife suggested I might be interested.] I said, ‘I don’t want to do that really.’ He said, ‘It’s only two years. [...] We’ll help you, you’ll have a lot of helpers.’ [...] I said, ‘I’ll give you the evenings, if you tell me what to do.’ He said, ‘You probably won’t get in anyway.’ [...] [When canvassing] I would say, ‘Don’t ask me what I’m going to do, I haven’t the foggiest idea, but I’ll do my best.’ Anyway, I got elected, didn’t I, to both district council and Saltash Town Council. [...] Everything was [by] accident. [...] In the back of my mind I thought I’d give it a go; I’m not going to be here very long anyway. [But then I stayed] so I was actually there when it came up for

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re-election. [...] You get this sort of bug. [...] I’d decided to settle here perhaps therefore I might be able to make a bit of difference – Hah! Goodness knows why I did. Colin Breed (LD, 1997–2010)34 *** [Selection process] is a bit like a job application. You get circulated the vacancies, you say which ones you want to apply for, you fill out the standard form, using creative accountancy to make sure you get the bits in that you want. [...] You hope you appeal. You get better at it the more applications you do, and also the more interviews you do. Just like any job application, really. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)35 In those days, and I think the Labour Party system was very similar, the party had a central list of candidates, you had to get on there, you had to be proposed probably by your local Member of Parliament, certainly a chairman of the Association, one or two names and they’d take you seriously. Then you do a series of interviews with the vice chairman of the party in charge of candidates, you would face a panel and you better not had tried to bluff your way, if you said you knew about a subject, there’d be an expert on it there and they put you through your paces. If you try to bluff, you’re dead. But I got on to the candidates list and then, once you are on the candidates list, they circulated regularly, every week or two, a list of the constituencies that were looking for candidates. In those days it was accepted you had to fight a really rough one, then you might get something more marginal, then you might get something where you had a real chance of winning. Michael Knowles (Conservative, 1983–92)36 At that stage it wasn’t ‘one member, one vote’ [to select] the parliamentary candidate, but delegates to the general management committee from the constituency party, the trade unions, socialist societies, co-op, whatever [chose the candidate]. And you had to speak, address the general management committee, take questions and then a vote took place. I was the only woman on the shortlist of five, and to my absolute amazement got selected. […] The research that the party had conducted in the Mid Staffs [constituency], ahead of the by-election being called but following the tragic death of John Heddle [1990], had indicated that perhaps a woman candidate could be a very positive move to make, that the voters there were looking to support a woman candidate. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)37 *** Many constituency associations had an ‘ideal candidate’ in mind. I’d been president of the Oxford University Conservative Association. At the time of the selection I still had my job in a local industry. I’d been chairman of the Southwark Young Conservatives in the neighbouring seat of Southwark. […] I’d been in the navy. I’d got an Oxford degree in PPE [Politics, Philosophy and Economics]. I think I was articulate. I think they thought I was good stuff. Toby Jessel (Conservative, 1970–97)38

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The fact that I’d been a councillor was helpful. The fact that I’d been a politician at Oxford was probably helpful as well, but not decisive. The fact that I was also a businessman, [...] and [my employer] said, ‘Yes, go ahead, have a go, I don’t mind that. I will help you along.’ Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)39 I was northern, I sounded as if I came from the North, I was in my twenties, I was very active, I’d worked for Ted Heath, I’d written a couple pamphlets by then about student housing. So if there was an A list I would’ve been on the A list. There wasn’t [one] as I say, I had to fight for it. [...] I put in for York and got it. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)40 The role of chairman [of the Bow Group] was to gain as much publicity for the group as possible. [...] It was for politically ambitious individuals, elected posts were very heavily fought over, basically for four years I was going to two meetings at night and being seen at them, I was buying drinks for people, I was one of the ones who was determined to make it to the top. Once there, it was permanently on my biography, so when I was being looked at by winnable seats, at a later stage, I would often get chosen for interview simply because I had been chairman of the Bow Group. Michael Stern (Conservative, 1983–97)41 I was told there were three reasons why I would never get any seat at all. One, I was unmarried at the time, and in those days, this was considered a situation of great suspicion. Two, I was holding the post that had been held by Peter Goldman (who was a Conservative intellectual) and this proved that Conservative intellectuals were unsound and dangerous because this man had lost [the election at] Orpington, [...] and three, I’d been to Eton. [...] Luckily at Guildford they thought otherwise. David Howell (Conservative, 1966–97)42 At one stage there was some pretty nasty propaganda that was circulated about me. It was the time when the Labour Party were terrified over the whole Peter Tatchell thing.43 I found myself at one point having to actually write to the executive of the Labour Party saying, ‘Look, I’m a great supporter of the gay community, but I am not a member of that community.’ Nowadays to do that would have been horrifying, but at that stage the party felt that if they had a candidate who was gay they’d have absolutely no prospect of winning, which shows just how far we’ve come. But at the same time for members of that party to suggest that of another candidate in order to reduce their chances itself was pretty horrifying. Chris Pond (Labour, 1997–2005)44 I was very well aware that as a single man there was a big question mark over that, it is astonishing really. […] Conservative associations were quite wary of single men in case they were gay. They would not, in those days, not knowingly and willingly have selected a gay man. […] It was almost normal, certainly accepted practice, among would-be parliamentary candidates [who were] single men to take a ‘girlfriend’ along to the selection committee. […] If you had a genuine girlfriend and she was up for it, well, fine, if you didn’t have a genuine girlfriend, you would ask one of your female friends if she would come along. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)45

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One of the MPs who was retiring said his seat was a very good Conservative seat, but he said, ‘Unfortunately they’ve drawn up a list of attributes and the top of the attributes is: no bachelors, no women.’ Janet Fookes (Conservative, 1970–97)46 There are only a limited number of parliamentary seats in London. There is ferocious competition for them. They are not looking for a woman. They are not looking for a scouser. They are not looking for a Jew. They are not looking for somebody like me. Edwina Currie (Conservative, 1983–97)47 I looked up in The Times Guide to the House of Commons which has a CV on every MP. I found in the Conservative Party, well, apart from the fact that in those days they were mainly men, that most of them had university degrees or had served in the Guards, that sort of thing. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)48 After six seats of coming second, and being told that probably if I were a man I would have won it, I began to become very disillusioned and depressed. I thought that as a woman I would never become a Member of Parliament. I applied to Broxbourne in Hertfordshire. [...] I had never been there in my life and I just thought: be honest. So I told them, when I went for my selection, I’ve never been to Broxbourne in my life before, I’ve never worked, I have no family connections here but if you select me I will become a local, I will have a home here and everybody will know who their Member of Parliament is after my first Parliament. I also said, right at the beginning, I make no apologies whatsoever for having been just a housewife for the past twenty-five years. [...] They selected me, and I was so gobsmacked I tell you, I couldn’t believe it. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)49 There were two women from the regional women’s committee at the [hustings]. […] They said to the guy that won: ‘Well, Hilary has demonstrated today that you don’t just have to be twice, you have to be three times as good as any of the men to get selected, because she was more than twice as good as you.’ They’d then ring me and go through what I said. […] They would always give me good, strong feedback, bad as well as good. […] You had to be pretty good as a woman, yeah. Because you weren’t part of the – you didn’t sit around in the pub with them all night. The North East was very, very monocultural, and women had always been in a particular role. We were challenging that really. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)50 On the ETU [Electrical Trade Union] parliamentary panel there were members from different parts of the country, and it was realized that if you came from the Liverpool area or Manchester or Birmingham or Leeds or wherever, and there was a vacancy coming up, a Member was retiring or there was a close-knit constituency that say the Tories held but the union thought ‘we could win that seat’ and the Labour Party thought it, it would be someone from the parliamentary panel in their area. So I liked living in the London area and I was sort of available anywhere in London. Tom Cox (Labour, 1970–2005)51 I got on to the council; I was secretary of the Labour Party. If there hadn’t been an election in ’79 who knows what would have happened or where I might have ended up. So, I was interested but not obsessive about it; like if there had been a safe Labour

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seat in, say, North Wales I’d have never thought of going for that. [...] My interest lay in the places where I was working, in making a contribution. So I wasn’t casting my net thinking, ‘Right, I want to be an MP, is there something in Birmingham or whatever’ I was very much tied into my locality really. Win Griffiths (Labour, 1987–2005)52 It’s one of the differences, people say [...] ‘How did you find your seat, what made you stand?’ Well, it doesn’t happen like that with Lib Dems. You have to be part of the area really; you grow into the area. I was part of this area. My three children had all gone to local schools so I’d got a big network of Mums, I’ve been involved in local campaigns, I’d been a local councillor for nine or ten years. When the [parliamentary] seat became vacant, I thought, why don’t I have a go? Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)53

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Vote for me Elections post-Second World War

I’ve spent most of my life I think, since my teenage years, knocking on doors. I do find it fascinating. When you knock on the door, the door opens and you’ve got a split second judgement to make. Somebody appears in front of you: a little old lady, a young person, a burly man and you’ve got to sort of pitch your appeal rapidly, trying [to] make an instant impression. […] It’s the attempt to try and build this bridge between the political class, who are seen as something away and different and strange, all got two heads, very odd, and ordinary people who live ordinary lives, and try to bridge that gap. I thought it was absolutely crucial, certainly if you wanted to go on and get elected. John Cartwright (Labour/SDP, October 1974–92)1

Elections were often intense, exhausting but exhilarating experiences for these MPs, whether they were selected for the first time, fighting a new constituency or returning to defend their seats. Campaigning is remembered as a tense time but could be enjoyable, where candidates were both part of a larger team and at the centre of things, connected to their communities, and surprise lay behind every front door. Memories of campaigns are dominated by stories of canvassing, and often it is the strange experiences that stand out. Getting out and reaching as many people as possible was the goal: knocking on doors, driving around large rural constituencies in vans with loudspeakers or meeting urban voters in shopping centres. Decisions had to be made tactically all the time: whether to try to meet lots of people, to ‘get out your vote’, or take time convincing doubters. Some grew frustrated with campaigning door to door and wanted to target larger groups or community organizations. Each candidate had their favoured approach. The interviews have covered election campaigns going back to 1945, and so they reveal significant changes in electioneering: from handbells and children on bicycles to the beginnings of internet campaigns.2 Interviewees often remember the introduction of new tactics – telephone campaigning, vehicles playing loud music or even canal barges or airships. Literature and slogans were an important part of any campaign. The simplest were often seen as the best: ‘Want them out?’3 Literature worked best when it

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was personal, using the candidates’ picture or a specific message. Local leaflets, such as the Liberals’ Focus, were seen as a brilliant success by those who pioneered them.4 Interviewees knew the significance of a good agent. Even if some complained about being treated ‘like a puppet’, they recognized the value of a well-organized campaign and all appreciated the hard work of their activists.5 Several stressed the importance of not taking regular supporters for granted simply because they had previously voted for one party, or not giving up on areas they were not expected to win. Central party support was not always remembered in the most positive light. Other than at by-elections or in key marginal seats candidates describe being left alone by the national party by and large. Even the visit of a ‘big name’ speaker had drawbacks: although it may have guaranteed an audience at a campaign rally, it could also take up valuable time. Local parties were expected largely to fund their own campaigns, and did so through tote schemes, jumble sales, social events: Conservatives perhaps courting individual donors and Labour relying on the unions. Campaigns would mix local and national issues. New local infrastructure or specific issues, such as football violence in Fulham, could dominate.6 For many elections revolved around national issues meeting local circumstances. Election night itself was a deeply emotional experience, good or bad. By this point the candidates were completely exhausted, but the euphoria of winning could overcome even the most tired. *** It was very exciting. […] It was a lovely summer. I was due to get married on the 4th of July that year, 1970, so my wife, my fiancée, was helping me in the election. A friend of mine had an old Volkswagen with an open top. He used to drive me around in it and I would stand up and wave. It was very exciting. I was thin then, got a lovely tan. Really enjoyed it. We had fantastic meetings like the one with Roy Jenkins with about a thousand people, and other meetings. You felt that you were part of something important. George Foulkes (Labour, 1979–2005)7 In those days, most people who fought an election only ever fought once, most people found it wasn’t to their liking. It is different being the candidate, however much you think you know. Suddenly you are the person in front with the flag; you make a single mistake you’ve wrecked everybody else’s work. You need a certain amount of confidence, if not downright arrogance. Mind you, you need a degree of arrogance anyway to stand in front of 70,000 fellow citizens and say, ‘Vote for me. I’m best.’ There is no shrinking violet going to do that really [laughs]. Michael Knowles (Conservative, 1983–92)8 Speaking was important. We got publicity again, the ‘gimmick’ – the plus side of being a young woman in politics. […] I did [feel intimidated] but it was no good; you’d taken on a job. My job then was to be the candidate, and to do what a candidate should do, and represent the party, properly. You had a responsibility. It wasn’t all about me; actually, it was all about the party, its policies, getting into government. Being part of something. That’s what I loved about politics I think. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)9

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I enjoyed the campaign, but I remember waking up the next day, the day after the elections [in 1987] and saying: I will never do that again. It is like going naked into the conference chamber. [...] It was hugely draining, and it does kind of expose you. [...] There weren’t any dirty tricks; the Tories were fairly confident they were going to win. I just thought, actually, ‘I don’t know that I can put myself through that, going around and speaking in public meetings, doing all that campaigning,’ I just didn’t want to do it. But then, within months, I thought, ‘Oh, actually, no, I do want to do this, but next time I’m going to try to find some place that could be winnable.’ I wasn’t going to stand in a no-hope seat again. Bridget Prentice (Labour, 1992–2010)10 *** It was a huge constituency. [...] I looked around, I can’t get around all these [communities]. I’ll have to resort to a dodge. So, [in 1955] I went around with a loudspeaker car wearing a duffle coat and stood outside the car making a two-minute speech. I did this, but I also got a friend of mine to use a duffle coat like mine and go around other parts of the constituency with a loudspeaker car with a gramophone record of my speech. [...] It was my speech they were listening to. Well, of course, people did wear duffle coats more in those days. [...] The chap who did it became a High Court Judge about thirty years later! [...] So in this way we covered the whole constituency. Richard Body (Conservative, 1955–9; 1966–97)11 [In 1955] I had standing against me a Sinn Feiner. You know there’s a great deal of feeling now about people who were in prison being allowed to stand for Parliament. Well, my first opponent was in prison. […] So we didn’t see a great deal of him. Robin Chichester-Clark (Ulster Unionist, 1955–February 1974)12 The first thing that happened was that a leaflet was distributed introducing me to the constituents and that went out over the whole constituency: just a small leaflet on a tan sort of paper, photograph and a description of who I was and that sort of thing. Then after that it was just the process of having meetings, which was still sort of OK then, people used to come to meetings in schools, and that sort of thing. Meetings, canvassing, attempting to put across Labour Party policies as they were then, which all seemed to go down reasonably well. There was a feeling that a change was required. [...] In the 1964 election, there was still a practice of going around the streets with a handbell [laughs]. Which I thought was quite quaint at that time but it was their practice and apparently it was quite effective. The children used to come out and run after the procession, that sort of thing. I organized speakers on cars and a tape deck that would play music and that sort of thing. We got around quite well. Ben Ford (Labour, 1964–83)13 I got on very well with my opponents in Peckham [during the 1966 general election campaign]. I used to go canvassing with them and we used to drop our leaflets. There was a lovely old lady who was a Labour councillor. […] We used to find ourselves delivering literature in the same block of flats and I would say, ‘Mrs Burgess, give me yours and we’ll do the top bits and I’ll give you mine and you do the bottom bits.’ Ivan Lawrence (Conservative, February 1974–97)14

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[In 1970] we introduced, what is now commonplace, telephone calling. I’d seen it in America, it saved a lot of time. But, on the other hand, you have to put some on to doorsteps, or most people say he or she is never around. [...] I worked out that the main places to meet people were actually in the high streets. […] I remember going – the very last house I canvassed about nine o’clock at night, the night before the election. I saw the house had the television on, I saw the figure get up from the television, I saw the figure come towards the glass door, opened the door and I said: ‘I’m Ken Warren your Conservative candidate.’ She said, ‘But, but, but’. I thought, oh dear. So I got out my leaflet and said, ‘Me Ken Warren, you vote for me?’ She said, ‘But, but, but, you’re on the television!’ [Laughs] So, I didn’t know I’d got her vote or not. I think I was as shocked as she was. However, canvassing was fun. You get into people’s lives; I don’t mean maliciously or nastily but you learn a lot about human life, you really do. People talk to you. Kenneth Warren (Conservative, 1970–92)15 The first door you knock on in a campaign, or even each day, is quite difficult. You’ve got to gear yourself up all again to this very artificial business. […] There are two styles of canvassing. One is that – speed is the thing, to cover as much ground, as many people as you can. [...] Or there is a completely different approach, which is the leisurely approach. You settle down, if necessary on a doorstep or in a garden, and you draw somebody out, you get to know their politics, you get to know their way of life, you get to know their life history. You are content with that because you know perfectly well that within hours of your leaving the word will get around that Mr Hurd was here, and he came in, he took a cup of tea and I told him about my rheumatism. All those kind of things. The fact that you came, personally, and had taken a bit of trouble, personally, would reflect around the village even more than if you’d rushed in, can’t wait, and you’ve done it all in two minutes flat. Douglas Hurd (Conservative, February 1974–97)16 One of the biggest issues in canvassing and reaching voters is finding the right time to go and knock on the door. It used to be, long before Sunday opening of shops took place, that often on a Sunday morning you could go around and people would be tending their garden, washing their cars, some might well be at church or a chapel, but they wouldn’t be out for long and you could talk to people then. Now, if you go on a Saturday they are at sports or they are shopping, if you go on a Sunday they are at sport or shopping [laughs]. You go in the [weekday] evenings and they’re either not home or they’ve just come home. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)17 It is extraordinary how little effect the candidate has on the issues: your job is to get the enthusiastic supporters out to vote. If they want to watch the telly and read the papers they might get some view about the things and they might ask you a few questions, but […] you don’t want to waste too much time on the doubters. You know, you can encourage three or four good supporters to vote in the same time that you could get one doubter back into line. John Wakeham (Conservative, February 1974–92)18 [During the 1979 general election in Anglesey] I concentrated on the council estates and I said to my association: ‘Look, it’s no good me going around so-called Conservative areas, if they all vote for me I’m not going to get in anyway. I’ve got to

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convert. I’ve got to get people who’ve never voted Conservative before in their lives.’ So I concentrated on that and I never knocked on a door and said, ‘Hello, I’m Keith Best, the Conservative candidate.’ I said, ‘Hello, I’m Keith Best, I’m here to see if I can help you in some way.’ And you knew, once you were invited across that threshold to be shown the leak in the roof that the council haven’t fixed for years or the fact that they had mowed the garden in the front, or whatever, you knew you’d ceased to be a caller and you’d became a friend. [...] I remember once, and I didn’t do it with a view to publicity, but there was a lady whose grass in the front of the house was so overgrown that you could have hidden a troupe of tigers there. The council just repeatedly refused to cut the lawn, and she was very worried about it so I went back home, picked up the lawn mower, put it in the back of the car, came and mowed the lawn. And that was it. [...] And suddenly it all went around the island: ‘This man cuts people’s lawns.’ Keith Best (Conservative, 1979–87)19 [In 2005] I’d be going out canvassing and a little Irish woman, for instance, would tell me this tale that ‘Mrs Cryer, [...] do you understand that the Pakistani people around here, they don’t like travelling on public transport, so the government gives them extra benefits in order to help them to pay for running a car’. Just nonsense. Nice little woman, with this lovely Irish accent, and I said, ‘Now, come on, who is telling you that story?’ ‘I think I’ve seen it on television.’ I said, ‘I don’t think that is the case at all. I think that Nick Griffin [leader of the British National Party] or his canvassers have been around here and I think they’ve told you that story and let me assure you it is a big pack of lies. There is absolutely no truth in it.’ ‘Oh, Mrs Cryer I don’t tell lies.’ I said, ‘Well, you perhaps don’t think you are doing, but mark my word: this is a lie. It is not the case.’ There was all sorts of stuff going on all the time. I was having to be very careful. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)20 I think also the Conservative Party [in the 1990s] was still stuck in old-fashioned campaigning techniques. I could feel, even then, that doorstep campaigning actually was pretty useless. Huge amount of sweat of an evening to go and see twenty people, and they never gave you the answer of what they were going to vote anyway. It was a lot of wasted shoe leather, when I think we could be targeting our efforts in a far more efficient way, concentrating more on community groups. But, you know, this was the doctrine of the time: ‘What are you going to say on the door knocker?!’ Well, what happened on the door knocker was that you had bizarre conversations, but the idea you would convert anybody: not at all. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)21 *** There was a by-election in December 1953. [...] We did all sorts of unorthodox things; mainly open-air speaking at underground stations and street corners and outside public houses. A great feature was when I took a barge and barged around the canals of Paddington and so on. John Eden (Conservative, 1954–83)22 In my 1970 election campaign I introduced, I think it was one of the first times in the country, the election vehicle, the election caravan, in which we went around playing

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music and jollying everything along. I had some of the university students and they formed a team; they would come every day and go down the streets knocking on the doors and things. [...] You know, I was thinking how do I make my election campaign attractive, as I said, I was an entrepreneur; I was always trying to think of new ways of doing things and I thought: well, we’ve got to cover all the streets, there’s nothing worse than a convoy of cars arriving and people going knocking on doors, so we will do it with a caravan with a loudspeaker and we will have music playing. My music was Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, and whenever I hear it, still, it takes me back. Always was my motiv[ation] song. So we would arrive in a street and the music would play and the loudspeaker would say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen of [street name] we now have your Conservative candidate, ta ta ta.’ John Hannam (Conservative, 1970–97)23 [In 1983] I hired one of those airship-shaped balloons you see floating over fairgrounds, I hired one of those. I had banners made up saying, ‘Summerson Conservative for Barking’ you could see on both sides. […] There was a pub beside the town hall in Barking and the landlord of the pub was a Tory supporter. He said, ‘Keep it quiet, I’m a Tory.’ I said, ‘Look, I want to put up this balloon’ and he said, ‘I’ve got a backyard you can tether it in my backyard.’ [...] I gathered actually after the election that the Labour councillors were furious and in fact, I gather that one of them went up at night with an air gun and was taking potshots at it [laughs]. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)24 One of the very clever things that they came up with, mentioning campaigning techniques, was: they had something called blitzing. I think it was, like most of these things, probably brought in from the [United] States. The idea was you went out with your party workers to do a street and they would go and knock on as many doors as possible or ring as many bells as possible. As soon as somebody was seen talking to somebody your election agent would say, ‘Over there, Malcolm.’ You’d rush across there, say hello, introduce yourself as the candidate, shake their hands, and he would then say you’re wanted across here. So you’d only spent a very limited amount of time but the people in that house would feel they had met the candidate. Because it is said that people are far more likely to bother to vote, and far more likely to vote for you, if they feel that they can say that they’ve met you. It’s weird. I found years later people saying to me, after I had ceased to be a Member of Parliament: ‘Oh, you must remember me, you came and you visited my house in 1997’ [laughs]. Malcolm Savidge (Labour, 1997–2005)25 *** [In 1970] I was fighting a Liberal. Central Office then, to their credit, and I haven’t always been a great Central Office fan, but then had a poster, a national one designed: ‘Want them out?’ Everyone knew who ‘them’ was. This was specific in constituencies where the Liberal was the incumbent. Then it said something like: ‘There is only one answer: vote Conservative. Vote Robert Hicks.’ That was sort of the standard one that was used, which I actually do think was quite effective. As far as posters go. Robert Hicks (Conservative, 1970–February 1974; October 1974–97)26

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Shirley Williams, who could not have been a stronger candidate, was also a minister of state. People liked her, quite rightly, I understand why, I liked her, I thought she was tremendous. […] ‘Vote fast and Luce,’ I think was the big slogan. It was the most dynamic, the best election campaign I’ve ever fought. It was good weather, summer of 1970, we were out and about in the parks at the weekends; the Young Conservatives were with us for the whole time, creating an atmosphere of young people around us. In Stevenage there was plenty of hectoring in the audience; there were groups of Communists who followed me around. Therefore I leapt off the platform and debated with them on the floor of the house. It made for a very lively and enjoyable thing. [...] You are working with people all the time. People, people, people. That is what makes life so interesting. Richard Luce (Conservative, 1971–92)27 Trevor Jones was, well he became known as Jones the vote, but [in the 1970s] he was at that time a Liverpool councillor and we were gaining great success in local government in Liverpool. He wanted to prove his technique if you like; his way of winning elections, the Focus leaflets and so on could work anywhere. […] Both the title ‘focus’ and the style of leaflet was really only known in Liverpool; it hadn’t been tried anywhere else. [...] Basically, well, he said it needs to be written in the style of the Sun; I’m not too comfortable with that exact comparison, but in the style of the Sun and not in the style of the Times. The Liberals, I guess all in politics, have an almost irresistible urge to write deep political philosophy on the leaflets that you put through every letterbox. Well, that’s fine but you’re not actually communicating anything because nobody’s going to read it. So what he wanted to do was to deal with local issues, catch the readership and try and get a response. […] We kept leafleting on a pretty regular basis. [...] A group of Young Liberals would come every weekend. Trevor would drive down from Liverpool with the next bunch of leaflets, well, a bunch – he brought thousands of leaflets that he’d printed in Liverpool the night before, and we would spend the day or the weekend getting them delivered throughout the constituency. This built up a momentum and we started getting the response, the feedback. […] We started building up a rapport; we were getting quite a considerable response from local people on various issues. I was getting better known. It went on for some months, and the national party really took no notice. [Long omission] The Focus leaflets projected the Liberals, or the individuals, as people who get things done, but also who try to work with the local community and engage the local community. Graham Tope (Liberal, 1972–February 1974)28 ‘Clean, Green and Safe’ [was my key message during the 1992 election]. That was because [...] the fact that I put my picture everywhere I could, because of being a woman. My advice to all women that [want to go into politics] is: don’t bother, you know, wittering on too much about being a woman, just believe that by being a woman you will have a better approach to policy development. And a deeper and more humane, often, approach to policy development, because you understand how children and families and caring and old people work. So believe in yourself in that way. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)29 [During the 1987 election campaign] we took a picture postcard with me, with Big Ben behind, and the message said, ‘Can I help you? If you have any problems, let me know.’

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So people at least had something that they could perhaps remember that you’d called and knew who you were. It worked in a funny way that when we were going around the polling stations, watching people come in on polling day, quite a lot of people carrying these cards as a reminder of who they wanted to vote for. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)30 The little promise cards were clever. […] Five short promises were clever. It was a little card and you had one card that had Tony Blair on it with the five promises, and you had another card that had your head on it with the five promises and in both cases other stuff on the back. It was a clever sort of thing because it meant that people either might put it on one side if you’ve left something on it they thought might be useful for them or at least looked at it before they threw it out. […] We had slightly different promises in Scotland from England, I think, because I’m almost sure that one of the promises was delivering on Scottish devolution. Malcolm Savidge (Labour, 1997–2005)31 *** Election campaigns are funny things, you know. You are treated as though you were a puppet. ‘We, the election committee, are going to tell you where you’ve got to go, make a speech here and then you are going to speak on this.’ [...] So being a candidate is not all that exciting. [...] I hadn’t a clue how to run a campaign so I just did as I was told. Chris Price (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–83)32 [In 1983] I had a very experienced guy who explained to me that I was the candidate and he was the agent. [...] There was a touch of ‘look, you just need to understand who you are and what you are and you are a legal necessity, you are a candidate [laughs] get on with it. This is what we’re going to do. I will give you a schedule of meetings you will attend, but mostly canvassing, doorstep stuff, a different pub every lunchtime and we will all meet you there. So you go out with the team but we all go to a different pub every lunchtime and you will go around and talk to everyone in the pub.’ I thought: ‘Shit.’ I’m quite shy actually, like a lot of people in politics, they are extrovert and introvert at the same time. As a redhead I was quite capable of blushing appallingly. But anyway, he made me do it. It was good. It really worked. [...] It helped Fran being pregnant. We used that in the election address a lot. There were pictures of Fran standing in the front very pregnant and us buying nappies on Edmonton Green market with me just sort of poking out the back. People on the doorstep would ask, ‘How is your wife? Has he come yet?’ I suppose that is an abuse these days, isn’t it? I’m not sure people do it so much, but it certainly worked for me. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)33 I had a great fellow [Bob Mclean]. He was one of the best organizers ever. [...] I sailed through a general election; he had it all at his fingertips. He was a saint as far as I’m concerned. [...] The two elections I had him there were great. [...] Politically, [the 1992 and 1997 elections] were the same. [...] What annoyed me at times [...] I had people – we were trying to get them to canvass places, ‘Oh, there’s no need to canvass [there]’. [There were] new housing schemes – those folk had no loyalty to us. They had no loyalty to anybody. But if you didn’t turn up and put your card in the door, knock at the

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door, they had no ken who you are. I said, ‘Come on, at least do the bloody [basics].’ Because at one time, no kidding, in Mid Lothian, anybody standing was just wasting their time if they were not Labour. The NUM [National Union of Mineworkers] used to go up to Edinburgh and help, because they were wasting their time out here. [...] It was just solid Labour. That changed. Of course, we had discipline. When a young miner went down the pit, he was taught trade unionism, and he was taught collective safety. [...] You got a comradeship out of them. [...] Of course that was them converted [to Labour]. They started thinking collectively. [...] Now we’ve lost that. Eric Clarke (Labour, 1992–2001)34 [We were not a target seat for Labour in the 1997 election.] ‘You are the token candidate and it doesn’t really matter. We are not bothered about you’. That was the official line of the Labour Party in the constituency. […] So I just built a different campaign team. Out of friends, out of people who were younger, more recently attracted to the Labour Party, from some of the Tory areas, from the Wyre areas of the constituency where there hadn’t been the same sort of Labour organization. The idea was to do something every day and to hit every newspaper every week and just campaign, and we did. [We went to] the town centres, we knocked on doors, we did events. I ran in the sevenmiles Garstang Gallop [a local race] and things, wrote letters to the papers all the time. Wonderfully Tory supporters in parts of the constituency responded to me and kept the dialogue going and helped to raise the profile. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)35 We had one or two people that came and spoke [in 1974]. We got to the stage where big names were a bit of a problem because they would sometimes go back last minute, for some parliamentary reason so you got the embarrassing situation of having to apologize to everybody. So we didn’t bother too much with that. Michael Meadowcroft (Liberal, 1983–7)36 *** I never found the money restrictions actually worked, always the Tory candidates I fought at local government and later were always able to have an advantage because they had the money. [...] We got grants from unions, individual donations and so on. Arthur Latham (Labour, 1969–79)37 In the 1979 campaign we raised what we could through jumble sales and things like that, but the reality was that we didn’t spend a great deal of money and any money we did spend very largely came from me. But we’re talking about the cost of paper because we had a kind of Gestetner machine which allowed us to produce – not very good leaflets – but leaflets to stuff through letter boxes. […] Come the [1986 Fulham] by-election of course, the central party took that on, poured money in, within the limits they were allowed to I suppose, but certainly in terms of our return for the election expenses. Come the 1987 general election, Fulham was always quite good at raising money and had quite an affluent community. So because there was a lot of young people there but there was also a lot of well-established, long-standing fairly wealthy communities […] so we didn’t ever have much trouble raising enough money to fund the campaign. Matthew Carrington (Conservative, 1987–97)38

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[The union] paid a vast amount of the election expenses, under what the expense limit was. […] If you’ve got a sponsored member or candidate who is bringing, say, 70, 80 per cent of the election expenses and then a yearly allowance from the union for the candidate to promote himself in the constituency, I mean, that’s a great bonus to a party. […] If you wanted, say, 5–10,000 leaflets printed, you could sort of get the union to print them and then send them to the local party. Tom Cox (Labour, 1970–2005)39 *** I found a great opportunity which was that Exeter airport was owned by the Ministry of Defence, and they were wondering what to do about it. I became the chairman of an action group comprising of local councillors, local businesses and everybody, chambers of trade, to get it. [We wanted] the Ministry of Defence to turn it over and sell it or give it to this new syndicate so it could be turned back into a regional airport, which we succeeded in doing in the end. But, of course, it gave me a wonderful platform [in the 1970 election campaign]. I got good publicity. John Hannam (Conservative, 1970–97)40 Fighting [the Durham City and Sedgefield seat] in February 1974 was like putting your head in a kind of dodgy position, you know, we had a car turned over. My wife and I went out to visit one of the mining villages, went into a shop to get some Jaffa cakes or something to eat, came out and the car’s on its side. By then it was an old Austin Somerset which my aunt had given to us and we were using, but this car was on its side. A group of men hanging around it watching came over to me and one of them said, [...] ‘Aye, you’re the Tory candidate are you?’ I said, ‘Yes, yes absolutely, who’s done this do you think?’ ‘Oh, it’s terrible, it’s terrible, but you’ve got to understand that some of the people around here aren’t terribly keen on the Tories you know, with the mines, and the pits, and this election and everything. You’ve got to understand maybe it’d be better if you concentrated your time elsewhere in the constituency you see.’ Very intelligent guy, but clearly he had some mining connection I think and he said, ‘I’ll get the car sorted. I’ll just get some of my friends.’ So suddenly from the back lane came vast numbers of people, presumably the same people who’d turned the car over, who gently placed the car back on the road and opened the door to let me get back in to drive off. Timothy Kirkhope (Conservative, 1987–97)41 There was an issue which I was supporting with Leo Abse on abortion. […] I had a group of people from the Catholic Church came in on Friday night surgery. They were very polite, they told me about this, and I listened to them. They said, ‘We don’t expect you to decide now but we want you to think about it.’ I said, ‘OK, well, you know I have made speeches [in favour].’ ‘Yes, of course.’ One was a priest and the rest were very kind. They went out and then after they’d gone, because I used to sit by myself, there was a knock on the door in the council offices and the priest put his head round the door and he [gave me a petition]. He said, ‘We forgot to give it to you, here it is, you needn’t count the numbers, its 1,603.’ My majority was 1,602 [laughs]. That’s what I often say that’s probably why I lost the bloody seat because I didn’t do what he wanted, but that was quite funny. Eric Moonman (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–79)42

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[Lincoln] is an engineering city, a third of the houses are council houses, a third are Victorian terraced housing. So it’s a constituency which had all the real problems that England, Britain, confronted then. There was a great surge towards us, partly because people wanted to buy their own council house and that was very popular. Also there must have been 15,000 people who worked in engineering then, blue-collar people, and they were fed up with always being on strike and they were fed up with the closed shop. We said we would try and tackle that. I found the canvassing [in 1979] went well and I suddenly found on election night that I was edging ahead and I won by 600 votes. Kenneth Carlisle (Conservative, 1979–97)43 Oh it was almost wholly national issues, immigration was very, very big in Burnley [in the 1979 election], huge at the time. There was an area of the place called Stoneyholme which had been very largely taken over. […] There were classes where 5 per cent of the children spoke English as a first language. [...] The other thing that used to worry them was they used to use this general phrase ‘they’ve taken over’. What they used to mean was there were different clothes, different foods in the shops and people were speaking quite audibly a different language on the streets and people felt alienated in an area, being the north, they’d grown up in, they hadn’t moved much, their parents and parents and parents had been there, so immigration was very, very big. Ann Widdecombe (Conservative, 1987–2010)44 [Issues at the Fulham 1986 by-election were] a mixture of everything from football, because Fulham has two top-class football teams in Chelsea and Fulham. In those days of course we had all the problems with the football supporters, particularly the Chelsea ones, causing mayhem after matches and fighting in the streets and getting together on the Eel Brook common to have punch-ups organized with the opposing fans and things, none of which went down very well with the local residents. So there was that, there was the economy, there was [...] the aftermath of the Falklands War in ’86. All the problems that you’d expect in the mid-Thatcher years. Matthew Carrington (Conservative, 1987–97)45 [The 1997 campaign] was a solitary one. I remember there were far fewer people around. [...] It was a case of campaigning to save your seat, rather than the crusading campaigns of previous years. I kind of knew things weren’t going well. [...] The 1997 election was one where Europe dominated [...] and there was quite a bit in my manifesto about that, about Europe, but people didn’t seem to care, they just wanted rid of the Tories. John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–97)46 The campaign in 2001 for me in my constituency was overwhelmed by the hunting issue. Because I had a high profile on the Private Members’ Bill on the hunting ban and I was representing the constituency with the most hunts in the country. So it was the big issue. The Countryside Alliance targeted me, to get rid of me as an MP and flooded the constituency with workers and posters and things like that.47 It was a pretty unpleasant election. Outside of the town in Taunton and inside the town in Taunton it was a different election actually, which was weird. Because inside Taunton hunting was for some people a big issue, but not generally; it was in the rural areas it was a big issue. I did not enjoy the experience of campaigning outside the town in the very rural areas.

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Because it was an awful lot of hostility towards me, personal hostility and that wasn’t very pleasant. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)48 We had a problem [in 1992] in that, when the school allocations came out, in just about the election period, a whole group of white parents said they were not going to send their children to the school to which they’d been allocated because there were too many black children in that school. So it was a very straightforward racism issue. It needed very careful handling, it was very difficult. It really blew up, started just in the election, but it blew up after the election and my Conservative opponent then became the solicitor for the white parents. [...] So it was a slightly unusual and very tense election in ’92. Very difficult election. Which meant it was still a marginal seat as well. We had demonstrations in the town, we had a mini riot. We had the [British National Party] bussing people into Dewsbury. [...] We had to work closely with the police, trying to avoid a direct confrontation. Things got out of hand from time to time. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)49 [In late 2004 after losing my husband Bob Cryer (MP)] that wretched man, [Nick] Griffin [leader of the British National Party] announced that he was going to stand against me. [...] I’d been the one MP who had argued against forced marriages, against lack of use of English in the home and all sorts of other issues I’d taken up, at real risk to myself. Physical risk sometimes. [...] I put my seat at risk because I knew that I could lose an awful lot of Muslim votes. I took that risk because it was something I believed in. [...] He thought that Bradford/Keighley was the place to [stand], there were a lot of simmering bits of racism, you know, within the white community. I mean, I couldn’t win, because the white community who were racist hated me because they said I didn’t do anything for the whites, I did it all for the Asians. On the other side the Asian people would say, ‘Oh, she’s always having a go at us.’ Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)50 *** When you win, you leave the count and you go to one of the clubs and you will drink and celebrate and you make a speech and everybody will be happy. When you lose, everything goes. [...] Of course nobody has a party, so what you do is, you leave the place where you just heard the result, everybody’s gone home demoralized, you go to bed, essentially [...] and you decide what you want to do. I had long since decided that if I lost I would not stand there again. There’s no point in hanging about. I never go back anywhere. Fred Silvester (Conservative, 1967–70; February 1974–87)51 Very exhausting because right up to the last second you were trying to scoop up votes. So by the time the actual count comes you’re all flat out with exhaustion; you could barely keep your eyes open and the poor agent is nearly dead as well. Anybody else around you, your team, are all stumbling around like zombies. Emma Nicholson (Conservative/LD, 1987–97)52 We were all disappointed [after the 1992 election]. We really did think we were going to win, more than any other election. [...] People were deflated, not depressed, deflated but then, I think, very quickly the mood turned. [...] After ’92 the feeling was that we’d

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been out of office for thirteen years and we had to win the next election, eighteen years was just an election too far. We took it very seriously. The party understood what we were trying to do and in [Parliament] we really became very professional. We were the best prepared opposition for government ever, I suspect. We had ex-cabinet ministers giving us tutorials; we went up to Oxford for away days to be taught about how to run the government, how to be ministers. [...] We also went to the various interest groups, whether it would be business, defence. [...] A determination to win. And of course we would have won with John Smith [...] but he wouldn’t have won in the same manner as Tony [Blair]. David Clark (Labour, 1970–February 1974; 1979–2001)53 In ’97 it was just amazing. [...] We knew we would win. [...] I remember coming back from the count and when we got to our headquarters they’d put all fairy lights up and they were playing ‘Come on Eileen’ [laughs]. They were a wonderful bunch of people. [...] We had a party. It was incredible. Election night we hardly got any sleep [...] and then we went to our headquarters and everybody was there and that’s when we had the cake, they got me a cake, and all that hard work. Then we came back [to our house], had a couple hours of sleep and the phone started ringing. So that was it really. Flowers arriving, I think everybody, I would say about the ’97 [election] because of what happened previously, there was this wish for hope and a new start and you could feel it, it was so palpable. Eileen Gordon (Labour, 1997–2001)54 [I felt] devastated [when I lost in 1997]. Oh, devastated. It was a most purgatory experience for me, you know, to put a brave face on it. I knew it wasn’t looking good. From the moment I walked into [...] where the vote was being counted, I can remember [...] I said to [my wife] Jane, ‘We just have to be brave about this. Don’t let the cameras take any photographs of us looking downcast.’ I went in and the agent [...] said to me, ‘It’s not looking good boss.’ I said, ‘I know.’ So there followed four hours of trying to smile through it, trying to make sure there were no bad photographs and trying to make sure that you bore it with grace, bore it as best you could for the sake of your own self-respect and so on. […] I had to congratulate my successor, Lawrie Quinn, who was the Labour MP, and then thought to myself that tomorrow is another day. But it was difficult seeing the kids in the following day. They came in and they put their arms around me and I said, ‘Daddy lost last night and I’m very sorry.’ John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)55 Absolutely shocked. Shaking really. Then of course you have got to give the inevitable speech, and of course you always rise to the occasion. So I gave a furious speech saying, ‘We’d run a great show. I will be back!’ And off I went. [Paul] Burstow [my successor] wanted to shake my hand and I could hardly bring myself to do that. [...] Because he had run a dirty campaign anyway saying I was just a ‘carpetbagger’s daughter’ and all that. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)56 Election night [2001] was bloody awful. Horrible. Really horrible experience. It was clear to me when they opened the ballot boxes and did the first count that I lost. I mean I lost numerically by maybe 150 or something, but they obviously had to have a recount because it was so close. So we had to go to that process of recounting. Then it was still close, they were talking about having another recount and then I had party

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headquarters on the phone to me saying, ‘It’s still on live television, have another recount, because we don’t want your result to come through on live television.’ This is like three or four o’clock in the morning, and you’re completely exhausted, you’ve been up since six o’clock the previous morning, you know you’ve lost. I just thought the party was such callous bastards for making me go through another recount when I knew what the outcome would be. I found that a really miserable experience. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)57

Part III

House of Commons

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Welcome to the House First impressions, atmosphere and the daily life in Westminster

There was a lot of excitement, a lot of interest and a lot of fun in [the Palace’s social spaces] as well. As well as serious business being transacted. A lot of work in politics is done informally as well as formally. That was done in the bar, on the terrace in the summer, [...] or in the tea room. [...] The Commons tea room used to be the centre of all gossip and exchanging of information. George Foulkes (Labour, 1979–2005)1

Any political culture has an informal aspect, with unwritten rules on ‘how things get done’, places to gossip or make deals, and at times cultural barriers to those outside the system. For a large part of British political life this takes place in and around the Palace of Westminster: the traditions that govern its procedures; the timetable that organizes a politician’s life; the spaces that build alliances and broker deals. Oral history is an excellent way to capture some of this informal culture not recorded in Hansard, and our interviews are full of it. We ask every interviewee about their first impressions of Westminster and some striking themes emerge. Some were excited to arrive and almost could not believe that they were there: they remember being ‘exhilarated’; describe the building as ‘awesome’, with a real ‘sense of history’.2 For some, the overriding impression was that as an MP they were now a ‘very small fish in a big bowl’.3 At the same time, the traditions that delighted some baffled others – in particular the practice of having a length of ribbon on your coat hanger, supposedly to hold your sword, was both enjoyed and ridiculed. Westminster’s particular culture was remembered in this contradictory way by most. Comparing early days at Westminster to the first day at school was common among MPs who had experience of public, boarding or grammar schools and some describe not knowing what to do and feeling lonely or overwhelmed as at school. For those who did not recognize the environment, Westminster could be hostile, a ‘Dracula’s castle’.4 This was more likely a Labour reaction, but some Conservatives and Liberals from working-class backgrounds felt it too. Many remarked on the class diversity present in

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Parliament before the 1990s, changing to a different type of diversity by 1997. Yet not everyone was daunted. Those who already had some experience of Westminster had a real advantage; Bill Rodgers assumed he belonged: ‘Every door was my door.’5 New MPs had to get to grips with work almost immediately; the post arrived before they did. For most newcomers there was no formal induction and great difficulties arranging offices, a situation almost universally condemned: Graham Tope was ‘astonished’ at the lack of support.6 Office space, when it came, was inadequate before Portcullis House was built. MPs in the cloisters in the 1970s were compared to battery hens.7 Yet most of our interviewees were gushing about the professionalism and helpfulness of the staff, particularly in the library, although one or two felt uncomfortable with the amount of deference on display.8 Before the changes to working hours in the 1990s and early 2000s MPs could spend very long nights in the Palace waiting for votes. The relaxation spaces – the tea room, smoking room, dining room and bars – were where many MPs spent most of their evenings after a long day’s work. These were spaces to ‘escape’: to catch up and gossip. Some MPs found it difficult to afford the additional cost of eating in the Palace’s restaurants, rather than at home – the many invitations to events around Westminster, when they came, were a partial solution. Some remember the smoking room and bars as largely a male preserve, like a ‘gentlemen’s club’, and segregated by party – Conservatives in the smoking room, Labour mostly in bars or the tea room. These were places to ‘drink to your heart’s content’.9 The mixture of long hours and availability of alcohol created a strong drinking culture that some struggled with. There are enough stories of MPs fighting, passing out and being sick to suggest that drunkenness must have been fairly common. Although, perhaps unsurprisingly, few of our interviewees admitted to much drinking themselves. For Peter Pike ‘too many things [were] decided in the bar’,10 therefore, those who didn’t visit those places might find themselves in some way excluded from this informal politics. The tea room, library or bridge groups could be an alternative. For many MPs real camaraderie developed, as well as deep, often cross-party, friendships in all of the spaces of the Palace. Those MPs who mixed saw it proudly as part of democracy. For those who did not so readily form these friendships, Westminster could be a very lonely place. *** I love Westminster Hall. When you walk across it you just feel that sense of history: wow, Thomas More stood here or Charles I. To walk in their footsteps, it’s just stunning. The stories about the House, you know, the bombing in the Second World War and rubbing Churchill’s foot. [...] It was lovely to be in that old building, with the fire, rebuilding it, Pugin. [...] I’d been up there as Tony [Baker MP]’s caseworker, but to actually be able to explore it and go down all the little corridors. [...] It was such a privilege. It was just wow. [...] You just become a little tiny speckle of history. Eileen Gordon (Labour, 1997–2001)11 It was an overwhelming feeling – you were aware of this being the ultimate British institution, with the monarchy. […] I think there was a certain sense of awe,

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unquestionably. There’s always a feeling you want to do your best and all that, but a feeling that you’re rather a small ant in front of this great institution. Robert GascoyneCecil (Conservative, 1979–87)12 Before Parliament actually met for the first time, I went into the Chamber and I’d always said I’ll believe I’m elected when I feel the green leather under me. And so I went to sit on the green leather, and while I was there sitting on the green leather in an empty Chamber, Jacques Arnold, who was the MP for a Kent seat, [...] he came in as well and he said, ‘Oh, are you having a bounce?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m just convincing myself it’s real.’ So we both did, we both sat on the leather benches and bounced a bit. Ann Widdecombe (Conservative, 1987–2010)13 For the first time I sat on the Labour benches and I looked at all these politicians that I’d only seen on television, heard on the radio and knew by reputation, and there I was, sitting among them. I thought it was tremendous. I thought, yes, this is the place to be. […] Once you’re there, you feel you belong there because you are treated as one of the Members and you are treated as one of the community. Although I was in the constituency for thirteen years as the Member of Parliament, it was a marginal seat and I never felt safe. I never felt I was going to be there for a long time and I felt that my political career was based on sand. Kenneth Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)14 To be honest, I know that you are supposed to approach the Commons and think: ‘Oh gosh, I’m sitting on the seats where countless generations sat.’ I didn’t feel that at all. I’d been in the European Parliament; I achieved certain things there. [...] I didn’t feel the sort of sense of awe when coming into Westminster. David Curry (Conservative, 1987–2010)15 It’s a pretty fusty old place. It was a place that was built to keep people in their place, I think. [...] It’s history and I am a historian and so I have a love/hate relationship with the place. Linda Gilroy (Labour, 1997–2010)16 I was thinking God this is such a nightmare of a place. Then being struck by how odd it was in a number of ways. [...] You go into the Members’ cloakroom, where each of you has got a hanger with your name on it, and there’s a pink ribbon. [...] When I asked [what it was for], I was told, ‘It’s for hanging your sword on.’ [Laughs] I said, ‘What?!’ They’ve been doing this since the mists of time. This is ludicrous. It’s been at least two centuries since men went about with swords and women never. They love their traditions there and I just thought this is ridiculous. So I said, ‘In the Chamber of the House of Commons [...] let me get this right, it’s two sword lengths apart, but you’re not allowed to bring swords into the Chamber anyway even if you even had one – what’s the point?’ [Laughs] Logic has nothing to do with it [laughs]. Things like – you go to your first committee with a bill. You have loads of paper to get through [...] and people just chuck the paper when they’ve finished with it on the floor. So I asked the chairman at the end of my first session [if we could have bins in the room] [...] so instead of chucking paper on the floor we could use the bin. He said, ‘Oh no, that’s against the traditions of the House.’ I said, ‘It’s ridiculous cleaners having to pick up after people.’ [...] He said: ‘You’re a Labour Member, you surely don’t want to throw them out of

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work.’ I thought this is a very strange place, it’s not like any workplace I have ever been in. But the thing is people tend to want to be part of that, and not say this is just silly. Maria Fyfe (Labour, 1987–2001)17 I think when you first go there it is very awe-inspiring, you know, the cloakroom where they used to hang up your sword [laughs] in the old days and the line in the Commons where you mustn’t go or step across; it was very awe-inspiring in the early days and fascinating. Vivian Bendall (Conservative, 1978–97)18 It’s hard to express how I felt, because I was acutely aware that I’d left behind me something like 70,000 people who were now my responsibility, in parliamentary terms, in the constituency. And I thought: I’ve got to do this right. Harold Best (Labour, 1997–2005)19 *** Talk of the new boy at school. I’d been a new boy at school time and again, and I remember the loneliness. You’re there, suddenly your parents have gone, the friendly teacher or whoever it is, who said now you’ll be alright, there you are in a room, alone. What do I do? Usually, someone tells you what to do. There’s a bell for tea, there’s prep, there’s a sports game, whatever it is, somebody tells you what to do. But in Parliament – I remember vividly – you arrive and there you are; you’re on your own. So fine, after all, you’ve been elected, you’re a mature person, you’ve got to find your way, but I do remember the sense of, golly, what do I do now? Because it’s up to you. There’s no training path, there’s no induction course, you’re on your own. Michael Heseltine (Conservative, 1966–2001)20 It’s like to be in school for the first time. No one tells you anything. [...] At Westminster nothing happens. There is not even a map, a block diagram of the Palace of Westminster. What a group of us did, we used to meet each evening at about 6.15 in the Strangers’ bar for a pint of beer and we used to put together the knowledge we had collected. No one told you even how to put down a parliamentary question, where the Table Office was, that you tabled that parliamentary question. [...] How to write to a minister, how to address a minister you didn’t know. [...] It was a very, very steep learning curve. You also had to know the people to ask. Robert Hicks (Conservative, 1970–February 1974; October 1974–97)21 It’s a terribly confusing place. [...] I called it the rabbit run. I mean I still, after twenty years, will sometimes find a doorway or a staircase and think, ‘God, I never knew you existed.’ [...] It’s old and it’s fusty. The thing that struck me was [...] the darkness. Everything looks inwards. [...] There’s no windows to the outside. It is a bubble; you are totally cut off from the outside world in that place. It’s dark and there are mice running around in the tea rooms and there are moths fluttering everywhere. [...] The whole place is like a crumbling old Dracula’s castle. Do I love it? I love the outside on a sunny day. [...] I don’t like Victorian Gothic. I don’t like the inside. It’s too dark, it’s too dusty and it’s too decorated. All those patterned wallpapers and carved wood. Portcullis House is a wonderful, liberating sort of place. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)22

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It was a culture shock I’ll tell you. The class divide hit me smack in the face. It was pouring out of the woodwork. The patronization that went on, and there were so few women, I think there were thirty-seven when I went in, so lots of sexism as well. […] Maria Fyfe who’d got a very strong Glaswegian accent, I’ve got a fairly strong Yorkshire accent. Maria Fyfe and I were taking part in a debate and he made a comment, the Speaker [Bernard Wetherill] about: ‘If they spoke the Queen’s English, we’d be able to understand them.’ […] Eric Heffer got up and put his two-penny worth in shortly afterwards. He did apologize, did Wetherill, but it was just – it was natural for them to talk to people like that. Alice Mahon (Labour, 1987–2005)23 With my background, I felt a little bit, I wouldn’t say overwhelmed, but you could’ve felt quite inferior. Because you are mixing with all sorts of big names. I just recalled my dad’s advice: ‘No one is better than you, you are just as good as everybody.’ That was a big help to me. [...] [Once] Michael Foot, who was one of my great heroes, and he turned to me and said, ‘That was a very good speech, David.’ Things like that boosted your confidence. When you are recognized by people. [...] It was a big thing. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)24 What impressed me about it, coming from my background was that it was a levelling process from day one. There were one or two very pompous people who arrived, they’d obviously never fought a dodgy seat, they’d been friends of friends, gone to the right school, got themselves very nice seats in a very nice part of the country that they would be able to hold for a hundred years if they lived that long. They’d arrived assuming that because they were so important they could have anything they wanted. What I loved about it was the fact that the levelling process meant they were treated by the whips and everybody else as being no more important than any of the rest of us. Timothy Kirkhope (Conservative, 1987–97)25 In 1965 on the Tory side you had chairmen of banks, retired officers, owners of big estates, sons of peers; I mean it was very, very stereotyped Conservative. On the Labour side you had people who had actually worked down the mines, worked in the steel industry, who’d been trade union organizers. There was a noticeable gap between the two sides. [...] They looked different and they sounded different, and they were different. And now they are all the same. David Steel (Liberal/LD, 1965–97)26 Politics was dominated by class division in my active time in the Commons, whereas now there are no class divisions. [...] I think the other big change is that, in my period, the unions were the dominant force in the Labour Party, and they were run by barons who really took no notice of their members’ views. Once one man/one vote was introduced by John Smith [...] that completely disappeared and the unions are no longer a dominant force. Denis Healey (Labour, 1952–92)27 I felt a bit of a fish out of water because I hadn’t even got a dark suit to wear. I mean, in those days you had to wear dark suits, all the old boys were wearing striped trousers and black coats and things. [...] There was more colour on the Labour side and more sort of tweed jackets and grey flannels and so on. The majority of them would have had suits on, whereas on the Tory side it was nearly all dark suits. I only had a light suit; I had to get a suit made fairly quickly. James Prior (Conservative, 1959–87)28

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It was overwhelmingly male, pretty chauvinist, overwhelmingly public school (or it seemed to be), overwhelmingly white, of course, not entirely but. One of the interesting things that always struck me about it though was that you were in a job where despite all of that, there was a diversity of people there. You had people who were landed gentry and you had people who’d just stopped being coal miners, or just stopped being steelworkers. In the occupation of being a Member of Parliament, whilst it is clearly skewed in a particular direction in many respects, you do get in one sense a diversity that you don’t get in most jobs. [...] The one skill required to be a Member of Parliament is to get elected. That is it. Roger Berry (Labour, 1992–2010)29 Walk[ing] in there [in 1997] and you’d got a lot more women. [...] Lots of women, lots of Liberal Democrats, which was tremendous for us. There was Anne Begg sitting in her wheelchair, there was David Blunkett with his guide dog, there were black people and brown people. Everything, it just seemed like a Parliament that was representing the people, that Parliament. And so it was. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)30 The first introduction I suppose was not so much in the House itself, but there was a great meeting of all Labour MPs in Church House, Westminster, which Harold Wilson addressed. This was a wonderful meeting, because there was tremendous enthusiasm, there was this whole new influx of new MPs and you really felt that you were part of this great movement that was going places. There was a great feeling of comradeship and solidarity. [Long omission] After this wonderful meeting […] you then very quickly came to realize that in terms of the business of the House of Commons that there was a pretty big gulf between ministers and backbench MPs. Michael Barnes (Labour, 1966–February 1974)31 When I went to Parliament [in 1970], the biggest single group [in the Labour Party] was the trade union group, and they were made up overwhelmingly of miners but also steel workers, shipbuilders. There were a few women who’d been in the textile industries. But they were the biggest group and I always say to people: none of them had been to university or college. In those days many trade union Members of Parliament, wherever they came from, were well in[to] their fifties before they went into Parliament. They’d been active in the union, and possibly in the local council. Tom Cox (Labour, 1970–2005)32 I knew my way around Parliament so that was a terrific advantage when I arrived. [...] It was familiar to me, I knew what to do. I knew how to make speeches, I knew my way around, I knew where to go to the loo and I knew where the boozer was, all those sort of things. So I wasn’t frightened. [...] I’m beginning to sound very complacent and smug, really, but I didn’t feel that I was sort of helpless in this frightening place. I didn’t at all. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)33 I was luckier than most people because I had been a full-time Labour agent. [...] In those days there was a deference among people towards MPs. You’d hear folk say, ‘I will raise this on the floor of the House’ and this appeared to be extremely important. It sort of carried gravitas with it. I was much more cynical because I’d seen them inside out. […] So when I went to the House of Commons I was not at all deferential in that sense.

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I wasn’t fazed; I knew them. I was just entering something that wasn’t that new for me. Jim Sillars (Labour/SNP, March 1970–9; 1988–92)34 *** [I had a feeling of] utter frustration, coming from a life in which I had a proper, professional military and commercial career, into the House of Commons. […] I could never understand the mix between arcane procedures and schoolboyish behaviour. I used to sit there thinking, ‘What on earth am I doing?’ [...] I saw ministers having to work in the most stupid conditions, in all hours of the day and night, utterly exhausted, while I was advising my patients during the day exactly not to do that sort of thing. And the time wasting! I just thought it was crassly inefficient. Charles GoodsonWickes (Conservative, 1987–97)35 You are not given any bit of paper to say that you won. […] You drive up to the Palace gates in the car, and you think they’re not going to let me in, are they? I mean, why would they? [Laughs] So you stop at the Palace gates and say, ‘Hello, I’m newly elected.’ ‘What’s your name, then?’ ‘Iann Twinn.’ ‘Have you got any election leaflets?’ The car was littered with them. You could always tell candidates in the elections, their cars are just a shambles of election leaflets. So you pass one out, and the next time I went in, which was probably later the same day, I just drove in they said, ‘Hello Dr Twinn. Good to see you.’ Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)36 Those were the days, there was no induction programme; it was all done by Chinese whispers. [...] You arrived in Parliament, nobody met you, nobody was showing you around, you just somehow had to sort it all out for yourself. And of course you relied heavily on people you already knew who were there. [...] It was bewildering, in those days you didn’t have a desk, you just did your work in the corridors until they allocated you something, or you squatted on somebody’s desk. [...] You had no desk, no phone, nothing that was yours. You didn’t know the procedures. You couldn’t read the whip, which is pretty mysterious unless you know what it’s talking about. Ann Widdecombe (Conservative, 1987–2010)37 We had no facilities other than the library, which was my favourite. [...] We had no rooms. [...] You rub shoulder to shoulder. You had no secretarial backup. I was lucky; I was invited to join two existing Members so between us we paid a secretary. There were three Members with one secretary. We had to pay out of our salaries. It was allowable as an expense for the [Inland] Revenue but you had to finance it. All your telephone calls you had to pay for, except in London. The only travel you got was a first-class ticket to your constituency, but if you went anywhere else you had to pay. Your wife or your children all had to pay. You weren’t allowed to use a car; you had to pay for that yourself. All that changed over the years. David Price (Conservative, 1955–92)38 I got down there quite quickly, because I was aware that the first person to register would be most likely to be accommodated quickly than someone that came along later. So I went down to Parliament quite soon after I was elected. […] Hugo Summerson who was elected at the same time as me went along as well, and he asked for a room

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with a window. [One of the assistant serjeants] rose on her high heels or whatever it was: ‘Window? New boys do not have windows,’ she told him. Accordingly both Hugo and I and all the other new boys had offices which we shared in various parts of the building. I was in Commons court, without a window, very stuffy, very small and pretty unsatisfactory at that. Chris Butler (Conservative, 1987–92)39 I ended up with a desk in what is called the cloisters, a wonderful old sort of medieval [part] of the House, which was wonderful to look at, but to hang a calendar up you needed to drill a hole in a thirteenth-century wall [laughs]. I wasn’t going to do that. So it was difficult. [...] You couldn’t have confidential telephone conversations. So they came in and put these [sound] absorbing boards between each desk. These boards were about four-foot high and four-foot wide, so you had this row of desks with these boards in between. Clive Soley (Labour, 1979–2005)40 It was so amateurish in ways. I think the reason why this absurd amateurishness lasted so long stems from this reason: in the Tory side, most of the Tories were wealthy businessmen who probably had their own private secretary anyway, on the Labour side they were probably a trade unionist who probably had a secretary in the union who would help them out. John M. H. Lee (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–9)41 [A fellow Member] said, ‘Have you collected your post?’ ‘Post? I won’t have any post. Why would I have post?’ [...] ‘Post office is there, go in there, tell the man who you are and wait for your post.’ [...] Off I go into the post office [...] then there was a horrible shuttering noise, so he turned around behind him and obviously some things came out of a chute. There was bundle after bundle of post. So I’m looking behind me to see who they’re for and he said, ‘No, they are yours.’ ‘They can’t be mine.’ I remember standing there and saying, ‘They can’t be mine.’ I’d only [just] got elected, it was Friday morning. He said, ‘Yes and all your constituents have written to you.’ I came out of there and I could hardly carry the post. Three armfuls of post. [...] I couldn’t believe it; I didn’t know what to do with it. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)42 I can’t ever think of a time that I’ve felt I hadn’t been treated properly by the clerks. They do an enormous job of work, because they are handling all sorts, well without them you couldn’t get through. The work they do in the committees is enormous and they are always looking out for Parliament. When I was there, and in the House of Lords it’s the same, I always feel that you can trust the clerks, well when I say the clerks I mean the administration, because they are basically on your side. They are very helpful towards democracy and I don’t think democracy would work without them. David Stoddart (Labour, 1970–83)43 You do realize, particularly among the police, I think, but all the staff, that there is a sort of deference that feels friendly, but it is actually very deferential. I found that quite difficult to get used to in a way. I would try and break it down a bit but you don’t. It doesn’t help, really, the constant feeling that you are somebody, that people are very deferential to you, because if you’re [not] careful you start to think you deserve it somehow. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)44

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Lots of snobs. Real, real hardened snobs in some of the clerks. They didn’t think people like me should be in Parliament. [...] They don’t like accents down there, or they didn’t, it’s different now. I think they blazed a trail, didn’t they – people like these mining MPs that went down there. [...] I suppose you can be a bit oversensitive but some of it was so blatant that you just have to rise up and give them a mouthful. Alice Mahon (Labour, 1987–2005)45 *** I went in to the tea room, and the only people I knew were actually Labour MPs from Glasgow. […] I was just sitting down there, having a chat with them, and then there was a very nice man called Harold Wilson, who came and sat down and said, ‘Who are you?’ So I said, ‘I’m Teddy Taylor,’ and he said, ‘You are a Conservative?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ ‘What are you doing at this table?’ and I said, ‘Well, these are my friends,’ and he said, ‘Oh, that is one thing that you’ll have to learn, we have segregation here.’ He was very nice and just told me that something I should know for the future that we always sit in different places so we don’t listen to other people’s conversations. […] ‘The division here [at lunch]: that side is all the Labour side, that side is the Conservative side and the one small, narrow table in the middle of the circle for the Liberal Democrats.’ […] It worked perfectly, like all the Parliament things do, until something went wrong. Not then, but at an election a wee bit ahead there was a man elected to Parliament, for the first time as a Welsh Nationalist, called Gwynfor Evans. […] He was the first Welsh Nationalist, so he came in to get his lunch and he says, ‘Where can I sit?’ and they say, ‘I’m afraid there is nowhere for you to sit, you would have to go to the other place to eat downstairs.’ Which he did, he went to the dungeon downstairs, but they don’t have the tablecloths and waitresses, they just have a blackboard that never changes. […] He never complained, he went there for six months and enjoyed his lunches there, no trouble at all, but then we had a lady elected, called Winnie Ewing who was elected as the Scottish Nationalist. Oh dear, dear, she caused all kinds of trouble saying that it was upsetting, unfortunately for a woman and the Scots were feeling ashamed that they were not being given a proper seat and something should be done about it. So they had a special meeting at the House of Commons Catering Committee and they said, ‘Well, we don’t want to have a nationalist seat because that will just encourage more of them to come.’ So eventually they decided to have what they call a minority parties table. Teddy Taylor (Conservative, 1964–79; 1980–2005)46 The rule in the Member’s dining room is you don’t go in mob-handed and form a table with your friends, you go in and find a vacant seat at a table. You sit by party, […] you would be sitting with people you probably didn’t know very well and that was how I really got to know people across the generations. I found that extremely valuable. David Nicholson (Conservative, 1987–97)47 It was interesting after 1997 because there were a lot more women. What we often used to do [in the Member’s dining room] was to get a women’s table and the men hated that. Really hated it. The arrogance of male politicians is that they always thought that

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we couldn’t be talking about anything except them. […] It tended to be all Labour MPs. There wasn’t much mixing up. Anne Campbell (Labour, 1992–2005)48 I do remember eating fried food on the terrace as cheaply as we possibly could in those days [laughs]. […] There were lots of places to go and sit, and eat or drink. [...] [My fellow new Members and I] didn’t really have the money to go off and sit in the Member’s dining room and eat and drink a lot. […] Certainly, I gradually got in to all that. Then the invitations start arriving. Lots of invitations to drinks, multiple invitations to drinks, and to lunches and dinners. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)49 The tea room was where you escaped. It wasn’t just for tea, you went there for a chat and food. You didn’t really have meetings in the tea room, you had gossip sessions. Friendship sessions to boost your self-confidence or cheer you up if you got in trouble yet again like me. I didn’t go in the bar very much, the men did. I can’t drink and work. If I’ve got to think and work, I can’t deal with alcohol. I love it, but not when I’m working [laughs]. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)50 You got to know people on the other side when you went to have your lunch in the tea room. [...] You went down to have your haircut in the barber. There was a barber’s shop, you could always get your haircut and you talked to the next person waiting. I was there one day waiting and Nye Bevan was having his hair cut. John Morrison, a kingpin on our side, chairman of the 1922 committee, started talking to Nye. Nye Bevan had just bought a farm in Wales and John Morrison started talking to him about farming. He said, ‘Been a bad time for farmers, there’s been a lot of rain.’ Nye said, ‘Yes, but mine is only a small farm and there’s been a lot less rain on my farm than there has on the big farms like yours’ [laughs]. James Ramsden (Conservative, 1954–February 1974)51 [I was a member of] a very important and informative club; it was called the Economic Dining Club. [...] We used to meet about once every two or three months in each other’s homes, and whoever was host had to give supper. When we went to Margaret [Thatcher’s] we got shepherd’s pie and peas. […] We discussed right-wing economic measures, you know, no prices and incomes, what could we sell [privatize] and all that sort of thing. [...] The One Nation Group I was also a member of, who Margaret always thought were a bunch of traitors, but that was sort of the centre-left and they were a dining club. I was a member of that as well, so I was a bit, both bits of the party, if you like. Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)52 *** When you spoke to women friends [in Parliament], they certainly felt it was like being a woman in a male club. It did have that atmosphere; even the Member’s bar looked like one of the Pall Mall clubs with the deep chairs and so on. [...] When I was there it was still, I wouldn’t say heavy drinking, but everybody drank. Now I get the impression that everybody is on water and tea all the time. Michael Knowles (Conservative, 1983–92)53 The smoking room was pretty largely Conservative, but some of the ‘gamier’ Labour people [like] Michael Foot would be there. [...] Then you smoked, and then you drank,

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and there was a lot of drinking in the House of Commons in those days, I’ve seen several Members of Parliament drunk. I’ve seen one fall down totally dead drunk in the smoking room and one being violently sick in the division lobby [laughs]. Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)54 I had to pluck up courage to go to the smoking room the first time, because the smoking room was a smoking room, a male-dominated smoking room. If I could find somebody that I knew well going along the corridor, I would go then. It didn’t take me long because I thought I must go, that’s where all the chit-chat is, and if you don’t listen to the gossip you don’t know what’s going on. […] Some of them were very welcoming. Wally Clegg [...] was a lovely guy, he used to say: ‘Come and sit here, it’s time we had some better looking people around us.’ Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)55 When I first went in [the House] what amazed me was the amount of fighting that was going on. [...] It was an unusual week when at the end of the night there wasn’t some sort rumpus in the Strangers’ bar. I can recall sitting there, looking at my mail when I had no office, in the Strangers’ bar having a pint of shandy or something, I can’t remember. Probably the first week or so that I was there [...] and being astonished to see two Members of Parliament rolling past me on the floor fighting. It was not unusual at all to see punch-ups in the Strangers’ bar. There was a drinks culture then more than there is now. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)56 I saw a couple of MPs who had clearly developed drink problems, and I think you could do that very easily in the Palace of Westminster where you can drink at somebody else’s expense for the whole of the day [at receptions]. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)57 It is certainly true that MPs tended to drink a lot because they were asked to hang around a lot. It’s the hanging around that causes the drinking. All the important votes were taken late at night. [...] The question in the evening was: What were you going to do while you were hanging around? If you’d had a very full busy day, most people didn’t feel like still continuing to work in the evening. They would either read the papers or snooze in the library or above all go to one of the bars and drink with their friends. Bryan Magee (Labour/SDP, February 1974–83)58 I never went to the bar. Never. I think you could count on one hand how many times I ever went in the whole time I was there. It wasn’t an environment in which I was comfortable or happy. So in the evenings I would be in my office, going through the mail, signing letters which have been done during the day by my secretary, or perhaps in the cafe or over dinner, or just having a chat with a few friends somewhere. One was busy. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)59 I am a loner, by definition. I was there to work, I wasn’t there to socialize, I wasn’t there to use the clubs and the rooms and all that. If I went anywhere for a drink it would be with a couple of my mates. [...] We would find which embassy got a reception on that evening and go along and have a few drinks free. And that was it. [...] I’m glad that I didn’t really spend too much time at Westminster because many of those who did spent the whole time staggering from bar to bar, which was bad. David Mudd (Conservative, 1970–92)60

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I was more a tea room addict rather than bar addict, because I had an alcohol allergy. [...] So being in the House of Commons and not being a drinker – […] but the tea room I used to chat there quite a bit, wasn’t involved in the bar culture so much. Well, I wasn’t involved at all, really. [...] I suppose there are two aspects: if you are involved in that culture you can perhaps pick a wider circle of colleagues and friends, and perhaps become part of the team of one of the sort of leading lights so to speak. So because I wasn’t in there I never became someone who was part of a team with a leading light, so I was never attached, you know, as a Blairite or a Brownite or whatever. Win Griffiths (Labour, 1987–2005)61 There was a big plus for an all-night sitting. You got to know colleagues whose interests didn’t cross [yours] at all, so you hardly knew them, but if you were having breakfast on the terrace at five o’clock in the morning you develop a friendship. […] The main place in those days was the smoking room, and then there was so-called Annie’s bar which was restricted to Members of Parliament and selected journalists. David Price (Conservative, 1955–92)62 After dinner you would have this – by sort of 8.30 in the evening you’ve done enough work for the day, you’ve been working eleven hours, but you’ve got votes going on till maybe two in the morning. You think: how the hell am I going to pass the time because I can’t concentrate on work. That’s when a lot of MPs go and drink. I decided that I wasn’t going to do that. So actually myself and David Heath and Evan Harris and a few others discovered that we played bridge. [...] So we used to go and play bridge in the evenings when we were waiting for late-night votes. I really enjoyed doing that, it was nice spending time with people you are working with and it was cross-party. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)63 I can remember some of the women, we used to congregate in the library because of the comfy chairs. So you chat, and go and get a drink, it was quite a nice time to get to know people. Because normally everyone’s on their own agenda. Eileen Gordon (Labour, 1997–2001)64 *** No matter what people’s political views are, if above all you are a democrat, then a democrat will respect other people’s points of view, look deeper than the political expression and see the person. In all my political life I’ve tried to find the person, the individual, behind the reputation rather than just the politics that they represent. Through that I’ve made some very long-lasting friends in both the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party who I’m pleased to call friends. I think they are pleased to have me as a friend. Frank White (Labour, October 1974–83)65 I was never totally a ‘women’s woman’ MP. I always tried to drink with the boys as well as chat in the women’s room. I didn’t ever want to be labelled really as any one thing in particular. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)66 I never made personal friends on the basis of politics. There were some pretty unpleasant Labour Members as well as Conservative Members, who just didn’t want

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to know anyone unless they were in their own party. Robert Howarth (Labour, 1964– 70)67 One of the disappointments going to the House for the first time was that I had a number of close friends, all of us were trying to get in to the Commons about the same time, and most of my friends didn’t succeed. So there was a time when I thought I was going to go in with a cohort of close chums and it just didn’t happen. Charles Goodson-Wickes (Conservative, 1987–97)68 I got to learn to mix with all my male colleagues. They were very supportive actually, seeing that you could be a bit lonely, on your own. I learnt throughout my political life that men operate in gangs and girls tend to have a best friend. […] It is very difficult for a woman to break into a gang, […] particularly if you don’t know people already there. […] We didn’t have a group at all. Even within our own party, we didn’t have a girls’ gang, a girls’ group, at all. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)69 One thing I’d like to say about Attlee: nobody could have had a more generous and kinder [electoral] opponent than I had. I learned, I think, the most important lesson in politics, at his feet: that you can disagree strongly with one of your fellows, but if you have a shared principle, a shared view of how things could be, you are only falling out because you are disagreeing about the practical methods of achieving that objective. Providing you have patriotism, if you like, or the good of society as your principal objective you’ll keep that, that will be something that’ll bind you together. It’s what you are both striving for. The fact that you disagree about how to do it is really neither here nor there. Edward du Cann (Conservative, 1956–87)70

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Parliamentary business The Chamber, committee work and procedure

The Chamber was the centre of life, everything happened in the Chamber that was important. If you wanted to make your mark you had to make your mark sometime between 2.30 and six o’clock in the Chamber. [...] That’s when the House was full, it was full every day, not just for Prime Minister’s Questions. It was packed with people, much more than it is today. There weren’t many committees and the committees weren’t very important. [...] In those days the Telegraph and the Guardian had a full page reporting the speeches, and you wanted to get your one inch, that you’d spoken. Or you wanted to be on Yesterday in Parliament, just a sentence or two. That was fame. Glory! Recognition! It was so totally different from today. Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)1

A key part of an MP’s job is to scrutinize, support or oppose government legislation. For our narrators much of this work took place in the Chamber, but the Chamber also played a larger role in their daily lives: the main stage of British politics. The nittygritty of discussing the detail of legislation, however, mostly happens at committee stage. In both arenas MPs had to master conventions and unwritten rules. Since procedural changes in the 1990s and early 2000s, the opportunities for filibustering against government legislation have been much reduced (but filibustering continues to be effective against Private Members’ Bills). Change in procedure, coupled with the growth of select committees, gradually shifted the focus of power from the Chamber – although perhaps, after the influx of new Members in 2010, it has once again become the centre of events. The maiden speech was the first hurdle for a newly elected MP. A speech which followed a set of rules: be uncontroversial, brief, mention your constituency and predecessor. In return, fellow MPs would listen without interruption. Some didn’t understand the convention and were caught out; some chose to ignore it in order to make an impact. However, most narrators wanted to ‘learn the ropes’ before they made their own, and even Jeffrey Archer admitted to nerves beforehand.2 For Michael Stern it was ‘one of the most frightening things I’ve ever done’.3 The Chamber itself is still known for its rowdy and noisy atmosphere: a ‘chamber of horrors’ to some.4 Too small to fit all MPs, it could be an intimidating place. While

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some loved the political games – heckling, rude jokes, competition over where to sit – others, often women, derided it as a ‘boys’ club’, or worse (for more see Chapter 8). Backbenchers wanting to speak struggled to be noticed by the Speaker through all the noise. Again, who gets to speak is regulated by convention and manipulated by the whips. Backbenchers complained about having to cut speeches to just a few minutes in busy debates when privy councillors could speak for as long as they liked and not listen to others. Many developed tactics to deal with questions and hecklers, and could deal with the Chamber’s ‘bogeymen’ like Denis Skinner with more experience and confidence. An understanding of procedure could help make your name – as Ann Taylor found out – and could enable you to do real damage to government business.5 Most MPs got to know enough procedure to achieve what they wanted to do, such as using Ten Minute Rule Bills to introduce issues or shepherding a Private Members’ Bill through committee.6 Even if procedure was believed to be arcane or at times ridiculous, most MPs recognized that they had to get to grips with it, and few did anything to change it. Many, especially in opposition, cheerfully learned the art of filibustering on bill committees, and tabled useless amendments to speak on for hours. On the government side, London MPs were often expected to keep the debate going in quiet Friday sittings to prevent new business being added to the order paper. Ministers with legislation to get through had to acquire some sort of understanding of parliamentary procedure and practice. Despite this committee scrutiny could at times be a constructive, collaborative procedure to improve legislation (see Chapter 10), but could also be boring, long, and as Ted Rowlands describes, made more palatable by liquid ‘facilities’.7 With the introduction of a more elaborate system of select committees scrutinizing government policy and administration, they provided an alternative focus for politics to the Chamber, and became a new way for a politician to make their mark. Over our period they grew in their ambition and determination to hold government and others to account. They could be a place for surprising cross-party collaboration; one of our interviewees described them as ‘by far the biggest step forward for democracy’.8 *** The by-election was on Thursday, I took my seat on the following Tuesday. Dear Trevor [Smith], who was a bigger showman than Jeremy Thorpe if anything, had got the idea that we should make something of my arrival in Parliament. So he hired a London double-decker bus which brought people up from the constituency, big banner over the front of it. I’d had a lunch at the National Liberal Club. [...] I do remember coming out from the lunch and being made to sit on the roof of the bus, my legs hanging in the front [laughs]. What on earth anybody thought! [...] I should continue the momentum and make my maiden speech on the day I took my seat. [...] It’s very unusual, very precocious, probably not wise. But I did that. Graham Tope (Liberal, 1972–February 1974)9 I was in a terrible state [before speaking for the first time in the Chamber]. I went to the lavatory three times before, when the debate was going on. The House was very kind. Jeffrey Archer (Conservative, 1969–September 1974)10

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I waited from June till October. [...] Don’t make it controversial, don’t make it for too long. It’s the opening over, isn’t it, it’s the opening batsman. Don’t try to hit it out of the ground. [...] Somebody made a ridiculous maiden speech long before I was there, very, very partisan. The wind-up speech from the minister – it was Aneurin Bevan – who said, ‘We have listened with interest to the Honourable Member’s speech, we look forward to when the rules of combat allow us to hit back.’ David Madel (Conservative, 1970–2001)11 I made my maiden speech and there was sort of, what seemed like an awed silence, and I got wide acclaim in the papers the next day: ‘Rosie comes out fighting on inner cities.’ [...] I thought: oh, you know, this speaking in the House of Commons is not nearly as fearsome and terrifying as people say. My big mistake. I got letters from MPs from all over the House saying excellent speech, how wonderful, and it was well attended. So I thought ‘oh, this is alright.’ So, big mistake. My second speech I went in with an elevated degree of [confidence] and got completely pulled to pieces, not having realized that it is the convention that everyone is courteous for the first one and then you’re fair game for the second. It was on the health matter and I remember Norman Tebbit getting up and really savaging me, and then one after another. I remember coming out of that debate feeling quite shell-shocked so I thought I won’t make that mistake again. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)12 [The maiden speech] can seal what the attitude of other Members is to you. [...] If you go out of your way [...] to harangue [the opposition] you’re doomed. You’re doomed. Because they think ‘how biased he is.’ There are ways by which you can [criticize and make your point]. Tom Cox (Labour, 1970–2005)13 My maiden speech […] I thought that was the end of my career, actually. It was a debate on immigration. I’d worked out a very carefully prepared sort of speech, said nice things about the constituency, nice things about my opponent and all the rest of it. Doing it properly. Immediately before me a man called Geoffrey Lloyd, who was a very languid Tory, got up and made a speech. He absolutely incensed me, he really did actually, the things he was saying. I don’t think he was particularly racist, he was just what he was, which is upper class, Tory, with all the prejudices and things, the attitudes of that particular genre. So when I got up, as I said I was very cross, so I threw away my notes and I launched after him. Then I sat down and I thought, ‘God, I killed myself, that’s it. Never again. Go back to the Bar, good boy, get your wig out.’ [Laughs] But apparently it was alright. It was a good speech. But it wasn’t what a maiden speech was meant to be. Ivor Richard (Labour, 1964–February 1974)14 *** It was wonderful just to be in that Chamber; it’s sort of surreal really. It was springtime, it was a May election, the light comes in through those upper windows in the Chamber of the House of Commons. It sort of picks up all the dust, so it’s like a very fine silver cloud in there. It’s sort of got that fairy-like, surreal atmosphere. [...] It was rather good. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)15

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The thing that struck me most was the Chamber was much smaller than I imagined. [...] The second [thing] was the speed with which things were done: business, Order Papers, Business of the Day, it’s very quick and it’s quite a thing to sort of catch up [with] what’s on next. It does take time, and then getting the feel of what it’s like in the actual Chamber, committees, there was an awful lot to learn in a short space of time. David Madel (Conservative, 1970–2001)16 Where I used to sit was on the front opposition bench, near Dennis Skinner. [He and] Bob Cryer and one or two others, they used to try and get a crowd so that they couldn’t let me in. So one day I think I said to them, ‘You can either let me in, or I’m going to sit on your knee.’ They knew it was cruel, well, they don’t care really. It’s tough. It’s a tough world. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)17 [In 1997] the Liberal Democrats had their biggest parliamentary group they had ever had. They wanted to have more visible seats inside the Chamber. So we had this farce every day for weeks when people sat on chairs outside the Chamber from very early in the morning, so that they’d be the first in the Chamber when the doors were opened for prayers to get particular seats. The newly elected Tories, it was the newly elected MPs who were put on this stupid duty. [...] It was people like Michael Gove [...] I would often be sitting next to him. I think we all thought this was a bizarre, bloody stupid thing to do but our parties were insisting on it. Ted Heath was always sitting – he wouldn’t go in early to bag a seat, of course he wouldn’t – but he thought he was entitled to a very good seat as Father of the House. There were almost Liberals sitting on his lap. [...] I just thought, ‘For God’s sake we’re all grown-ups, why are we behaving like this.’ [...] Stupid performance which felt like it went on for weeks and weeks, until eventually the whips between them sorted it out. [...] Most of my overwhelming impressions of the first few weeks in Parliament was what a bizarre place it was. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)18 It was really childish, but Paddy Ashdown would always take himself terribly seriously, you see. I remember one evening a group of us, sort of younger Members, were having a drink in the smoking room and his name came up on the screen. So we said, ‘Come on, let’s go and mock him up.’ So we went into the Chamber, and we sat down opposite him. His place was quite a long way down from the chair. [...] He looked at us in a very wary way in suddenly seeing these half a dozen Tories, [...] we were quite jolly. So we decided we were going to have a bit of fun with Paddy. So one of us said, in a voice that he could hear but the Speaker couldn’t, [...] ‘how statesman-like,’ then another one said, ‘Goodness Paddy, I’ve never heard anything like it,’ and another one said, ‘This is brilliant.’ Poor old Paddy was getting crosser and crosser and we kept looking at the Speaker to make sure, he knew what was going on but of course he couldn’t hear us. We made him lose his place and interrupt himself, and then we went off and had another drink [laughs]. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)19 I found the whole atmosphere of the House of [Commons] very much boys having games with each other and wanting to win the argument. Not too interested in what they were changing in people’s lives, that was the thing I found quite difficult. I remember people used to go on about Tony Benn and […] Dennis Skinner, and

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I remember thinking: it’s fine, what do they do other than say clever things? Diana Maddock (LD, 1993–7)20 Well, being in the Chamber is one thing, speaking another. Being in the Chamber and speaking: fantastic. I mean, it’s a nice room, you feel a sense of pride of purpose. It may be that there’s not a lot of people in there listening, but you’ve got the frontbenchers there, so they’re listening, that’s good. You place on record what you think. So I enjoyed speaking very much. What I didn’t enjoy was sitting there and not speaking and listening to other people. In all seriousness, a lot of the debates were really, really boring. A lot of the debates were not at a particularly good level, unlike select committees which invariably are. So if I wanted to speak in a debate I would have to go to the Chamber for the whole day, having written to the Speaker and all that. I enjoyed having my say and hoped it might have had some effect. But normally, the attraction of being in the Chamber can wear off when you’ve heard too many really tedious irrelevant speeches. And you don’t have time. Roger Berry (Labour, 1992–2010)21 [In the Chamber] Members of Parliament bob up and down like yo-yos, and what they are actually doing is trying to attract the attention of the Speaker, who’s got a very difficult job. [...] I started out by trying to attract [Betty Boothroyd’s] attention, bobbing up and down in between questions [...] to no avail. I tried again the next time to no avail. I thought, ‘Well, perhaps she’s not noticed me,’ so I will try a yellow tie. So I put a yellow tie on one Tuesday morning before I left the house and that didn’t work either. I began to think, ‘Have I upset her or something?’ So eventually, one particular crowded Question Time I remember I got up as usual. Up and down, up and down, up and down. It was a rowdy Question Time. [...] I got up and she made eye contact with me and I thought, ‘The Speaker has made eye contact with me. Maybe she is going to, she is going to, she is going to … .’ ‘Mr John Sykes,’ she said. So I thought, ‘Christ.’ These microseconds, these thoughts going through your head: ‘What do I say now? What I am going to do?’ [...] So I wrapped my order paper up into a tube and swept it across my front for effect, and said, ‘Does the prime minister agree with me that the [European] Social Chapter will destroy jobs in this country?’ As I said ‘destroy jobs’ I brought my order paper firmly down in front of me, as a flamboyant gesture, little knowing that Michael Fabricant, the MP for Lichfield, who wears a wig, was sat immediately beneath me. The whole House fell in an uproar. You’ve never seen a Member of Parliament duck so quickly as this waft of air nearly took his wig off [laughs]. It could have been one of those great moments in history, but fortunately it stayed put. John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)22 I quickly realized, and I saw it subsequently from another point of view [as Deputy Speaker], is that if you are going to be in the Chamber regularly, if you want to be called, you’ve got to be sure that you don’t just dip in and out, but you are a regular attender in the Chamber and you are always in that seat or that area of the Chamber. So that if the Speaker is going to call you, they will know roughly where you’re sitting and they’ve seen you attending, that you don’t just flit in and out. And of course the worst thing you can do is start standing to catch the Speaker’s eye, then think: ‘Oh, I’ve been here for ages, I’m fed up, I’ll go out for a cup of tea or coffee,’ and not explain what

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you’re doing and then come back three quarters of an hour later and start standing again. Well, in the meantime you might have missed your place. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)23 I got lots of advice given to me. I was young, I was female; there were only twenty-seven of us. There were always gentlemen willing to give you advice. The Speaker [Selwyn Lloyd] told me, when I shook hands with him, so annoying, he said: ‘If you want me to call you, don’t sit at the back with all the women because I can’t tell you apart.’ [Sighs] So I sat next to Willie Hamilton, because I thought that you can probably tell me apart from Willie Hamilton. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)24 I tell you what I found the most difficult. I would pop in my name down to speak in a certain debate. [...] Come the day, you might find that a lot of people have put their names down. Because the first people to speak are often privy councillors, [...] and then as the afternoon went on the Speaker would decide ‘we are going to limit backbench speeches to ten minutes.’ So you’d made all these notes to make a speech that would perhaps take twenty minutes and suddenly you are going through with a pen cutting out all the bits that you can manage without to try to get it down to ten minutes. By the end of the evening there could be an announcement: ‘Backbench speeches: three minutes.’ That’s what I found really hard, that I’d carefully prepared what I was going to say, got it all ready, and then suddenly [...] I got to get everything into three minutes. [...] I still enjoyed doing it but I found that quite frustrating. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)25 The trouble is, some of these sort of famous or infamous names, you could be sitting in the Chamber trying to be chosen to speak and these people could walk in – and also privy councillors had the privilege of being called as a priority by the Speaker – rather than the simple backbencher, who’d been there for hours trying to get in. They would just come in, probably give a very good speech, and then go and you wouldn’t see them for the rest of the day. They might come back for a vote in the evening. Robert Howarth (Labour, 1964–70)26 I found that one of my obstacles was that backbenchers were rarely heard. [...] I felt sometimes I was there as a small cog in a big machine. [...] Ex-members of the cabinet and ex-ministers always had privileges to speak. I used to think: ‘Well, why should they have an advantage for their constituents over mine?’ I found that when I wanted to speak I was relegated very low in the order. Kenneth Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)27 You [can’t] use ‘you’ [in the Chamber], because that means the Speaker. How many times does a Scotsman use the word ‘you’? I got tripped up with this. [...] [The atmosphere] was peculiar at times. You used to have to sit and wait – [I’d] speak to the whip, can I [speak]? [They would answer], ‘If you’re brief – quarter of an hour.’ That was you as a backbencher. In would walk Tony Benn, the Right Honourable Tony Benn. […] He waits about ten minutes and gets asked, and instead of taking quarter of an hour takes half an hour, and then sits down. Then he waits ’til the next man speaks and then goes. He’s done all his business in about an hour. You’re still there, four hours later. [...] When I was a whip I used to go right and sit next to him and pull his trousers:

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‘Sit down, sit down, you’re passed your time, sit down.’ ‘Oooh, murmurs’ [laughs]. I was making him stick to quarter of an hour. Eric Clarke (Labour, 1992–2001)28 There were some people who you couldn’t understand what they were saying. Sometimes that was a very thick Glaswegian accent, I remember one of those at [my Ministerial] Question Time. […] There was one opposition Member who went ‘brrrrrr.’ I caught one word in ten I think. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)29 They used to try to get me to give way [during my speech], of course, and I had a little technique actually which was [to say], ‘I will give away in a minute.’ Because then I could give way at the point in my speech that suited me, not them. Sometimes they had forgotten what it was they wanted to say. Diana Maddock (LD, 1993–7)30 I think the biggest shock was not so much the life in Parliament, it was really getting used to getting on your feet in the Chamber. [...] In early days you stand up and everybody is shouting. Later on you do learn to stand your own ground, and also to ignore people, trying to get in if you don’t want them to. I once crossed swords with Dennis Skinner; [...] he kept getting up to interrupt. He’d been sitting down in his seat shouting, ‘rubbish’, and I got really fed up with being interrupted because I don’t make long speeches. I never made a long speech in the House. I need the time to do it and I need to concentrate. So the next time he got up and interrupted, I said: ‘Madam Speaker, can I suggest that when the Honourable Gentleman catches your eye when I have finished my speech he may be able to make his point?’ She got up and told him to sit down. Next time I passed him he looked thunder at me. But he was very good at doing that; he is a great wit. His wit is great – half a line and he can put somebody down, and you do know it if he does it. He’s always been like that and people say that he’s marvellous [because] he sits in the Commons all the time. He never ever did a committee. Ever! [...] I just got fed up of him. I couldn’t have done that in the early days; I wouldn’t have had the courage to do that. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)31 When I was in the House you weren’t allowed to read speeches. […] If somebody started reading from something there would be a great cry which would go up: ‘Reading! reading!’ Roy Roebuck (Labour, 1966–70)32 [Because of my deafness] the Commons is impossible. Really, really difficult. […] Because disability is then used against you politically [...] that is why people don’t say they are disabled or have a problem. […] It is deeply frustrating. Emma Nicholson (Conservative/LD, 1987–97)33 The decision to televise the House was taken on a free vote. The prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, didn’t want it televised. I did and voted for it to be televised and the House voted for it to be televised. I remember it was first televised, I think, in 1989. Margaret was speaking and she learned very quickly, because whenever one of the opposition asked her to give way, she said, ‘Of course I will give way to the Honourable Gentleman. Of course I will give way.’ And of course this was her realizing that to say ‘no’ would be bad television. John Marshall (Conservative, 1987–97)34 ***

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If mastered, procedure both inside and outside the Chamber could help MPs on all sides to further their causes or frustrate bills they were opposed to. I can remember being against Michael Howard at the end of the water bill [1989], and he very foolishly let me get in. He challenged my figures at two minutes to ten or something, and I got up and said he had to let me answer. The silly man let me in, and let me answer, and so I nearly talked it out. [...] I had in my head [...] all the figures to prove why I was right, and I just kept talking. Two minutes is actually quite a long time when you’re on your feet. Neil Kinnock was actually sitting behind me actually holding me up to make sure that I didn’t sit down. [...] That gave me a bit of extra credibility because it was a packed House, about procedure as well as the issue, and about having the balls to do it and see it through. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)35 It is one of the duties of an MP and possibly one of the most important of all: if you are opposed to a piece of legislation [...] where you can do something about it and you can filibuster then you should do so. John M. H. Lee (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–9)36 The [1976] mace incident was certainly not contemplated, or rehearsed, or prepared, or considered against any background, except the appalling behaviour of the Labour government and its backbenchers of that time. They broke a pair in order to save a piece of controversial legislation – in other words they cheated. They leapt onto the benches of the House of Commons and sang the ‘Red Flag’. As a spokesman for the party who had been, so to speak, cheated against, because I was leading the opposition at that stage, I picked up the mace in a very controlled way and offered it to them. I said: ‘You’ve taken the authority of the House you’d better have the symbol as well.’ There were two ways of describing it, one is to see me with the mace waving around my head, in a dervish-like sort of gesture, the other is the cartoon that appeared on the front of the Sunday Times which was this heroic figure defying the mobs [laughs]. History must judge! [...] It hasn’t done me any harm. It was a long time ago. I apologized at the time which seemed like the right thing to do. But I’m quite proud of the Sunday Times cartoon. I am quite proud. Sometimes in life you have to stand up, you know. Michael Heseltine (Conservative, 1966–2001)37 The only way in which the government could stop [Private Members’ Bills debated on Fridays] if they were inconvenient, if they were promising too much to the disabled or to the old or something than the government couldn’t afford [...] then the government would take its people, all its ministers would go and speak in the constituencies, they wouldn’t have a vote, because they’d lose it because everybody had to go out on a Friday and do stuff in their constituencies. There was a group of us, over the years, who used to talk bills out. You would tell the Speaker you wanted to speak on some subject and you would go on talking, then people would interrupt you and ask questions which would lengthen it until it was too late to have a vote. This is a very important function that backbenchers did to stop other backbenchers squeezing in laws that were unacceptable to government. Ivan Lawrence (Conservative, February 1974–97)38

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So the only occasion I really had to speak on for a couple of hours was when I got a Friday slot to do a debate on disability. It was snowing; it was bad weather, and I decided the only thing to do was to sleep in the family room overnight, to be there whatever happened. I arrived from there to the Chamber, the whips came up and said, ‘You’ve got to keep this going, you realize, because there aren’t enough people here. If you get closure then all sort of business will come up that we don’t want.’ So I said, ‘It’s all right, how long do you want me to speak, half an hour?’ ‘Oh, no, one or two hours.’ As it happens it was a subject where I had lots of things I could say and so I did. That went on, I remember people coming into the Chamber [laughs] and looking at how long we had been going: ‘crikey’. But that was good experience. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)39 The other thing I had to pluck up courage to do, I wanted to do a Ten Minute Rule Bill and you had to queue all night upstairs for those. [...] I tried once or twice and then thought, ‘I’m not sitting here all night with all these guys, waiting.’ And then I got determined, it was 1996 and I thought, ‘I’m going to have a Ten Minute Rule Bill before the next election, I’m just going to do it.’ I was a bit naughty because I got a huge teddy bear [...] and I took him with me. I went upstairs at ten o’clock when they start and you have people that have been in the bar all night coming up, there are a few comfy chairs but not much. [...] So I’d planned, I got this bear [...] and he got a thing around his neck that says, ‘I am the research assistant of Elizabeth Peacock and I am applying for a Ten Minute Rule Bill.’ He got a lot of publicity. So I decided, I don’t know, about one o’clock in the morning I’d go home because they stunk of ale and they were smoking, it was horrid. So I stuck him in my chair and left him. I was back there before seven in the morning, and then of course there was hell on: ‘You’ve not been here all night,’ ‘ah but my assistant has’. So when they opened the office there was a bit of a push and shove and I was determined. I thought, ‘I’m not going to be pushed out of the way this time.’ There were three guys, so I pushed, and I got my Ten Minute Rule Bill. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)40 I remember the first bill I sat on at committee was the Scottish hospital endowments trust fund bill. Now what the hell does that do? It was a bill that had been introduced by Willie Ross, secretary of state, and had fallen before the general election. It was word for word the bill which he had produced except the names [of who was introducing the bill] were changed [from Ross to his Conservative opposite number] on it. The second bill the Tories were doing was a bill to give local authorities the right to charge fees for secondary schools. That was going to be a long, hard-fought bill. So Willie Ross said to me: ‘Right, come with me. We’re going to put some amendments down to this [first bill].’ I said, ‘It’s your bloody bill Willie.’ ‘Just come with me.’ I went to his office [and was given a piece of paper with amendments which said]: where it says, ‘The secretary of state “may”, delete “may” and insert “shall”.’ Five or six times. Back to the beginning: ‘Where it says “shall”, delete “shall” and insert “may”’ [laughs]. [...] I went and sat in the backbenches and sat beside him. [He said], ‘You move the first amendment.’ I never to this day looked at Hansard to see what I said. I’m sure it was gibberish. Like a wee schoolboy I said to him, ‘Was that alright Willie?’ ‘No, too short. I’ll show you how it’s done.’ He spoke for half an hour and his tactic was to goad the Tories to speak, or to say

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something, or mutter something. Government members were not supposed to speak, because it just took up time. He would egg them on, egg them on, egg them on. That’s how I learned how to filibuster. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1979–87)41 I was always, always very pro-life. [...] I made a speech. [...] The Chamber was packed out, gallery was packed, everybody wanted to speak. I was a new Member; I was very, very surprised that I was called, but I was called. I made a speech and that impressed David Alton [MP for Liverpool Mossley Hill, leader of the anti-abortion campaigns] sufficiently that he asked me to be a teller. In those days it was still only radio, [...] but he wanted a woman’s voice reading the result. [...] That really was the beginning of cooperation between myself and David Alton. [...] After that I started to get involved in the mechanics of the campaign, both in the country and in Parliament. David asked me to sit on the committee on his bill [...] and that was my first experience of real controversial committee work. [...] [Committees are] very different on Private Members’ Bills, where you really are genuinely fighting it out. The tactics, parliamentary tactics that went on, were huge. I learned a lot about tactics; I learned a lot about the mechanics of committees, about organization, about taking decisions. [...] Major decisions [...] had to be taken, as well as tactical decisions, how you played things. What [amendments] you wanted to come back for report stage so the whole House would have a go at it, what you wanted to get disposed of in committee. [...] Probably the most interesting committee I ever served on. [...] We knew that they would try to frustrate either report stage by tabling thousands of amendments so that we were talked out, [...] or they would [...] lay innumerable petitions. [...] We knew they would do something. Ann Widdecombe (Conservative, 1987–2010)42 Get away from the flamboyance of the Chamber, particularly into committee or even sometimes in the Chamber but when the cameras are switched off, and you get a lot of give and take, a lot of serious discussion. I mean, I remember people like David Mellor, much criticized on many counts, but he was very good at thinking on his feet and having the confidence to make concessions on his feet, to both sides. That’s a lesson I learned. Certainly, when I took a bill into a committee, I wanted to have in my two back pockets some things I could give to my own side, to encourage them to stay there and support me, and some things I wanted to give to the other side, so that they saw the purpose of being there. If they weren’t [going to] win too many votes, they could at least get some concessions from me. I think that is the way the wheels turn in government and I think it’s actually a good way. Which is why, on the whole, we have government by consent. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)43 Standing committees, it was a war of attrition in order to get concessions from the government. Time was the only issue you had. In those days you wouldn’t get a guillotine in committee under about three hours. It was all-nighters. The steel bill led to one uproarious moment. We’d been upstairs in the committee room, everything was closed. The Tories set up, in a committee room, a bar – a private bar. [...] [One] found out he had to move the next amendment, but he could scarcely stand. [He withdrew it.] To his horror the next one was his as well! He made a sporting effort at this. Anthony Barber was leading from the front bench, [...] ‘I have to say to my Honourable Friend,

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he’s spoken a load of balls.’ For an hour, we will try to argue whether we could get this on the record, which of course suited him, because we spent an hour on it. We said to [Richard] Marsh, who was leading us, ‘We’ve got to suffer all this, at least you could provide us with the same “facilities”’. After some discussion we had similar facilities. Ted Rowlands (Labour, 1966–70; 1972–2001)44 Being on parliamentary committees, well most of it was drudgery. Really tediously, line by line, looking at pieces of legislation. You’re not an expert, you’re not a legal person. Putting down amendments, and some of the amendments we were putting down were just to test the government or fly a kite or just be bloody awkward or something. [...] It wasn’t as bad as being in the Chamber, but I personally didn’t like the experience of Parliament. I liked being an MP and I liked the constituency side of it. But I didn’t enjoy the experience of Parliament at all. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)45 We wanted committees that could blow the sort of bland exchanges in the floor of the House. Between ministers and Question Time this isn’t enough accountability, we want much more focused and tailored accountability on departments and expenditure. […] So we invented in 1970 a series of committees. [...] This sort of worked, but it didn’t really take off and a lot of MPs thought it was just the old Estimates Committees which weren’t allowed to look at policy at all. On the whole these new committees were very tightly constrained by cabinet office mandarins, and advisers to ministers saying, ‘Oh, you can’t let these people talk about policy, that is too much. Parliament isn’t for policy, Parliament is just for questioning.’ [...] So they didn’t really take off and so we began to say towards the end of the ’70s in opposition that we needed much more powerful select committees, which could go into policy, be more focused on departments, much more strongly. Norman St John-Stevas, as leader of the House under Mrs Thatcher and her first cabinet, introduced them. That is when sessional select committees began, both in the Lords and the Commons. [...] By the mid-1980s they were beginning to be quite interesting, on the whole the media haven’t discovered them and they were slight backwaters producing earnest but not widely appreciated reports. But then the media began to discover that they were good places to go to get people who could speak – neither the standard ministerial line, nor the standard opposition line, but [something] in between. Suddenly the media began taking great interest in these committees. [...] My committee was completely trans-party and bipartisan. You become a team. A very good team and when you travel together you become a very close team, indeed, I mean, friends. You dine in each other’s houses and all come together and have a very good time, even though on the floor of the House you may be ferocious opponents. [...] Occasionally, things are so hot that you can’t avoid party divisions and the committees can divide and, you know, make a non-unanimous report, minority reports, and all that, it does happen. David Howell (Conservative, 1966–97)46 You can’t say in terms of policy, either as an individual or chairing the Foreign Affairs Committee; I made a great difference on that. It is mostly at the margin. It is a matter of helping to form policy rather than a particular triumph. I always thought that the work at the select committee was in part educating both ourselves, making ourselves more expert so we could tackle the experts in the Foreign Office. Donald Anderson (Labour, 1966–70; October 1974–2005)47

8

Gender matters Women in Parliament

I remember someone […] giving me the great lecture of: ‘This place now belongs to you. You’ve been anointed by the popular vote. You can go anywhere. Do anything.’ So that afternoon I opened a door that said ‘Members only’ and found myself facing a row of urinals. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)1

Although women gained the right to sit in Parliament in 1918, throughout most of the twentieth century they were not made entirely welcome in the Commons. The interviews with women MPs reveal quite how strange this experience could be: they had equal rights and, post-war, many certainly made their mark, but the tradition and culture of the Commons had evolved without women. Although women’s experiences feature throughout the book and it is difficult to disentangle them from those of other MPs, this chapter brings together memories of British political culture largely from a female perspective and the experience of being part of this minority within Parliament, good and bad. Whether fazed by these circumstances or not – open discrimination at selection panels (see also Chapter 4), lurid headlines, resentment at their presence in the ‘male’ smoking room and even sexual harassment (see also Chapters 6 and 7) – they paint a picture of post-war Westminster that was overwhelmingly masculine. The number of women MPs elected during the twentieth century was remarkably low: it took until 1987 for the proportion of female MPs sitting at any one time to pass 5 per cent of the total (forty-one women MPs), this despite some dramatic social changes. In the 1990s, the Labour Party, anxious to change their own image with female voters, tried to increase the number of female MPs with the controversial practice of all-women shortlists for candidates chosen to fight the 1997 election, including in ‘winnable’ seats. Despite a legal challenge temporarily halting the measure, the increase in women candidates combined with a Labour landslide led to a breakthrough. One hundred and twenty women MPs were elected, and began to seriously challenge Westminster’s culture. Of the twenty-nine open interviews from female MPs we have to draw on, most were elected before 1997 but a high proportion sat after this date. Their diversity in political opinion, experiences and reactions are reflected in the chosen extracts, all related to

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the specific issues faced by women in a profession dominated by men. Although all of our female interviewees discussed gender, very few men did. Peter Jackson identified himself as feminist and others supported women’s rights in Parliament, but the silence from most of them is revealing. Often women’s political ambitions were considered strange by those around them, and this impression did not stop with family and friends. Once in Parliament the sexism in Westminster shocked most new female MPs and was both direct and indirect: there were not enough women’s facilities in the House;2 they were implicitly excluded from certain spaces and there were some cases of sexual harassment. Women MPs were frequently confused with MPs’ secretaries or wives. As Alice Mahon remembered, ‘It’s just an assumption that you can’t possibly, possibly be’ the MP.3 The interviewees all reacted very differently to the masculine culture in Westminster. The majority of women elected during the 1970s and 1980s usually saw sexist incidents as something that women simply had to put up with, ignore, or they developed personal strategies to help them cope. Those who entered Parliament in the 1990s were often more conscious of, and frustrated by, gender inequality and determined to change the culture. Many felt obliged to take on the mantle of ‘women’s issues’, whether they were interested in them or not. Jenny Tonge was called ‘Mother Teresa’ by her colleagues as she was pigeonholed into international development despite her medical background.4 More importantly perhaps was the frustration of not being able to pursue their own interests. Participating in defence or foreign affairs or becoming a party leader could be considered ‘too big a step for a woman’.5 Over certain issues there could be periods of inter-party collaboration, and many friendships developed between women, occasionally also across party. For most, however, party or even class loyalties came above female solidarity. With the increasing presence of female MPs from 1997, many of the interviewees reflect on gender issues, and particularly difficulties in selection. As discussed in Chapter 4, most of them faced real, if subtle, barriers: women simply didn’t ‘look like’ MPs in the opinion of numerous party selection panels. Many women and some men remarked that women had to be much better than men to overcome these assumptions, especially around family care responsibilities – assumptions that would follow those who became young mothers at Westminster. That Labour’s all-women shortlists were controversial with our interviewees of all parties is an understatement, but those who were involved in reform discuss their motivations and desire to ensure that gender balance had to change ‘right through the party from top to bottom’.6 The extracts in this chapter focus on women’s specific experiences in the Commons and most are from women, reflecting the general silence from men on these topics and discrimination they did not experience. We have included some male voices here, especially when they corroborate their female colleagues’ narratives. These memories offer a particular insight into the culture and workings of the Commons and post-war British politics, from a group of people who were, for most of their careers, both on the inside and outside. Opinions on the future, and whether the Commons has already changed to be ‘the sort of place a woman wants to be in’, remain varied.7 ***

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Two of my uncles and my father were Members of Parliament but no, the wives were not involved. […] I think the male members of my family who were at that time Members of Parliament were rather shocked and horrified and slightly more than that [that I became an MP]. Emma Nicholson (Conservative/LD, 1987–97)8 When [my husband asked me to marry him] I said: ‘Well darling, that would be lovely, but you do know I’m going into politics.’ […] He said, ‘Of course you are, sweetheart, of course you are’ – didn’t believe it for a minute I don’t think. Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–97)9 *** I joined the Labour Party after my first child was born, about 1962. I joined the women’s section and found [it] didn’t go canvassing. We made the tea and the sandwiches, and we logged the returns, but the people who went canvassing were the men in the Labour Party. I didn’t like that. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)10 The world has changed a lot, people don’t talk about ‘career women’ as threatening the masculinity of their partners now, in the way that they absolutely did then. I remember because I changed my name [from Middleweek to Hayman] – I got married in the August between the two general elections [of 1974]. […] I fought the first Welwyn and Hatfield election as Middleweek [...] and [a journalist] came up to me after a meeting and said, ‘How will Mr Middleweek feel about it when you’re elected?’ And I thought: ‘Shit, he’s going to have to put up with so much, I’m not going to make him put up with that as well.’ […] So I changed my name [for the second election], which the agent went ballistic about. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)11 The only slight hassle came: immediately I was elected, my husband received a letter from the Parliamentary Wives’ Association asking him to join [laughs]. He felt that was one step too far. Emma Nicholson (Conservative/LD, 1987–97)12 *** Because I won the by-election […] I had to go and talk to every local party dinner everywhere about what we did, and they used to ask, ‘What’s it like?’ I had a sort of patter after a while, and I said: ‘Well, it’s a bit strange. I’m not a lawyer, I wasn’t in the Guards, I didn’t go to a public school and I’m not a man. So it’s a pretty strange place.’ Diana Maddock (LD, 1993–7)13 I think there was just an innate sexism, that the whole [institution] was a place decided on by men for men, the rules were all made for men. They’d got this little cluster of women in and they didn’t quite know what to do with them! […] But I didn’t find it particularly [sexist]. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)14 The most striking thing about being in Parliament was what a massively male institution it was. I’d not been used to that. I’d gone to a co-educational school. […] I’d gone into teaching. […] Suddenly I was in a totally male institution and it just felt odd. I can’t

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pretend I was evangelical, saying, ‘It’s time we had all-women shortlists’ or anything like that, because I didn’t. But I didn’t like it from that perspective. It just didn’t feel right. Bruce Grocott (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2001)15 It was quite an experience to suddenly find yourself in an environment where there were so few women, it really was. The men were very welcoming and very charming, one gentleman […] welcomed me and said, ‘Now my dear, if there’s anything you want to know, don’t hesitate, do come and ask’ and then moved off down the corridor. The problem was I didn’t know what I didn’t know. […] Men and women are equal, but we’re not the same. We will do the same job but we’ll do it differently, doesn’t mean to say we won’t do it as well, but differently […] which of course actually benefits any political environment if you have men and women working together because they’ll bring different aspects to a problem. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)16 It didn’t help that I was then one of only twenty-three women MPs in a House of [650]. There were physical aspects to this: everybody’s bigger than you. I’m not very tall, and they are standing in front of you. How do you get them to move? I developed a habit of tickling people down the back [of their neck] and they turned around, and I said, ‘Thank you so much’ and they moved forward. […] It was physically a heavyweight male club. They are not intending to make life difficult for women, but they just are. There was a lot of teasing, a lot of public teasing that goes on. Clare Short has complained – she is a tall, quite big-breasted woman – and she has complained about men juggling melons as she was coming into the Chamber. Personally, I could see no point whatever in taking offence. That detracts from what you are actually good at and what you can do. I have to say it was on the both sides of the Chamber. There was a woman Scots MP called Maria Fyfe, who had a very, very high Scottish accent and the moment she’d start talking you would hear this squeaky sound going on all over the place. There is no point in getting annoyed about it. If you’re one of that small handful, you just have to show that you are better than they are. That you know your stuff. That you can concentrate on the job and you can do the job. Edwina Currie (Conservative, 1983–97)17 I remember in the House of Commons that it did appear that most of the Members of Parliament couldn’t tell one woman from another. I remember one Labour Member of Parliament furious because a Conservative Member of Parliament came up and hugged her from behind and said: ‘Emma, you do look nice today.’ Emma Nicholson (Conservative/LD, 1987–97)18 I found it a bit disconcerting at first. It did strike me that even though there were quite a lot of women in the ’87 Parliament, that Parliament was much more masculine than anything I’d experienced in the European Parliament. It was [laughs] particularly true on my first day. I went to the vote office […] where you pick up your papers, and [I asked for] two copies of the order paper and to my absolute astonishment the bloke behind the desk said: ‘Two? How many Members do you work for?’ Joyce Quin (Labour, 1987–2005)19 It’s quite an advantage I think being a doctor. I think it was an advantage for me because, as a woman, people, in those days and I think still, tend to wonder what a woman has

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to offer. But if you are medically qualified they think, you know, at least she got into medical school she must have a brain somewhere. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)20 I know a lot of women MPs who’ve come in after me have complained about sexism and all the rest of it, I didn’t find any of that. In fact if anything [being a woman] was an advantage because you certainly stuck out. [...] I didn’t find that anybody treated me nastily, on the contrary, I found people very welcoming, you can only speak as you find, and I did not find that I was the object of ridicule or any of these things which people complain of. Janet Fookes (Conservative, 1970–97)21 [I was] allocated an office […] with Margaret Beckett because [the whip] didn’t really think you should have mixed offices [laughs]. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)22 I had a room next door to another bloke. […] He said, ‘The worst news possible, the whips have said I’m to share [the office] with Edwina [Currie] [sigh].’ Some of the other chaps, they were having a drink, said, ‘Well, she can’t stand smoking.’ ‘Really? Right chaps. She’s coming at two thirty, will you all come up to my room, bring your fags and pipes and cigars. It’s a tiny room, the fug we’d create!’ Edwina turned up, ‘Oh, hello, Edwina! We’re going to share a room, I believe. Sorry there’s a bit of a fug, I can’t get the window open.’ [Laughs] […] So those were the sort of jokes that happened in the place. She was a tiresome woman, oh dear oh Lord. Anthony Grant (Conservative, 1964–97)23 My colleagues, who I’d got to know in the first few days […] were waiting for me to go into a loo marked ‘Members only’, that’s what it said on the doors of all the loos, but they were all gents’. They were waiting for me to walk in there and then they’d all fall about laughing, and I was determined I wasn’t going to. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)24 I remember one Member saying to me when I went in the smoking room for instance – I don’t smoke, I never have, but that was where you had a glass of wine or whatever – this very sort of old-fashioned Conservative said, ‘Jill, I thought you were a nice girl!’ ‘I am,’ I said, smiling winningly, and he said, ‘Not if you come in here, this is the smoking room,’ ‘But it’s where the MPs gather and I’m an MP, you know.’ Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–97)25 [Parliament] was so completely strange and bizarre. […] I remember one occasion when a group of women friends, women MPs, we decided to invade the smoking room, which was really a gentlemen’s club. There was just something we wanted to talk about, so it just happened to be a convenient place. We all barged in there and there was one elderly gent who was completely horrified by this female invasion and went scurrying out. […] We did eventually carve out for ourselves a sort of a common room, which became the Labour common room with very few Conservative women who came in there occasionally, which had its own bathroom attached and facilities and so on. That was quite a nice, comfortable place to be. [Long omission] The lady members’ rooms were very strictly divided between Labour and Conservative women. In fact when Conservative women came into our lady members’ room we were a bit outraged, actually. Anne Campbell (Labour, 1992–2005)26

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I’ve never really complained about [being a woman in politics], because, yes, like everybody else I have had the odd comment, which, you know, is irritating. But I came from a business background to politics and business in the ’70s – again it was very male dominated, so if you wanted to survive as a woman […] you had to be pretty sure of yourself and able to handle any sort of put downs and so on. I realize that there is prejudice. […] You have to be sure in your own mind you want to do [it]. It’s tough, and you have to be prepared for it being tough. I’ve never really felt I was at a disadvantage as a woman. I’ve always made it work for me. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)27 I was also young, newly married, in love, it never occurred to me, somehow, that any of this stuff could be for real or threatening. There were a couple of actual gropers. You dealt with gropers like you dealt with them in any other way – not as people would deal with them today, I may say – because you considered it your problem of managing the way out without offending anyone. How sharp you could be depended on how unpleasant they were and what their reputation was, because there were people who had that sort of reputation. […] I think I was very naive, I didn’t realize [then but] I’m now sure [that many considered] me completely inappropriate. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)28 I went to Gleneagles […] to speak at a conference. […] I went into the cocktail bar […] and who was there but [the MP for that constituency]. He said: ‘My dear, what are you doing here?’ […] I said I’m about to speak at the dinner. […] ‘You’re about to speak in my constituency?’ […] It was early days, because I should have told him I was going and I hadn’t. He said, ‘You didn’t tell me you were coming.’ I said, ‘I do apologize, I haven’t quite got used to all the ins and outs of the House.’ He said, ‘Well, I have a golden rule’ – and all the cocktail bar is listening to this – […] ‘Anyone who comes to speak in my constituency that’s female I have to bed first.’ So I said: ‘Oh – my husband’s on his way down, when he gets here, I’ll ask him.’ Everybody fell about laughing. That was the end of him. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)29 I remember things like totally inappropriate and sexist comments from the Tory benches – now, I say the Tory benches because they were the ones I could hear. […] I remember a Tory MP saying [about Angela Eagle]: ‘I’d give her one and she wouldn’t be gay’. Things that in any other walk of life someone would be sacked for saying, or talking about a woman’s breasts, things like that. Sometimes it was in the evening when they were half-cut because they’d had a very good dinner and been drinking. I was just absolutely outraged and horrifi ed by that. There was some bloody awful boorish behaviour from men in the Chamber. Even sensible men. […] If it sounds like I hated it, I absolutely loathed and detested the Chamber and I loathed and detested the amount of testosterone in there, and most of the bad behaviour was from men. It was childish, and – ugh. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997– 2001)30 The tradition is you don’t shake hands with anybody in the opposition parties. I have taken my seat and I made my maiden speech, somebody came from the Labour benches, not to shake hands, but she said, ‘Congratulations on being another woman’

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and then there was somebody from the Conservative benches, she also came across and did the same. Elizabeth Shields (Liberal, 1986–7)31 *** During her first TV interview, on the election result broadcast: In the course of [the interview] I got some rather quaint questions, one was, ‘Are you interested in sailing?’ I thought, although I’ve lived by the sea, no, not really. We did a little more and the next question came along, which was, ‘Are you interested in music?’ I realized these were oblique references to Edward Heath who had just become the prime minister, a bachelor, at least twenty, if not twenty-five, years older than me. I don’t quite know how I came to say this but I looked him straight in the eye and said, ‘Mr [Robin] Day, are you running a matrimonial agency?’ Janet Fookes (Conservative, 1970–97)32 There was a lot of being fed up about the way women were treated. The fact that we had a photograph [in 1997], all together, the 100 [Labour MPs], that should not have been an exceptional thing. That should have been a thing of celebration and of recognition. That means we’re here, we all want to make a difference, we all come from different backgrounds but we want to make a difference. But we were all dubbed ‘Blair’s babes’ after that. The problem is the press doesn’t really know how to deal with this. And they still don’t. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)33 *** Female MPs often found it difficult to balance the childcare responsibilities expected from them as women and their political life. It’s got to be possible for a young woman, married, living in the north, on the front bench to have children and do this, otherwise you’re saying that somebody who is young, married and in the north can’t have children if they’re going to be an MP. So it’s got to be possible, because it not being possible is wrong. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)34 It was more my family circumstances. I was married, having my children, and how was I going to fit in with it, desperately wanting to do it. […] For the ’83 election I was given the opportunity to go to Manchester to fight a seat there, but [my son] Fergus was only months old. You know what? I should have taken him with me under my arm and gone. It would have been only a month away. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)35 [When I was a councillor, a sitting Yorkshire MP] came to me at that meeting, put his arm around my shoulder and said: ‘Now what are you going to do? […] What about Westminster?’ ‘Yes, I’m thinking I’d quite like to try at that, but I thought I’d wait until the boys were older and gone away from home.’ He looked at me over his specs and said: ‘My dear, if you wait too long people will say you are too old.’ Now there is nothing like telling a woman that she’s going to be too old to get things moving. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)36

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Helen Hayman’s son was born in October 1976, at a fraught time in parliamentary history. The Labour government had a tiny majority, pairing was suspended and there were many all-night sittings: Suddenly, I’m getting calls from the whips’ office saying there’s no pairing, when can you come in, we need you now. So I wrote a letter to Margaret Thatcher and said: ‘Please, please pair me, this is my first child, I’m obsessed with worry, I’d been a week in hospital. […] It won’t make any difference to the result because if you don’t pair me I will come in. The only difference it’ll make is to me and my baby’ (I was feeling quite emotional at the time!) […] I had to go in. It was I think ten days after Ben was born, two days after I was out of hospital. […] There were photographers outside the House; I can’t tell you how awful it was. […] I was breastfeeding, and we were there for hours on end. […] Every newspaper published all this. I still feel conflicted about it, because I didn’t want to take the baby in; this was not any public position. […] Do I let the government lose crucial legislation or do I leave my baby at home and stop feeding him? That was my choice. […] We actually had a majority of one, […] front page of the Sun said, ‘Little Ben Strikes’ because his name was Ben, ‘Held together by a nappy pin’ – front page of the Express. Then of course the backlash started. I got these horrible, horrible letters, and columnists started. […] There was a lot of: how dare you think you can have it all. You’re neglecting your child. Of course that was the most awful thing, because I felt I was neglecting my child, and I didn’t need someone to tell me in green ink. […] There were some nasty cartoons about sitting in the Chamber breastfeeding, which I never did. I sort of huddled in the lady members’ room and cried. […] The chief doorkeeper had been given instructions by the serjeant-at-arms about the scale of physical force he could use to stop me taking the baby in the Chamber if I tried! [Laughs] It gives me great pleasure these days when I hear about male MPs carrying their babies through the division lobby. […] I was very young and very stupid and very naive. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)37 *** Women MPs discussed being expected to concentrate on ‘women’s issues’ while in Parliament, and spoke about collaboration (or lack of it) with other female MPs. Well, I wanted to [take up women’s causes]. Maybe I was expected to, I don’t know, but I wanted to and I did anyway. I made a speech which I was quite proud of on valuing women’s unremunerated work. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)38 I was almost forced into sex discrimination [issues], because of the very low numbers of women in Parliament, particularly in my first session. The fact that there had been very little discussion in Parliament about women’s issues, like part-time working, full-time working, childcare [...] those became rather important as well. […] I think as a woman in a Parliament which only consisted of about 34 women, at that stage, and 600 odd men, and some who were very odd, you couldn’t help but, you had to concentrate on women’s issues, because there was nobody else doing it. Anne Campbell (Labour, 1992–2005)39 I would say I’ve been an activist for people’s rights in the workplace. Not sexes. […] I’ve never been a divider of sexes. […] [It comes from] women’s insecurity. I find it more

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in educated women, women who have been to universities, don’t ask me why. But I do find it more in them than in northern working-class women who have worked in the unions and got on with things. I don’t know why it is. Perhaps they have more time to think. Llin Golding (Labour, July 1986–2001)40 I was terribly, terribly discomfited when I finally won my seat having been a local councillor here and a doctor, a family planning doctor, community health, General Practice, married to a NHS consultant, chaired my party’s health panel for three or four years. I get into Parliament and Paddy [Ashdown] makes me spokesperson for international development. I thought I could not be better placed to be health spokesman. […] Looking back the men got all the plum posts actually; there were very few women. […] It is really infuriating. If I’d been a man going into Parliament then, I would have been given the health brief without any question. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)41 Ted Heath [rang] me up, [...] just after the ’66 election […] saying he’d been discussing the shadow cabinet with Willie Whitelaw. They thought they ought to have the statutory woman in the shadow cabinet, for social services, who ought it to be? I said without a shadow of a doubt it ought to be Margaret Thatcher. There was a long pause down the telephone, and he said, ‘Oh yes, we’ve thought about her, but Willie says that if we get her and we don’t like her, we’ll never be able to get rid of her. So we’ve decided to have Mervyn Pike.’ [Laughs] Jim Prior (Conservative, 1959–87)42 They wanted me to be as well; David Hunt asked me to be the minister for women. I said no. There isn’t a minister for men so I’m not going to be minister for women. In the end after a huge amount of resistance on my part he agreed he would be the minister for women but effectively he always delegated it to me. I was very, very antithat, even in those days. That may have played a part [in my not getting promoted]. Ann Widdecombe (Conservative, 1987–2010)43 Once you’ve been a PPS [Parliamentary Private Secretary], if your minister thinks well of you, you will get a ministerial job. The problem was that no women ministers went into the whips’ office. And the whips’ office is Broederbond, it certainly was and I think it still is, in which they’re all pledged in blood to look after each other. So someone who came into the House after I did, Michael Portillo, went to the whips’ office almost right away. Came in as junior minister, same level that I did. But when there was trouble, he was promoted. I remember David Lightbown who by then was my whip. [...] He came in the night of that reshuffle and he sat down and he said, ‘I am spitting tacks, I have tried so hard to get you promoted, and the prime minister said: I’m only going to promote one junior minister and it’s going to be a man.’ And it was Michael Portillo. Now that sounds bizarre. I don’t know what [Margaret Thatcher’s] agenda was, but she let the women down in the House of Commons, there is no doubt about that. Edwina Currie (Conservative, 1983–97)44 [The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, formerly the North Atlantic Assembly, an interparliamentary organization for NATO] was a male preserve. When I went on, I think they’d only ever had one other woman on. I was a culture shock I clearly was. […] They

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used to go into the toilet to talk about me, I know they did. They used to disappear and go into a huddle. Alice Mahon (Labour, 1987–2005)45 I wanted to sit on [the] Defence and Foreign Affairs [Select Committees]. I remember [a senior Conservative MP] telling me very grandly: ‘I assure you, as a woman, you are not going to get onto those committees.’ Those were still rather sexist days. He said, ‘You’d better accept that you’re going to have to concentrate on domestic politics for now.’ […] I was on the backbench [Conservative] defence committee […] and foreign affairs, but they didn’t have much impact really, and Northern Ireland. […] I was always trying to speak [on defence/foreign affairs] but it was difficult to get called. I did speak occasionally. […] [It was] irritating. Frustrating. Frustrating beyond belief. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)46 I had a Private Members’ Bill: […] the prohibition of female circumcision. When I started to lobby for that most of my male colleagues had never heard of it and didn’t know what in the hell it was. […] I had to get support of course from both sides of the House, and guess what, the front bench spokesman for women’s issues was a woman called Jo Richardson, and I’d fought her in Barking [laughs]. At the end of the campaign in Barking […] she came up to me […] and said, ‘Thank you for a clean fight.’ […] By chance she was on the front bench for women’s issues, so I went to Jo. […] So we worked together, both sides of the House and the Liberal Democrats. […] This shows that politics isn’t just confrontation all the time. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)47 The only bill I enjoyed being on was the protection of children bill, which is now an act. That was a Private Members’ Bill, and that was Debra Shipley [Labour MP], who became a good friend of mine. I was the Lib Dem spokesman on that. She and I sat down before the committee stage started, and she said: ‘Tell me what your concerns are about it because I really want this to go through, it is a really important piece of legislation.’ We had a serious grown up conversation. […] It was a really collaborative process, and I think there was a good piece of legislation came out as a result. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)48 Being women we had our particular issues. For instance, I was very involved with getting breast cancer protocols moving. […] We [the Breast Cancer All-Party Parliamentary Group] worked together on those particular issues. Also I was very keen on reproductive health, family planning, getting the pill to be on sale over the counter, which was one of the first crusades of mine actually. So we were talking about particular issues as women parliamentarians. It is almost a bit of a divide in that women in Parliament do tend to get the issues and stuff they can do, and make a difference to. They don’t go in for this sort of vague political, philosophical, ‘which direction should we be going in’, you know. They just want to do something about particular issues. And I think that’s why there needs to be more women there actually. There’s too much grandstanding about party politics. There needs to be more concentration on all the things that need improving. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)49 [While pregnant in 1976] I used to be lying in the lady members’ room – I was so hot I’d taken my dress off and I was just in my petticoat – lying there and being nodded

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through because we were sitting all night, night after night. I just wanted to be left in peace but Barbara [Castle] got on her campaigning hobby horse. She knew nothing about pregnancy. I was six months pregnant by then so I was fine, I was just exhausted and very hot. […] She said to me, ‘This is not what the Suffragettes died for,’ and then went and marched into [Conservative Chief Whip] Humphrey Atkins’s office and said, ‘If that girl miscarries tonight it’s on your shoulders!’ [Laughs] I’m just begging to be left alone because I’m embarrassed and tired and don’t want a fuss. The next thing – and this was the Labour lady members’ room that only Labour women went in – the door flings open and it was Margaret Thatcher. It was the only time I really had a conversation with her in my life until five years ago. She said, ‘You are pregnant, I have a sore throat, we are both going home,’ and then she marched out again. Then Michael Cocks [Labour Chief Whip] came in, effing and blinding and saying, ‘Barbara fucking well says I’ve got to send you home. I’ve got the prime minister here, I can’t send him home but I’ve got to send you home and I’ve got to do it in my fucking car!’ Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)50 *** Many women reflected on the impact of all-women shortlists, and the increased number of women in 1997. I knew that women were not the favourite choice of any selection committee, at all. I once thought: whatever you are, for instance, if you are not married, they say, ‘Oh, she might get married, and then what would we do.’ If you are married you should be looking after your husband. If you haven’t got children you might have children in the future. If you have got children you should be home looking after them. Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–97)51 There was a candidate who was very good, I think probably gave a much better speech than me, called Margaret Thatcher. But, the first question that came up after she gave her speech was: ‘Mrs Thatcher, you have two-year-old twins. How can you possibly bring them up properly and be an energetic representative for Beckenham?’ Collapse of Maggie. Philip Goodhart (Conservative, 1957–92)52 After being asked her thoughts when she was first elected in 1987: I remember being on that platform and thinking, ‘I’m the only Labour woman MP in Scotland.’ Only one. And it was me. I was only the tenth ever. […] I knew what I was going to do. I was thinking: this has got to change. We’ve got to have more women in Parliament. I was determined to be part of achieving that. Maria Fyfe (Labour, 1987–2001)53 Go and learn how to do it […] so that nobody can say that you’re only there because you are a woman. That’s not right: you’re there because you are good enough and you’re as good as any man. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)54 In mean, in one way, I was there in my own right, no doubt about it. There was no way that ‘feminism’ got me there. It was before feminism started for women in politics. You either made the grade or you didn’t. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)55

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We tried a woman on every shortlist, and that didn’t change anything. […] [Labour leader] John [Smith] was very strong on [all-women shortlists], very strong. Interestingly he had three daughters himself, so he was never frightened – he always knew that women had capacity and all the rest of it, even though he came from a fairly traditional background. […] He had good relationships around the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] but also with the union leaders. There were a couple of leaders who would not instinctively have been in favour, but John just talked to them, talked to them about his daughters, about their daughters, and he brought them round. […] But it needed the leader to back it, it could never just be something that the women in the party wanted. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)56 I’ve never been a fan of all-women shortlists, I have to say. It’s difficult because I know that we broke through a big barrier in ’97 because we did get so many women in. I think we could have gone about it in different ways and still got a big breakthrough. One of the things that worries me is that now very few women go for open shortlists. […] I wasn’t sure what I’d have felt like if I’d been selected on an all-women shortlist, whether I’d have felt sort of on equal terms. The fact that I beat five men on my shortlist meant that I wasn’t worried that there was any prejudice; it was just a pretty straightforward open selection. […] Do the women who are here make up for numbers in terms of what they do? Probably they do. Most women are pretty active and pretty assiduous as Members of Parliament – I’m not saying most men are not, most men are, but I think that women always feel the necessity to prove that they are doing absolutely more than 100 per cent of what they should be doing. […] I think that we could have done more earlier on mentoring women to be candidates, encouraging women to be candidates, without having had to go to the all-women shortlists. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)57 One of the things that irritates me […] they say we must set up training courses for women. I think: Did you ever hear of a training course for a man to go into Parliament? Why do women need training courses? [...] Maybe I was a bit like that to begin with, that I just didn’t notice discrimination because I expected it, so [women] don’t expect to go into Parliament so they don’t bother to try. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)58 Ann Cryer reflected on being persuaded to stand on an all-women shortlist for the Keighley Labour Party candidate, soon after her husband, the constituency’s former MP, had died in a car crash: [Some] were dead keen on having an all-women shortlist for Keighley. Big argument going on, […] blood on the floor, night of the long knives. […] It was such a traumatic time for a party. […] I had this phone call: ‘Anne, we’ve been thinking’ – just imagine this being put to you – ‘it would solve a lot of problems for Keighley Labour Party if you would say that your name could go forward if we had an all-women shortlist. Because what they’re all saying is that if we have an all-women shortlist, there’ll be the shoulder-pad brigade coming up from London, and we’ll finish up with a woman from London who nobody knows, doesn’t know Keighley.’ […] It was very devious, actually, was this. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)59 I went to the party conference in the September [of 2001], and made my last speech at party conference trying to persuade the party to agree to all-women shortlists. That

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was the only way to change the numbers dramatically, and they didn’t. It was Shirley Williams and I arguing for it, and they still rejected it. At that point I thought: I don’t want to go into Parliament, and actually I’ve had enough of the Lib Dems. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)60 When initially the all-women shortlists were being suggested and came in, I was not a supporter of it. I’ve been fortunate that my experience within the Labour Party, the fact that I’d been a female, had not actually gone against me in any way. [...] I’d always achieved what I wanted to. The obstacles hadn’t come because I was female. I wasn’t therefore an enthusiastic supporter of all-women shortlists, but you learn from talking to other women candidates, or prospective candidates, of the difficulties and the problems that they met with. Not because they weren’t capable or intelligent or able to do the job, but simply because they were female. No other reason at all. […] Somebody said to me: ‘Of course, we’ve had all-men shortlists for years!’ And I thought: You’re absolutely right. We have. […] So I was a late supporter. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)61 When I got into Parliament, Chris Mullin, I have never forgiven him, he said to me, ‘Oh, I suppose it was an all-women shortlist,’ and I said, ‘No, it wasn’t. There was John McDonnell, […] and this and that one and I won it.’ And he said, ‘Oh’, as if to say, how surprising. It was bloody patronizing. I was sixty-four; I was old to go into Parliament. There I was, a fat old lady. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)62 I remember saying if anyone calls me a Blair’s babe, I will sue. But of course they didn’t, partly because I’d been around a while and partly because by that time I was no babe! [Laughs] Honestly I thought that was dreadful. Maria Fyfe (Labour, 1987–2001)63 I thought it was very exciting actually, the actual visible change was all these women: 101 Labour women MPs, not all just elected. […] The actual appearance of the Chamber changed that summer. We had a nice and warm summer, so most of the women were wearing summer dresses: light colours, bright colours. Suddenly. And on the other side there was navy blue, grey, black suits, you know. The comparison was quite startling actually. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)64 I think I described the first vote [after Labour’s landslide in 1997] was rather like a fashionable cocktail party [laughs] in the aye lobby. Particularly as you had a hundred women, all dressed up to the nines because it was their first vote in the Commons. It was an amazing occasion really. [Long omission] That was a new thing; I think people don’t give enough credit to Tony Blair’s party – New Labour – in the way that it brought women into politics. It was a major change. The Tory Party is now following on behind, so that’s a good thing. There is no doubt, when I go and watch the House of Commons in action, that the women make a difference. They’re less shrill, there’s something – they’re just different, and they’re different in a good way. Giles Radice (Labour, 1987–2001)65 [After the 2001 election] the prime minister said to me that he wanted to break the myth, the stereotype, of chief whips, and that was one of the reasons he was appointing women. That was because he saw it not as a bullying, intimidation job; he saw it as a political job. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)66

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I feel incredibly lucky to have done it. […] Less than a thousand women have been Members of Parliament. It is an incredibly privileged thing to have done. As a woman, you’ve made some impact and some mark, and you hope that over generations people are not still sitting here saying how few mothers have been Members of Parliament or something because it’s more commonplace, or certainly more equal. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)67

Part IV

Politics

9

Party splits and furious whips Party discipline and internal politics

Once you’ve been a whip, it never leaves you. I was one of the longest serving whips. [...] Your whole attitude towards discipline, your whole attitude towards loyalty, your whole attitude towards delivering business [...] it stays with you. You become very, very fixed on that. Also the camaraderie of the whips’ office. But it was a very different kind of set-up, that, than it is now. It was all male; it had been operated as, certainly until the time I went there at least, as a pseudo-military operation. [...] The Wednesday morning meeting of the whips, where the silver salver and the silver tumblers came out, with the different whips’ names engraved on them. The champagne went round the table with the orange juice, and we drank the health to our former members and the prime minister [...] and then got on with business. It was tradition. [...] It was very much an important, a vital component in the operations – and to be part of that, sitting around that table. Timothy Kirkhope (Conservative, 1987–97)1

Westminster is almost defined by the two-party system. Even the Chamber itself, with its two sides, is widely thought to contribute to the division in British political life. Throughout our period third parties occasionally grew in popularity without really breaking through. Parties are complicated and difficult entities to lead, manage or simply belong to: Maria Fyfe compared them to a ‘family’.2 Most of the interviewees were deeply emotionally invested in their party and had no doubt over which one to join, even if they did not always agree with or like their fellow members. Therefore when splits over policies or personalities took hold it could be traumatic. Our interviews perhaps emphasize conflict within the party system, rather than the many examples of camaraderie or colleagueship, because when they happened they had a deep effect on individuals concerned. The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and the Conservative 1922 Committee are both tools of party management and a forum for backbenchers to make their views known to the party leadership – although the narrators sometimes saw them as ineffective. Party management as a whole was a matter for the whips. The whips had a whole range of tools – patronage, hushing up secrets, demotions, playing on loyalties, even at times bullying and intimidation – at their disposal. The power of this system shocked some, including the independent MP Martin Bell.3

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Whips themselves remember their actions slightly differently. To Timothy Kirkhope it was a ‘pseudo-military’ organizational operation, for Llin Golding and Ann Taylor an organizational nightmare in need of their most persuasive skills.4 Persuading backbenchers to vote was just one aspect of a whip’s job, and they also had to convince ministers and leaders what their parties would and would not accept. Relationships with whips could be strained in various ways: at least two of the interviewees describe being physically manhandled when they rebelled (although this proved an unsuccessful method of persuasion in these cases). The prospect of rebelling against the party was one that few took lightly, and it could lead them to reflect deeply on their role as MPs: Were they elected as representatives of their parties or to exercise their own best judgement? Those who did rebel knew it would cost them or their parties dearly and did so rarely: few wanted to be known as regular rebels and have their party loyalty questioned. It was easier for those with few ambitions; but for those who wanted to ‘climb the greasy pole’ it could end a career. Acts of rebellion could turn into larger splits, especially if groups were unhappy about party leadership. Leaders or potential leaders themselves could be admired for their charm (Jeremy Thorpe), respected for their competency (Margaret Thatcher) or resented for not ‘working the tea rooms’ (Michael Heseltine/Thatcher). Conservatives describe plots to question Ted Heath’s health, for example, and Tony Blair had more detractors than fans in our archive. Leadership contests could be moments of high drama in Westminster (and are discussed more fully in Chapter 10). Yet real party breaks more often occurred over policy. Both parties experienced significant internal divisions: the Conservatives over Europe (dealt with in Chapter 11), and the Labour Party when some of its members left to form the SDP in 1981. In the latter case, the separation was lasting and, at times, bitter. There was a degree of understanding of the other side’s position displayed in our interviews, yet the disagreement on politics was profound. For those who left it was a heartfelt and difficult decision. Bill Rodgers described the choice giving him considerable physical pain.5 For all involved ‘the atmosphere was awkward and unpleasant’.6 Parties are families, and form a deep part of a politician’s identity; they are means of organizing to promote a set of political views and an idea of the world. But they can also be deeply divided by class or opinion: John Watson described disliking ‘patrician’ Conservatives;7 Chris Price wasn’t working class enough for some Labour colleagues.8 As families go, they could be deeply dysfunctional. *** My role as the chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party then was to make sure that people focused on the need not to split on [specific issues]. To have a painful, difficult discussion [...] but you get over it, you don’t let it fester. Clive Soley (Labour, 1979– 2005)9 I was chairman of the 1922 Committee for instance, which I did for twelve years, which is longer than anybody has ever done it. [...] It represents the backbenchers; it’s there to put forward their point of view. There are occasions when it has the duty to put those

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very forcibly to the Tory prime minister of the day. [...] There was one outstanding example of its power and authority, and I would go further and say its duty, when it represented to Mr Heath that he probably no longer enjoyed the confidence of the Conservative Party and that he ought to either resign or stand for election as leader. Edward du Cann (Conservative, 1956–87)10 I’d heard about this famous 1922 Committee, [...] and I actually for some reason thought that when it met every week, which it does, that we would all gather as a party and there would be serious discussion and debate about things. But I discovered that what happens is they tell you what the business for the next week is going to be, so you know when you’re whipped, [...] and then they ask if anyone wants to ask any questions or make any points. They all address each other (and I think they still do) by their title and surname [...] which is all rather artificial. I soon discovered that the whole idea is to get that meeting finished in short order, not to have serious discussion about too much, and that people who had points to make were regarded as a bit crackers [laughs]. That was a great disappointment to me. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)11 I think [Blair] distanced himself very much from the rest of us over time. The first PLP meeting I went to I was quite shocked, because I thought, well, I’ll get up and say something. That’s what I normally do [laughs]. [...] It [was] on children’s stuff or something, [...] it wasn’t an aggressive question, it wasn’t much of a question really, it was just trying to steer the discussion where I wanted it to go. On the way out somebody put their hand on my shoulder and said, ‘You’re fucked’ [laughs]. ‘You’ve just fucked your career by talking to him like that.’ I was absolutely astounded really [...] that you can’t, in the most constructive way possible, just raise an issue like that. I suppose that was the first sign of one of the things that sent me out of Parliament, right at the beginning, and so emphatic. [...] I certainly think that, stupidly, they did value blind obedience over everything else. When it comes down to it I had some fairly significant run-ins with the whips, but I wasn’t a serial voter against the government. [One of the whips] said to me, ‘You’re nothing. [...] I don’t care about your conscience, you’re a Labour MP. You’re voted in as a Labour MP, people didn’t vote for you, they voted for the Labour Party.’ [...] That sort of attitude was just terrible. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)12 *** I found the Chamber of the House to be a chamber of horrors to be quite honest. I wasn’t ready for the strength of the whipping system, and the willingness of MPs to be whipped. [...] I actually saw a Member of Parliament exchange his vote for a peerage. I watched and saw him do it. It was an issue on which his opinion was respected. I know that he voted for something that he didn’t believe in because he told a friend of mine. [...] That’s really shocking. Martin Bell (Independent, 1997–2001)13 When I got to the House of Commons I discovered that [...] the whip isn’t all the Labour MPs deciding what their collective view is. It’s what the government says it is.

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[...] You don’t get your own say. We actually had majorities [within the PLP] which the government decided to ignore. Arthur Latham (Labour, 1969–79)14 The whips’ notice board has the name of every MP on it, and if the name is in blue you’ve been loyal to the party. If you’ve been disloyal it’s in brown because you’re a shit [laughs]. [...] It struck me as so childish, the whole thing, very bad public school, in fact public schools didn’t teach them much in the way of manners. David Mudd (Conservative, 1970–92)15 The power of whips is enormous; they can make or break careers. [...] I wanted to be helpful to my party. I used to help out with Friday morning debates. [...] But I found that you gained nothing by trying to be helpful, and [my whip] Bob Hughes in fact just took gross advantage. [...] I was asked to table about ninety clauses for [the disability bill].16 [...] [It] had become a political tool, a stick to beat Conservatives with. [...] When I did table these clauses I was asked by the Speaker to verify whether they were my clauses or the government’s. I felt because I had tabled them they must be mine, but I got no thanks for that. Then I was told by the whip to stay out of Parliament for two days as if I was the guilty party. I was pretty angry. I said, ‘I’m doing what you asked me to do and now you’re leaving me in the lurch.’ I wanted to see Richard Ryder who was the chief whip and he wouldn’t see me for three weeks. I was very angry. I thought they had dumped me right in it, and they knew they had made a mess of it. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)17 *** I went in the whips’ office quite soon after I came in, and I was there for six years. I associated with most of them, especially the troublemakers, because it was easier for a woman to go influence men than it was for men to influence men. [...] I really enjoyed my time there. It was very, very hard work, long hours, which is why I’d got a flat quite close because I used to walk home, very often at two o’clock in the morning. [...] I’d get in about half past nine, do some work. [...] Then there was the whips office, we’d have the meeting, be told what was going on, what the business was, where the votes were going to go, what time they were likely to be, how many votes there would be. Then we’d be sent off to see if everybody was here to vote. [...] You were given certain subjects to look after as whip, [...] you had to go to the committees, be the whip in the committee. [...] Sometimes you’d have up to four committees [...] running up and down the corridor very often [laughs]. [...] Then important votes, you had to make sure everyone was there. [...] It was just non-stop, just non-stop, but very interesting. You certainly got to know people. [...] The problem was we were in opposition, so we mostly couldn’t win the votes, but the job of the whip was to make sure that every MP felt what they were doing was important and to come and vote, to try and stop what the Tories were doing. So for me every vote was touch and go. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)18 You had families to deal with on occasions. [...] You needed to know what the real issue was, what the real pressure was. You had to know when to let people go to their own

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local meetings because it was important to their survival locally, and yet you might need them down here for the vote, so how do you balance that out? [...] I mean in those days people wouldn’t; men anyway [...] would not admit to wanting to be off for a domestic reason. They wouldn’t say they had to go home because their wife was ill or [it was] their child’s school production at Christmas; [...] they would always say it was something official, which was very silly. I’d always have more sympathy if they’d told the truth. Eventually you got to learn more and more about them so you could read and guess what was happening. It was knife-edge, what seemed like all the time. We did have little spells when it was easier but by and large we had to be on our toes all the time. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)19 I was the whip for a wonderful man called Richard Body, the Member for Boston, who was always a rebel in so many ways but a free thinker. Someone like him is very valuable. [...] He was against the establishment. But I got on very well with him as a whip, and he said I was the politest whip he’d had and he wouldn’t vote against me because he didn’t want me to get in trouble with the chief whip. He was that sort of man. [...] The idea is that if someone is genuine in their belief and they give you proper warning, well, that’s understandable. Kenneth Carlisle (Conservative, 1979–97)20 I was a disastrous whip. I’ve got to be honest with you. I couldn’t count, which didn’t help [laughs] particularly with a very small majority. I remember one series of events, which I had to go and see the prime minister and apologize for, I felt rather bad about it to be honest with you. [...] In 1996, we were trying to take the education reform bill through committee stages and I was the whip on it. I can always remember one of the guys [asked for permission] to leave the committee room at lunchtime. [...] I said [...] I think you’ll be alright, because we’ve got a one or two majority and I knew one of their guys was going to be away. He leaves the room and then I realize the guy that I thought was going to be away wasn’t away, and so we were going to be in danger being one down. So I rushed after him stupidly, by the time I got back the doors were shut so I was out as well. So we lost that vote and lost that particular clause. [...] We had to try and get it back in the House, when it went to report stage. Anthony Coombs (Conservative, 1987–97)21 [The chief whip Bob Mellish said to me] [...] ‘You know we don’t want that first bill to get anywhere, don’t you? Who is looking after it?’ ‘Shirley [Summerskill].’ ‘Oh God, bloody hell. Have you told her? Go back in there and tell her I want to see her and you come back with her.’ So I go back into the Chamber [...] I got to Shirley and said, ‘The chief wants to see you.’ [...] I go with her to Mellish’s whip’s office. [...] Mellish was a lovely guy, but a typical cockney. [...] He says to her, ‘Hello, darling! [...] Now, I understand from Tom that you are looking after this first bill. You know we don’t want it to get anywhere. So how long are you going to speak for?’ ‘Well, Bob, my brief is for about twenty minutes.’ ‘What?! Twenty minutes?! That is no bleeding good! Twenty minutes!’ And this is what he says, and I’m there: ‘Do you like your job?’ She said, ‘Oh, I love it very much Bob, being in the Home Office, so interesting.’ ‘Well, I’ve got news for you, if you don’t get up when you are called by the Speaker or the Deputy and just talk and talk and talk ‘til he tells you to sit down, I got news for you darling, you won’t

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have a bloody job in the Home Office on Monday morning!’ And that’s what it was like. Tom Cox (Labour, 1970–2005)22 I became a whip with Willy Whitelaw and that was the happiest time of my parliamentary career: 1964 I was elected; in 1966 I became an opposition whip. The happiest time I had in Parliament was as a whip, because it’s the only time where you work as a team, honourably. The whole of my background had been based on that idea – at school, at sport or in the army, you work as a team together, you back each other up, help each other. Afterwards in politics, and in the City, the professions, there’s no such thing as loyalty. You do each other down, certainly in politics, certainly. In the whips’ office in those days, under Willie Whitelaw, it was absolutely trustworthy. He always used to say, ‘It’s the only place you will know what’s going on. There are only two places where you know what is happening in the world: the cabinet, and the Tory whips’ office. There’s one big difference. The Tory whips’ office you keep it absolutely all to yourself, you work as a team. Cabinet: it’s as leaky as a sieve.’ [Laughs] Anthony Grant (Conservative, 1964–97)23 I think being a whip is being part of a two-way channel, especially in government. Yes, you are presenting government [policy] to your parliamentary party and making sure there is support, but equally important is making sure that ministers understand where the party is coming from. When people ask me [...] who was the most difficult person to deal with, [...] actually the most difficult people to deal with were ministers who wanted to push the boat too far. [...] It was a two-way process, and part of your job was to give the prime minister bad news. My husband sometimes said, ‘Did you ever give him anything other than bad news?’ Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)24 The next thing I learned to do, you put a programme [...] to the cabinet and you knew that some people, a fair number of people, would make a plea at the cabinet to insert a bill that I’d left out. So the way to deal with that is to leave out of the programme a bill that obviously has to be in. So everybody around the table is going to say, ‘Well, I would like this bill in’ – which is his favourite – ‘and I think that one should be in’ – the one I’d deliberately left out. So then I could finish the discussion, summing up at the end, I’d say, ‘Well I’ve listened to what everybody’s said and it is quite clear we’ve made a mistake in leaving that bill out.’ [...] That’s just something you have to do in politics. John Wakeham (Conservative, February 1974–92)25 *** Then the chief whip, Richard Ryder, rang me up and said, ‘I gather you’re volunteering to go out to the Gulf [to serve in the first war]’, I said yes. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘we may have to call you back for votes.’ Which to my mind epitomized the whole lack of reality of the thing. You’ll be in the middle of the desert, and the chief whip is going to call me back for a vote. Charles Goodson-Wickes (Conservative, 1987–97)26 [The whips] weren’t always friendly if they wanted to lay the law down. [...] My husband in the 1980s [...] suffered a brain haemorrhage suddenly. [...] [There was] an important

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vote, I had to go to Parliament. I went to Parliament and said, ‘I’m not coming again this week, my husband’s in hospital, we don’t quite know what’s going to happen.’ [...] David Lightbown [...] got me up against the wall and said, ‘You will: your job is to be here to vote.’ I was so upset, I was in tears. [...] I walked away and thought this is ridiculous, he can’t do that. [...] I went to [Sir] Michael [Shaw, chair of the Yorkshire members] and I told him Brian was ill in hospital and he said, ‘Just go.’ [...] So that is what I did. He went and told the chief whip [...] and that’s when the flowers came, because when I did come back [...] there was a bunch of roses outside the door [of my flat] with a card on that said, ‘We’re not all that bad, David [Waddington].’ Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)27 There was an occasion of a three-line whip between ’74 and ’79. [...] The division bells went, I left what I was doing, trotted across from Dean’s Yard, had to cross the main road, [...] there should [have been] a policeman stopping traffic, on this occasion there wasn’t. [...] Of course it’s quite a long trot. [...] I just got to the division lobbies and the door was shut in my face. [...] The result was declared and the Labour government had won by one vote. [...] It was all on the front page of the paper the next morning. [...] Oh dear. [...] I anticipated [the reaction] by writing a contrite letter to the chief whip telling him what happened. I still have somewhere his reply: [...] ‘Not to worry, it’s the sort of thing that happens to us all – just once.’ Underlined three times [laughs]. Roger Sims (Conservative, February 1974–97)28 *** Despite the various degrees of pressure, many of our interviewees rebelled on occasion. I was [going through the opposition lobbies], and Richard Ryder – who I liked – he said, ‘You’ll go a hell of a way before you get anywhere.’ I said, ‘Isn’t it a good job I don’t want anything.’ I don’t think they went for me after that. [...] But others have their wants, preferment stakes, or they have a want financially, or whatever bit of history that is best hushed up. There’s a lot of ways you can put pressure on some people. People who lead as dull a life as me, it’s more difficult. Roger Knapman (Conservative, 1987–97)29 I largely agreed with [the whips], but when I didn’t agree with them I couldn’t care less. I decided to go my own way and I told them. [...] Nobody chastised me or anything like that, unlike an awful lot of MPs I was independent in terms of my finances and everything else. I mean, I’d had my career, I had a business. I’d done ten times more than most of them have done in their lives, anyway. They weren’t gonna change me. I equally didn’t want to go out of my way to embarrass them. They were grateful or whatever it is. So we had this sort of really fairly, reasonable relationship, where they didn’t ask me to do something they knew I wouldn’t do, and I didn’t deliberately go out my way to embarrass them and found myself being absent at critical times. Colin Breed (LD, 1997–2010)30 I was once given the advice by another Member who said, ‘Don’t rebel too often – the worst thing is if the whips take it for granted that you’re likely to be rebelling –

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so if you’re going to, do it infrequently and if possible lead the rebellion.’ [...] I did lead the rebellion on one or two things, including Private Members’ Bills. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)31 I remember talking to an old hand, who said: ‘You can do one of two things in this place [...] you can either try to climb the greasy pole, being constantly stabbed in the back by your colleagues, or you can be a campaigning MP, you can take up particular issues. [...] There are a number [of these] MPs who are respected on both sides of the House.’ [...] I thought at first that I would like to climb the greasy pole. [...] I soon came up against the whips. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)32 [Bob Mellish] went through the whole range of the chief whip’s practices [to get me to support the Labour government over the issue of Scottish devolution in 1979]: Harold [Wilson’s] got his eye on you for future promotion. [...] I can make your life difficult; I can make your life hellish. [...] ‘You can do what you like with me’, I said, ‘but I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I am going to go out to have a press conference, and I’m going to tell the press exactly what you’ve said to me.’ I always remember Bob saying, ‘But you’ll be breaking the rules.’ [Laughs] [...] [They said] ‘I don’t understand you. You’re throwing your career away. We never intended to have a [Scottish] Assembly [in 1979].’ Now I can’t prove that, but that’s true, that’s what Bob Mellish, the chief whip, said to me. [...] Hang yourself on this rope; we will be cutting it anyway. And that was me, I was definitely on my way out of the Labour Party. Jim Sillars (Labour/SNP, March 1970–9; 1988–92)33 I’d been interviewed [on Radio 4] about my decision to rebel and vote against the government on the Poll Tax. [Michael Heseltine] said, ‘I listened, I thought it was very good, there’s one thing I disagree with you about. You said that voting against the government will damage your career. Not so. Voting against the government will never damage one’s career, provided the vote is rational, occasional and principled.’ [...] Although it caused me a lot of difficulty with the party hierarchy, it actually did me a lot of good with my local Conservative Association, because they were already on my side about the potential damage from the Poll Tax. Michael Irvine (Conservative, 1987–92)34 The time that was very difficult was the night before the final vote in 1992. Michael [Heseltine] wanted to close thirty pits almost in three months. [...] I told him I wouldn’t support it. [...] I sat in the debate, when it started at three thirty, and [the whips] weren’t going to let me in to speak. [...] The opposition spokesman [...] was winding up. [...] He said, [...] ‘I am willing to give up a few minutes of my wind up to the Honourable Member for Batley and Spen who has sat here through the whole debate and not been allowed to make any points at all.’ [...] My lot were absolutely livid. [...] I got four and a half minutes. [...] I said, [...] ‘It’s not a good way to end an industry.’ Of course I went through the opposition lobbies, and I was a parliamentary private secretary. [...] I knew I’d have to resign. [...] As I came out the lobby one of the whips [...] stopped me and said, ‘You’re fired.’ [...] But I was right. It was the wrong thing to do in the way they did it. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)35 [Relationship with the whips] became uniquely complicated when I gave evidence in the Nolan inquiry [on Standards in Public Life]. That really screwed it up because I was

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becoming increasingly concerned at what I saw as a wave of corruption in government and the Conservative Party [...] There was a vote on corruption and I voted the opposite way to the way I was meant to vote. It’s a difficult thing to do and they were very, very angry with me [...] They called me into the whips office, there were these eight men, sitting with their feet on the table, fantastically rude to me as I stood by the door. [...] They forbade me to say anything to the media ever again. [...] I came out of the room [...] and happened to bump into Ted Heath. [...] He stopped for a minute and said, ‘Hmmph, go out there at once and make another broadcast on anything you want immediately.’ [...] Of course he was right so that’s exactly what I did. [...] They bullied me very ferociously after that [...] including physically. Trying to manhandle me into a lobby [...] I remember very well they caught me physically, around the waist and shoulders and tried to frog-march me into the lobby. I must admit I was extremely angry. [...] As this went on, I was getting more and more low. [...] Very sadly, because I am intrinsically I think a Conservative [I left to join the Lib Dems] Emma Nicholson (Conservative/LD, 1987–97)36 *** Each party’s leadership figures could be both admired and reviled. I somehow got a request to go to dinner with [Tony Japhet and Geoffrey Vaughan, fellow doctors in the Commons]. I thought this is rather formal, what is this about? [At dinner] Gerry said, ‘Tom, Tony and I have come to consult you. [...] This is a rather personal medical matter which you, and I, and Tony had better put our minds to together: What do you think about the prime minister’s health?’ [...] I said, ‘I don’t know what’s happened to him, but [Ted Heath] is not the man he was when he became chief whip. He can’t cope.’ They said, ‘We don’t think he can cope either but we can’t think what’s wrong with him.’ [...] He said, ‘Do you think he should carry on?’ I said frankly, ‘No, I don’t, but it’s a bit tricky to do anything about that.’ They said, ‘We’ve got a plan [...] we should go to Central Office and tell them that in our opinion, [we] all think that the prime minister is not fit to continue.’ [...] The difficulty is who is going to do it? [...] They said, ‘No, Tom, it must be you. You have no political future so you can go and tell them what you like.’ [Laughs] Thomas Stuttaford (Conservative, 1970–February 1974)37 [Ted] Heath’s personal skills, his man management skills had evidently been pretty deplorable. So there was a simmering [feeling] of ‘let’s get rid of Heath’, which startled me rather. [...] Meanwhile, the field of people who might want to be leader of the Conservative Party was astonishingly weak. [...] The obvious person who might, if he really wanted it, could’ve had it would have been Willie Whitelaw, but Willie was the sort of person who was (a) loyal above all, (b) Willie was actually scared of the job, didn’t want to take it. Then names came in and out of the hat. [...] There was nobody wanting to challenge [...] and yet everybody sort of knew that the ground had to shift. [...] I was, as an observer, very clear in my mind that support was draining away from Ted but wasn’t going anywhere. Into this field entered Margaret Thatcher. I watched the emergence of Thatcher. [...] Margaret was really not looking like a runner; she was

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looking like a senior player in the shadow cabinet. [...] I think she was taken seriously by herself and by people who were watching her perform in the House of Commons on the finance bill. [...] Margaret Thatcher did the heavy lifting on the finance bill, took the amendments. In those days a lot of the finance bill had to be taken on the floor of the House, and her reputation was rising like a rather unexpected soufflé on a menu. [...] I thought she was able, I thought she was not leader material. I thought she would be a very good chancellor, I thought she was too strident. I think I really thought that this was too big a step for a woman, at that stage. And a lot of people thought that way. I was probably too polite to say that. Jonathan Aitken (Conservative, February 1974–97)38 Working with Margaret had been – immensely enjoyable is not the [right word] – enormously worthwhile, rewarding affair because her leadership was very, very striking and remarkable. [...] To see her performance in different capacities outside this country was as impressive as it was here. [...] To see her in Tokyo at the end of the G7 conference there, giving a press conference, which was packed. [...] All the others read from a script. She was presenting her judgement on the meeting, unscripted, and the way in which the Japanese looked at her [...] was astonishing. One felt so often with her around the world like that, even when she was not necessarily saying things I agreed with [laughs], which happened once or twice perhaps. One saw a real personality. Geoffrey Howe (Conservative, 1964–6; 1970–97)39 I had the utmost respect for Margaret Thatcher, but I didn’t like her as a person. I was against her obviously on the Poll Tax, seeing the effects of that on communities in Cornwall, and the fact that she wouldn’t listen. [...] [After calling for a new leader] she came to my constituency. Now it’s usual for the constituency MP to propose a vote of thanks to the prime minister, and for the prime minister in thanking the constituency MP, to say really what a damn good fellow he or she is. I sat beside Margaret, and she looked across at me with a very malicious grin and said, ‘David, do you mind, these people are asking such lovely questions. [...] I want to give them a little more of my time. Would you perhaps keep your vote of thanks to not more than one minute?’ I just smiled, ‘But prime minister, I was only going to speak for one minute.’ [Laughs] Things were never quite the same. David Mudd (Conservative, 1970–92)40 I love shooting, Michael Heseltine loves shooting. If he had asked me for a day’s shooting, ‘Come and stay, we’ll have a day’s shooting,’ he’d probably have had me in his pocket. Because I’d have felt so flattered, this famous man had paid attention to me. I was still recovering from the shock of being elected – we’re all human, and something like that – I would have been very flattered by this great man paying me this degree of personal attention. It’s very human isn’t it? But he did none of these things; he didn’t even come into the tea room and sit with us. [...] These things make an enormous difference. I remember sitting with these great figures who I’d known and admired from afar for years, and suddenly there I was among them. But you never saw Heseltine. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)41 During that period, Harold [Wilson] had to retire and Jim Callaghan came in. He was never a popular choice, but he was available. [...] The way he handled the ’78/’79 election made many of my colleagues feel that they could kill him. He ruined our lives.

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I was on a committee and I was over in Belfast. We were all told by the whips’ office to listen in because he was going to declare a general election and, this was in September, this would have avoided getting into this nasty, terrible winter, because he could get a big majority, because we had such a small majority. When he came over the radio and television he said we are carrying on. He was a clueless man, really. Eric Moonman (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–9)42 Some years later [autumn 1978] I said to my boss, Roy Hattersley, ‘I think we ought to have a statutory freeze [on pay] otherwise we will find that the wage demands go through the roof.’ [...] I put together a case [...] and went to see Denis Healey. Denis had read my paper and we had half an hour together. He ended up by saying, ‘I agree with almost all you’ve said, you have to realize Bob, that I want to be the leader of this party someday and trade unionists would not like this, so it’s not going to happen.’ [...] I was rather shocked by it because I thought what was best for the country would be best for the party. Robert Maclennan (Labour/SDP/LD 1966–2001)43 I could have stayed on the front bench but when [Tony] Blair came in, I was not a Blairite. I could see what he was going to do with the Labour Party would not be comfortable for me. [...] In 1997, I got back on the Health Committee and became chairman. I did two Parliaments as chair of the Select Committee. It was a time I genuinely enjoyed, because we’d all sorts of challenges arising from the Labour government’s policies. [...] Things like foundation trusts, things like the increased use of the private sector, things I was deeply, deeply uncomfortable with. But it put me into quite a significant position being able to argue for what I felt was my values and my party’s values, as opposed to the New Labour leadership. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)44 I always had a very high respect for Tony Blair, still do. I first came across him when he was a very newish MP. I was on the shadow cabinet doing transport. British Caledonian Airways had collapsed. [After visiting unions at Gatwick and Heathrow] I put down a private notice question, [but in fact it did not fall under my brief, and the person whose brief it was] took fright. He couldn’t handle it. [...] We were left at about one o’clock in the afternoon with a question down in his name and he was nowhere to be found. The second in command was Tony Blair. We had to find him, because he was busy in the courts in those days, he came in about two o’clock, quarter past two. I briefed him. At three o’clock we got the government’s response to the question, statement at half past three. He handled it as if he had been dealing with it all his life. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1970–97)45 At that time [...] I think we were all sad to see Jo [Grimmond] go, of course, because he’d been and was a great leader of our party and did a huge amount to revive it. Jeremy [Thorpe] was a completely different personality, obviously. As far as I can remember, obviously it is coloured by later things. I think we were on the whole pleased. One thing he was exceptional at, he was a terrific showman, a very popular personality, [...] a Liberal leader who was well known throughout the country. [...] That clearly was good for the party. As I got to know later on, he was amazingly good with people, crowds, oratory, that sort of thing. Probably the best we’ve had in my time. Graham Tope (Liberal, 1972–February 1974)46

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In politics your opponents are in the other party, your enemies are in your own. [...] I had quite good relations with a lot of my opponents in the Tory Party, like Ted Heath for example, Reggie Maudling. [...] But your enemies in your own, it’s very difficult – I had Eric Heffer, Dennis Skinner, people like that. But even those, they tend to mellow in later life. And Benn, of course, above all. Denis Healey (Labour, 1952–92)47 If you think that what really impelled me into politics (apart from just sort of liking the life and social life and so on) was an irritation that the Conservative Party was so patrician. The Conservative Party was different when I left [Parliament than when I joined]. People like John Major had a much, much higher role than would have been conceivable twenty years earlier. The great scions of the wealthy families – Douglas Hogg, Robert, [Lord] Cranbourne – were still there, but they weren’t subject to the same deference as had been the case earlier. I don’t claim credit for that, but I’d claim credit for being one of the Conservatives who made it like that. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)48 My problem: I was neither left-wing nor right-wing. Frequently, however, I felt that Labour was doing the wrong thing and sometimes I blurted it out at the Labour Party group, which was meant to be private, but it wasn’t very private at all. So I never became at all popular with either the left or the right, within either Birmingham or the Labour Party in London. [...] An awful lot of Labour Party MPs were brought up in workingclass homes, were terribly aware of the difference between working-class people and others. [...] There were probably half a dozen MPs rather like me. [...] Harold Wilson was brilliant, but after Harold Wilson, [James] Callaghan, he irritated me, because he always – I would be standing there and he’d put his arm on my shoulder: ‘How are you doing Chris? It’s all right for you, you know, with your first-class honours degree.’ I would say, ‘Jim, I got a third-class’ [laughs]. ‘Well, anyway it was in Oxford. Anyway, it’s all the same for people like you.’ He was fairly bitter about the posh classes, why he and Wilson didn’t get along very well. Chris Price (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–83)49 I think the Labour Party acts like a large family. You have your rows, but you don’t come to blows [laughs]. Maria Fyfe (Labour, 1987–2001)50 I joined the Manifesto Group and I became its treasurer. [...] We were formed to counteract the Tribune Group. We wanted more balance in the party, and I suppose you could call us, in Labour Party terms, a bit right of centre. It was called the Manifesto Group because we wanted to stick to the manifesto and not go any way beyond it. [...] There was nothing personal in it. I knew lots of members of the Tribune Group, but they kept left-wing pressure for more nationalisation and policies of that kind. [...] We supported the mixed economy. Ken Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)51 [I had a good relationship with other Labour MPs], except the left-wing people. I became interested in defence. A lot of the left-wing people, who at that time were [...] a big group, say between sixty and a hundred, some of whom were fellow travellers, took

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the Russian position on everything. Of course, being Denis Healey’s PPS [Personal Private Secretary] and [my own] speeches made me very unpopular with people interested in saying that the Russians had a better case than was generally understood. So I was always rebutting that. And also, it’s strange; I was interested in disarmament. I became interested very much in disarmament and arms control, but a lot of the people who took a purist’s line on disarmament didn’t like my position on that issue. They liked it a little bit better on arms control, and in the end I did study both issues thoroughly, so when I did get up to speak in the House, I was listened to with respect, but not by the left wing. They would heckle me. I had a rougher time from my own benches that I ever had from the Conservatives. Alan Lee Williams (Labour, 1966– 70; February 1974–9)52 When I first went into Parliament […] I was looking for allies because, as I say the whips were not very welcoming, they would rather I wasn’t there, that was clear. Then these Trotskyists approached me and I soon saw that they were stuck in the past and hopeless. I didn’t want anything to do with them. I joined the Socialist Campaign Group […] and at that time there were a lot of women in it – Jo Richardson, Clare Short, Margaret Beckett. […] There was some discussion as to whether Tony Benn should stand for deputy leader and when the group decided that he should, all those women walked out, a few weeks after I had joined. […] All the women in it except [a few] stayed in. […] That was a bit distressing. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)53 By ’70 we had an input to the manifesto, but there were tensions rising between the traditional Conservatives who wanted a non-radical manifesto and those of us who said, ‘No, we want to reinforce our views about reforming the trade unions, about denationalization. We want to really push this country into a new style of government vigorously.’ The sort of things I’d said in ’66: we want low taxes, we want competition, we want to borrow American methods of efficiency and management. So all the time through the late ’60s, and remember I’d left the CPC [Conservative Political Centre] when I became an MP, we were developing these themes. We set up our own sort of crypto-research department because the official research department of the Conservative Party was stuck in a consensus and said, ‘We mustn’t talk about denationalization it will upset the trade unions’ and that sort of stuff. We said, ‘Never mind about that, we’ve got to change.’ David Howell (Conservative, 1966–97)54 The Liberals were basically from a libertarian family of views, philosophy, whereas the SDP were from a socialist family of views. And they were very different. They might have common policies, there might be common strategies, but essentially they came from these different backgrounds. And it showed a lot in the negotiations we had with the SDP over seats for instance, and indeed over the general attitude of the SDP in the country. They tended to think that the Liberals were a small, diffused group of people who were not serious about politics or about winning seats, but heaven knows how they thought we’ve been winning big seats in wards in big places like Leeds and Liverpool and so on. Anyway, they had a very great shock when they came to meet us and discovered you had this very tough lot of people, who’d had to fight and win in very difficult circumstances, which they never had to do. They came on the back of a Labour

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Party ticket, and consequently they felt they would be alright in future elections with the ticket. Michael Meadowcroft (Liberal, 1983–7)55 *** The formation of the SDP in 1981 was a dramatic event for the Labour Party, for both those who left and those who remained. [Labour Party] conference passed left-wing resolutions which then became party policy, but when the party actually got into power most of the leadership consisted of moderates and right-wing people, who then didn’t carry out the party’s policy. Well, the left understandably became very exasperated with this situation. [...] When they got control of the party, they reversed the party’s traditional policies on some absolutely major things [nationalisation, the EEC, nuclear arms]. I thought that these were all disastrous policies. [...] I couldn’t possibly vote for any of them, I couldn’t possibly speak in favour of any of them. I fought against them for as long as I could. In the end what I didn’t possibly foresee was that the left would retain control of the party for such a short time, if I’d realized that I might have tried to perhaps sit out the storm. [...] I thought that they’d got control and were going to continue to keep control. Brian Magee (Labour/SDP, February 1974–83)56 Trade union arrogance in the late ’70s was something I saw rather a lot of [...] the way they wanted to control things made me become a bit discontented with the Labour Party. [...] When we went into opposition and had all the ‘Bennite’ stuff I began to turn off. I really felt that what they were trying to do was to rubbish the work that we’d done to save the economy over five years. [...] I just couldn’t take this at all. I disliked the sort of autocratic attitude of people like Tony Benn. The anti-Europeans were getting their way. [...] As much as anything Europe made me decide to leave. I had actually discussed these things with Roy Jenkins in Brussels. [...] I was one of the very first I think to say, ‘I’m afraid I don’t think the Labour Party’s going to be able to hold together.’ [...] I thought there were so many people of a broadly similar outlook to my own [...] in the House of Commons and also in the country that we needed an alternative to Benn and Thatcher. I thought that the whole centre-left ground was being squeezed out of existence and we’d have to provide a platform. Robert Maclennan (Labour/SDP/LD, 1966–2001)57 I never thought of leaving the Labour Party, never crossed my mind. I was fighting, I’d done it before. I’d fought in support of Gaitskell in 1960–2. Although it was going to be a much, much tougher proposition to deal with the far left by that time in the 1970s. Once the election was over in 1979 I assumed I would have to play a hard part and have rather a tough time to try and save the Labour Party. But I suddenly began to feel that there were too many shifting away. I remember when I made a speech and it was well reported in the newspapers and I very well remember walking along the library corridor, and in the distance I saw a Labour Member of Parliament, and I knew where he was going to go, he was going towards the library. He saw me and he turned away, not to disagree with me, but to avoid to be seen talking to me. He was a moderate man.

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[...] That was the weakness of my part of the party; [...] they were running away from the hard left. William Rodgers (Labour/SDP/LD, 1962–83)58 Things just got worse and worse in the Labour Party. We just got more and more fed up. [...] There were a handful of us who met regularly in David Owen’s office to plan what we were doing. We eventually came to the conclusion that the only solution was to form another party. None of us committed to joining it – everybody’d got their own decision to make at some time, if and when it was launched. [...] The Wembley conference was the last throw, after that we had the Limehouse Declaration.59 [...] I was very heavily involved in drafting all that along with all the others. That was it. After that it was planning a new party. Ian Wrigglesworth (Labour/SDP, February 1974–87)60 I wrestled with [the decision to leave the Labour Party] for a long time. I found it incredibly difficult because, as I said, I grew up in the Labour Party and I couldn’t see what life was going to be like outside the Labour Party. […] There were two issues, one: the left had been ganging up on my constituency for quite some time. Not just the Tribunite left, I could handle them, but the hard left, the Trotskyite left. […] My friends were saying to me, ‘Look, it’s getting difficult, more and more of them are arriving. We are losing control of various committees, you need to do this, you need to do that.’ I said: ‘Hang on a minute, yes I will do all those things, but what you are going to do?’ ‘Oh, it is very difficult for us, we are borough councillors.’ I thought, ‘Why should I? Nobody is going to fight for me.’ And then I thought, well, I could wait and if they deselect me I could jump then, then I thought well I am damaged goods if I do that, that is not very sensible. But what it came down to in the end was that I felt I couldn’t stay in one political party if my heart was in another. And once I was convinced they really were serious about establishing a new political party I knew that’s where my heart was. And come hell or high water that’s where I had to go. John Cartwright (Labour/SDP, 1974–92)61 The SDP coming I thought was sort of unfair really. Take my Tribune Group. We had voted for many things on many occasions that we didn’t really want. As soon as we got into a position where the government was doing what we wanted, then they said, ‘We’re going to resign now.’ I thought that was unfair. Arthur Latham (Labour, 1969–79)62 Well, I think there were some people running away, like the SDP, which I’ve got no time for at all. When you’re in for a fight you’re in for a fight, you don’t run away, form another group and try and take over. [...] Labour were busy fighting some of its own people and trying to fight the Conservatives at the same time. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)63 We had this awful situation where I had lost many of my best friends. Two terrible things happened after 1979. Firstly we got the Bennite insurrection [...] but what was equally bad was that my friends – most of my best friends, not all of them but most of them – left the Labour Party to set up the SDP. [...] [The atmosphere in the Commons] was not good. [...] It was awkward and unpleasant. The Trots were unpleasant, the lefties were unpleasant. It was sad. One’s friends were no longer one’s friends. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)64

10

Making laws Key legislation and memorable events

The most magical, unforgettable night I ever had in Parliament will stay with me forever, that was the 29 March 1979. That was the day Margaret [Thatcher] won by one vote and changed the government and everything changed. [...] I shall never forget that. [...] It was a very exciting, very exciting night because it was such a knife-edge thing. Nobody, but nobody knew how the vote was going to go. [...] Everyone was on strike in the restaurants but they weren’t on strike in the bars. [...] It went on until ten o’clock and we all filed out and it was just – it was electric. [...] That was a most significant thing, showing that you never know when your vote is going to make a colossal difference. Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–97)1

Many former MPs remember in their interviews moments when they were ‘part of history’. First, through their direct influence on pieces of legislation. As previously mentioned, passing and scrutinizing legislation is one of the major functions of an MP. However, individual MPs had very little opportunity, or power, to make these changes. When they were able to make their mark, this was often a cause of real pride (see also Chapter 13). It also necessitated, as we shall see, a large degree of collaboration with MPs in their own, or even across, parties: a different side of Westminster than normally portrayed in combative Prime Minister’s Questions. Second, MPs remember taking a part, even a small one, in moments of political drama. Pushed around by the whips, hemmed in by their party and tied down by their constituents, MPs often feel that they have little power to effect change. But there are moments when they do make an impact, or when they were key players in events of huge significance. But how should an MP choose what to support? For those who were ministers, their brief was given to them and they had many more opportunities to make their mark. Backbench MPs with many other roles to perform, and with limited resources to use to influence legislation, had to make choices about which campaigns they would back. Ann Cryer remembered her campaigns as ‘the stuff that hit me in the face’.2 For others, a mixture of personal experience, such as John Hannam’s commitment to disability, and the pressure of lobby groups, either in the constituency or in national interest

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groups, might come together to determine what to back.3 For those lucky enough to come close to the top of the ballot for Private Members’ Bills lobby groups quickly paid them a lot of attention,4 as David Steel remembered before choosing to champion abortion legislation.5 Campaigning did not just take place within Westminster, but in the media, in constituencies, even on picket lines or demonstrations. A Private Members’ Bill was the most obvious way an MP could make their mark, but not the only one: they could apply for an adjournment debate or Ten Minute Rule Bill to raise an issue, or propose amendments to existing legislation. Any campaign took a great deal of work: supporters had to be rallied, Private Members’ Bill committees managed – Peter Jackson became known as ‘rent-a-whip’ for his work – and parliamentary questions had to be framed in the right way.6 If they wanted to promote a bill, a backbencher would need support from their own side; and more often than not also support from those on the opposing benches. All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) were one way that like-minded MPs could band together and multiply their impact – the disability APPG grew so powerful it could ‘frighten governments’.7 At times, however, a backbench MP had to be satisfied with simply raising an issue, hopefully to be picked up later by others in or outside Parliament. In this chapter we have collected together some specific issues that MPs particularly cared about, but there are an awful lot more in our sound archive. The first group is social legislation: women’s or LGBT rights, the death penalty, corporal punishment, abortion and so on. David Price sums up the issues faced with social legislation well: Do you follow your own conscience, or try to discern the will of a divided public?8 MPs remember doing both, listening to constituency views although largely acting on their own conscience. The second group covers industry and employment, particularly privatization – both Conservatives believing it was crucial to modernize the British economy and Labour members whose constituents suffered as industries were closed. The third group covers constitutional affairs, and in particular devolution of Scottish and Welsh government. The great political events were remembered in a different way – as moments of pure drama in which many of the MPs felt privileged to take part. Below we deal with three – the rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and 1990 and the death of John Smith in 1994 – but there are many more in our archive (see also Chapter 9 for other leadership contests, and Chapter 11 for the Maastricht and Iraq War debates). The vote of no confidence in Jim Callaghan’s government in 1979 stood out for those who were there. How much hindsight has coloured these memories we do not know, but it is clear that there was a febrile atmosphere in the House that night. The same could be said in the days around Thatcher’s fall. On a sadder note, the death of John Smith was a deep shock to many of his Labour colleagues, and also remembered as a ‘what if ’ moment for some. All three were times when British politics changed direction. *** I had no ambition at all to be a Member of Parliament. Therefore I never thought about – ‘if I get in there, this is what I’m going to do’ – because I just didn’t think it would happen. And it did. So it was the stuff that hit me in the face, in the constituency,

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that pushed me into the various campaigns that I got stuck in with, because there was nothing in my life whereby I would wake up one morning and think, ‘That’s a good campaigning issue, I shall raise this.’ It never happened. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997– 2010)9 Luck was involved [...] in drawing number three in the Speaker’s ballot for Private Members’ Bills. If that hadn’t happened I would not have been able to present the abortion reform bill. I was the seventh, I think, MP since the war who tried to get the law changed. All previous attempts had failed not because of lack of support but because of lack of time. [...] What happened was I then got lobbied by various groups. The three most vociferous were the Abortion Law Reform Association, the campaign for homosexual equality and the plumbers registration [laughs]. To this day I don’t know if the plumbers ever got registered. [...] The Abortion Law Reform Association had actually the best case, partly because the bill had already gone through the House of Lords – it was waiting to be picked up in the Commons – and partly because at the election I had received all the bumpf from these organizations, and I had ticked the box to say if elected I would support reform of the law. [...] Having said I would support it, given the opportunity actually to do something about it was not something I could miss. [...] It was quite difficult. One or two of my key supporters were Catholics and therefore totally opposed to what I was doing. [...] It was quite a tricky period. I didn’t decide right away. David Steel (Liberal/LD, 1965–97)10 What I did [to support David Steel’s Private Members’ Bill for abortion reform], with a man called Alistair Service, who was the lobby officer for ALRA [Abortion Law Reform Association] we interviewed Members of Parliament who we thought would be sympathetic. Obviously David would give us the commitment on the Liberal Members. [...] There were a few Conservatives who were helpful. [...] The [opposition] had twenty-eight, that’s all they could bloody muster. We had treble figures. We had a massive majority in terms of the composition of the [bill] committee. I was a fool. I said we should hear the arguments on the other side. [...] I was the whip, so it was my role to let them speak, and for us to vote down their amendments. [...] My objective was to get through the committee stage as soon as possible. We had to get into the third reading and not to lose time. An effective filibuster was put up. [...] This in my view was my most successful parliamentary activity. I was known as rent-a-whip, that was what I was called. [...] I was able to get a large number of Labour Members, with, I understand, the support of [Home Secretary] Roy Jenkins, [to call for extra time]. In cabinet there was a lot of support for additional time. [...] All that bloody Wilson could do was to say how many seats in the North West the Labour government would put at risk. He wasn’t interested in women, he was interested in majorities. But there were enough members to overrule him. Peter Jackson (Labour, 1966–70)11 The Labour women sort of joined together about this issue of child tax allowances; they used to be family allowances. Family allowances were being transferred into child benefit. It was an issue of purse and pay packet, the purse was the mothers’, the pay packet was the fathers’, and the trade unions wanted the fathers to get the family allowances, and we, the Labour women, were fighting to keep it. I spoke in the

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debate, and I tried to get onto the committee. I would obviously be very critical. This is why I said I was naive. I didn’t know how the place worked. I wasn’t put on to the committee, because these committees were all knife-edge at that time. There was a majority after October but only a tiny one; you couldn’t afford rebellious backbenchers on bill committees. I got on my high horse about this and went to see Tam Dalyell, who was chair of the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party], and said, ‘They’re keeping me off because they don’t think that I’ll toe the line.’ He sort of looked at me and said, ‘Well, what would you do if you were on the committee?’ I said, ‘Well, I’d vote against it, of course.’ [Laughs] So he roared with laughter and sent me away saying that he didn’t think there was a great deal he could do for me. That’s how you begin to learn to be measured or keep your powder dry. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)12 The bill I am most proud of didn’t get adopted, but it was for no-fault compensation in the NHS. I worked really hard on that. Initially, when my name came up as number three [in the Speaker’s Private Members’ Bill ballot], I knew this was what I wanted to do because I’d had a few instances of people very dissatisfied with what had happened in the NHS. I felt it was as a result of the procedure when things had gone wrong. [...] The National Consumer Council got in touch with me, [...] and they said if you like we’ll give you someone full time to work on this with you. [...] [Their representative] Guy Dehn and I drafted it. He had got the sort of experience to draft a parliamentary bill, and I knew what I wanted to be in it and we worked really hard. We got a lot of coverage. [...] It didn’t become law, but I’m proud of it. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)13 I was raising the cause of school buses. [...] These dud buses, buses that were no longer fit for adult use were being used for school bus routes. [...] I was putting down parliamentary questions and everything. [...] Constantly the ministers told me in written answers or oral answers that the figures I was seeking [...] [were too] expensive to collect, so we’ve never had these figures. A year later a civil servant who had moved [position] came to see me, and said, ‘Of course, they know the answers. [...] If you just change two words [of your question] they won’t be able to withhold any longer.’ [...] I changed two words and lo and behold the answers [came through]. Emma Nicholson (Conservative/LD, 1987–97)14 In my final year in Parliament, thirteenth year, I came out number one [in the Private Members’ Bill ballot]. Extraordinary, I couldn’t believe it. I remember this day well. I couldn’t go to the draw. […] I was walking across London when Gemma, my researcher at the House of Commons, rang me and she sounded quite excited. She said, ‘You’ve come out number one!’ […] When I got back to the office, Gemma was jumping up and down; she was really quite excited. She said, ‘It’s a mad house here. […] We’ve had nearly 3,000 emails, the telephone hasn’t stopped ringing’ and then a few days later letters started to arrive. Because I’d come out number one this is what happens if you come out number one, every Tom, Dick and Harry in the land want me to take through legislation. I mean I’m a republican and the republicans wanted me to abolish the monarchy [laughs]. […] But I thought no, I’m going to be a bit more sensible than that. [...] I want to do something useful. Now I went down to Parliament to fight for

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housing, and I just happened to see that some of the housing charities and the Citizens Advice Bureau had been trying to contact me and they already had a draft bill, which was very convenient. Brian Iddon (Labour, 1997–2010)15 The other thing of course is that there was no PR. No company had PR people in those days who would spend their time trying to persuade Members of Parliament about the needs of their company or anything like that. There was an old boy, a commander [...] who was also a lawyer and had his offices just by Westminster Abbey there. When there was a Private Member’s Bill, he would help to suggest suitable subjects for a Private Member’s Bill, and you might get a note from him occasionally about some important issue that people were worried about. But, I mean, there was no lobbying of the sort that there is now. [...] I noticed an enormous change and that PR was really beginning to be of great importance [after returning to Westminster in 1984 having been secretary of state for Northern Ireland]. [...] Industry felt that it had to get its view across more, [...] the other thing was the whole sort of charity movement and not just those – charity used to just be associated with trying to raise money, but then charities became much more pressure groups than just raising money – and the pressure group side would be very active, at that time became very active in Parliament. A pressure group would not only operate directly with Parliament, would operate through the constituencies and the newspapers and getting people to write to Members of Parliament and so on. James Prior (Conservative, 1959–87)16 *** I discovered that children didn’t have any rights in court when I was whipping a home office bill [for the opposition]. So I decided that I wanted to do something about it. [...] Every home office bill that was introduced I’d introduce another amendment to it to improve the rights of children. [...] The whole thing, it took a long time, but with help, especially with Tories in the Lords, we managed to change the law to enable children to have real rights. [...] I’m quite proud of actually doing something. [...] There were a small group of us, backbenchers naturally, they had to be backbenchers [...] what I often did was give them the amendment, they would move the amendment, and I would get up and support the amendment from our side. That’s how it was done. Because the government, they’d listen to us as well, but it was easier for them to accept an amendment from their own side than it would be from the opposition. You had to give a lot, but in giving a lot you could achieve a lot as well. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)17 You’d be surprised at some of the Tories who are very, very decent people, just because they have a different opinion to you doesn’t make them any different as a person. You do work together, cross-party. We set up the breast cancer campaign, Marion Roe, myself and [unclear]. One from each party. We got two men who agreed to come on, one agreed to be a treasurer, he was Labour, and another was a Lib Dem, to be secretary. We were joint chairs, that worked very well. We worked with Breast Cancer Breakthrough and we got some laws changed. Alice Mahon (Labour, 1987–2005)18

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By chance, I was a keen sportsman and I injured my leg and it’d been in plaster for four or five weeks. [...] I then discovered and became quite alarmed at the horrors facing somebody even partially disabled. [...] When I got into Parliament [...] I went [to the All-Party Disability Group] and I found it absolutely fascinating that their agenda was the same agenda I cared about: access, and provision for disability. So I became a regular attender and I then became secretary, [in 1974] Jack Ashley was the chairman. [...] It became the strongest backbench lobby group that they’ve ever had; [...] we could frighten governments. I became known as a bit of a rebel, I became the Conservative backbench leader. [...] I became involved in nearly all the disability organizations, and still am. I helped battle through, for the next ten years we really pushed the boundaries. I had several Private Members’ Bills of my own. [...] It was then a major activity; 50 per cent of my parliamentary time was spent fighting on disability issues, right through to the very end when we got the Disability Discrimination Act through just before the 1997 election. John Hannam (Conservative, 1970–97)19 Through my casework and surgery I found a family whose water had been cut off because she couldn’t afford to pay the water bill. [On a building site] that wouldn’t have been allowed, how is it allowed in a kitchen, with children? I thought that’s something I really wanted to raise; I started putting down questions about that. Through that I met Elizabeth [Peacock], so fairly soon after being elected we formed this All-Party Parliamentary Water Group. [...] She felt the same, and so we said let’s work on that. That became a very popular group. All the privatized water companies used to attend it, and then they put money into it. We had massive meetings about disconnections, about metering. [...] I got used to being in the media a bit through that. We did a debate or something on water disconnections, had the backing of Frank Dobson from our front bench. Elizabeth didn’t mind that sort of thing; she didn’t mind upsetting her front bench. [...] It coincided with an outbreak of dysentery in council flats in Birmingham. It wasn’t me that made the connection but somebody did. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)20 *** There were things that were very important to me as an individual, so I stayed up very, very late to vote to end corporal punishment in public schools. There was a lot of buzz, but it wasn’t excitement, about tuition fees [...] and about cuts to single parent benefits – which was something I knew about as someone who had been a single parent, and I felt very strongly about. [...] There’s lots of big votes and big issues that I have an impression of in my mind. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)21 I went into Parliament to do one thing specifically: [...] I came in to break the solicitor’s monopoly of house conveyancing. I introduced two Private Member’s Bills on that, both of which failed, but subsequently I had a partial success. [...] The first one was called conveyancers’ homes for the people bill, and I had to introduce that in front of a full [Chamber of the] House. […] My legs were shaking a bit. […] Later on Austin Mitchell introduced a house-buyers’ [Private Member’s] bill. I whipped the bill for him and we succeeded. Kenneth Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)22

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I held a Ten Minute Rule Bill on the need for an autism act. Although that Ten Minute Rule Bill didn’t go very far, very shortly afterwards my very good friend Cheryl Gillan drew top in the ballot of Private Member’s Bills. She picked up my Ten Minute Rule Bill and turned it into the Autism Act [2007–8] and I was involved with Autism Act. So before I left Parliament, after years and years of trying to raise the profile of autism, we got the Autism Act onto the statue book. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992– 2010)23 Social legislation was often treated as a matter of conscience. During all my time, there was a gradual liberalization of what were late Victorian impediments on freedom of behaviour. [...] I’m talking about all the questions of homosexuality, the question of penal sanctions, flogging, capital punishment. [...] The interesting thing is between being severe or being lenient, is not, in my view, a steady state with any English voter. It varies, according to the issue and how it’s presented by the press. At one point they may be screaming, ‘Hang this man, this rapist.’ If they were going to hang him, then four months later there’s a great plea to save his life. [...] You’re trying to respond to your constituents, but how consistent are the constituents? How clear are you which is the right way to go? On these sort of issues you’d often get a big division between the so-called experts and the mass of the ordinary voter. David Price (Conservative, 1955–92)24 International development then, I have to say, became my passion. One of the reasons it became my passion was because then I realized that all the work I’d been doing in women’s health, in family planning in particular, and good obstetric care, making sure that women had control over their own bodies. […] It was a woman who should have control and have choice. So I was great pro-choice on abortion issues, family planning, emergency contraception […] and to get it de-medicalized. […] I realized that in international development this was the major issue. What we really had to fight for was women’s autonomy, women’s empowerment, [...] but you can’t be empowered unless you’ve got power over yourself. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)25 During this period gay rights – in particular ‘Section 28’, an amendment to the Local Government Act 1998 that forbade the promotion of homosexuality in schools – were very controversial in Parliament. One where I was very, very widely [...] misunderstood was Clause 28. That happened because I was chairman of the Child and Family Protection Group at the time. I had a whole lot of people from some of the really very hard-left areas of London. [...] They were literally, these schools, teaching little children as young as four and five how to do the homosexual act. That I thought was so wrong. I think it’s just as wrong to teach them the ‘normal’ act because little children are innocent and they’re far better left to learn these things when they’re more emotionally grown up. I was very upset. There were literally stick figures to show how this was done. [...] It was not against homosexuals as such. [...] It was all pictured as being hugely anti-gays, and it wasn’t, that wasn’t what it was about. I got into terrible trouble with that, I really did. I remember on an aeroplane going somewhere I asked a man if he would be very kind and help me, ‘What you

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bloody woman?’ [...] He flung some swear words at me about [Section] 28. So I jolly well said, ‘Do you understand what that was really about?’ Poor man, he got my case down in the end. Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–97)26 At the time I remember people being slightly puzzled by [the Section 28 amendment]. [...] We couldn’t see that what it was doing would prevent normal sort of teaching about gender and sexual behaviour and all the rest of it. [...] I remember the ministers being fairly relaxed about it, and I remember the opposition being fairly relaxed about it. They didn’t really spot that this meant more than it appeared to. I remember it going through and then all hell breaking loose from outside. [...] I’m not sure that it actually made that much difference [...] but it was a symbolic moment. It certainly taught me that one should check things out, what the implications are. [The male homosexual] age of consent, that was the big one, for which I voted for the lowering. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)27 [The Labour leader Neil Kinnock] was very personally supportive of my coming out, and by and large the spread of colleagues on the Labour benches were. Quite a few Tories were really supportive as well. During that period we were going through all the traumas over Section 28 as well. During one of the debates on Section 28 I remember Nicholas Winterton [MP for Macclesfield] was making a speech about it, and I stood up to intervene. As I sat down, he said, ‘The House has learned to listen to the Honourable Gentleman with respect when he talks about these matters.’ Then he went on to disagree with me, of course. But the fact that he felt he had to say that showed I think that we’d made a little bit of progress. [...] I was quite strongly involved in [the campaign against Section 28]. I spoke at quite a number of the rallies. [...] I was very close to some of the leading figures in the campaign. It was very much a coming of age of the political lesbian and gay rights movement. [...] There’d been quite a number of things [before that] that a number of us had raised in Parliament during that period, but none of them had taken off in terms of public campaigning in the way that Section 28 did. That really was a catalyst that got people really energized in the outside world. Then of course that went forward some years later to the campaign for equal age of consent and so on. Chris Smith (Labour, 1983–2005)28 Matters of economic policy could be both ideological and deeply personal when it came to privatization. I was the one who privatized British Telecom. I was the minister who did it. It was the first one, and we showed that if we did it, you could do gas, electricity and eventually railways. [...] Now there was hardly anything in the 1979 manifesto about this. [...] In 1981, David Young [adviser to Keith Joseph] and I went to see Keith Joseph, and we said, ‘Look, you could privatise the telecoms side [of the Post Office].’ [...] He liked the idea straight away, went to see Margaret [Thatcher] and that gave us the go ahead. [...] We set about then to privatize BT [British Telecom]. [...] We went ahead with it. It took three years to get it through because there was a general election in between, and it was the first of the big privatizations. [...] I used to go around to Europe and talk to their nationalized telecoms bodies [...] saying this was a good idea. I was treated as a lunatic. [...] I was amazed, but we showed how it could be done. [...] Eventually Europe followed

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the way. [...] That was really pioneering work by Margaret. It meant  that you were removing from government control and influence – the management – of a large part of the economy. Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)29 [During the 1984 miners’ strike] I didn’t get beat up by the police, but on the Bettws picket line the police were there on the road going up to the pit. I was sort of in the front, policemen [were] pushing, you know. I said, ‘Do you know who I am?’ ‘Yeah, we know who you are mate, you’re the effing MP.’ [They tried to stop me getting through.] I was assaulted technically. [...] I was on [another] picket line. I was up in the front, and they were taxi-ing in a couple of scabs. [...] These people behind started throwing stones onto the police, and bottles. Me and a couple of others at the front, I got hit on the head with a bottle [laughs]. It was a very tense situation. Then of course [Arthur] Scargill [leader of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)] was invited down by the South Wales NUM, he was to speak in the Rhondda. I refused to go on a platform with him. Some people didn’t like that, but, as far as my party was concerned they knew my views. I said, ‘I think this man was going to kill the mining industry. He’s just left the government with no way out, and they don’t want a way out to start with! They want to kill you off, and he’s letting them.’ So I refused to go on the platform. Allan Rogers (Labour, 1983–2001)30 Constitutional affairs, such as Scottish and Welsh devolution, were deeply ideological and divisive. I remember canvassing [in the February 1974 election] in a small village. [...] A woman came to the door and she said to me, [...] ‘We’re having a look at that SNP.’ I said, ‘Fine, Why?’ ‘We’re not happy with the way things are. We’ll vote for you at the end of the day, but we’re just having this discussion.’ I went up the row and two or three folk said the same thing. I phoned Willie Ross, who was the [Labour] leader in Scotland, [...] I said, ‘I think there’s a problem with this SNP.’ He said, ‘Ach, your seat’s safe.’ I said, ‘It’s nothing to do with my seat, I know my seat’s safe, I’ve picked this up.’ ‘Nonsense, nonsense’. It wasnae nonsense, the SNP were going to do well. [...] The alarm bells began to ring in me. [An internal party] briefing said that we were in for a hammering, and our job was to try and hold as many Labour seats as we possibly could. [...] Of course things changed [and Wilson did better than expected.] I was arguing with people inside the party: ‘OK I’ve been the hammer of the nationalists, but I’m telling you if we don’t go along towards devolution then we’ve got nothing to say to the Scottish people to answer [the SNP] we’re in trouble.’ So I took the leading part on the devolution situation. Jim Sillars (Labour/SNP, March 1970–9; 1988–92)31 In 1978–9, on every clause and subclause of the Scotland bill, I would ask how it could be that I could vote on education in Accrington but not in Armadale, in my own constituency. How I could vote on local government in Blackburn, Lancashire, but not in Blackburn, West Lothian. […] I intoned this ever more pompously. John Smith, who was trying to take the bill through, exploded from the front bench: ‘Tam, it bloody well can be asked too often.’ Whereupon Enoch Powell rose and said: ‘We have finally grasped what the Honourable Gentleman is on about,’ but, of course, he had grasped it a long time before. […] ‘In order to save time,’ which was the last thing that Enoch

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Powell wanted to do because we had been chuntering on for forty-seven days, […] he said: ‘We will call it, for short, the soubriquet of the West Lothian question.’ So I am a man of some vanity, but not of sufficient vanity to call a constitutional conundrum after myself or my constituency. Tam Dalyell (Labour, 1962–2005)32 The [1979 Scottish devolution] referendum was a nightmare. [...] The ‘Yes’ side was split all over the place. Labour were actually opposed to it; the SNP were ambivalent. […] It was the time of the Winter of Discontent, we had all these strikes. I remember one night getting back, I’d been in Lanark for a meeting, left the meeting, got to my car, drove out of Lanark had to stop and vomit in the snow. It looked worse than it was because I was vomiting blood. [...] I had to do a debate [like this], I think with Teddy Taylor. [...] I used what money I had to fund the first leaflet for the ‘Yes’ campaign, hoping that we would be able to sell them, which we didn’t. [...] I tell you when I knew we weren’t winning. I was at the gates of Govan shipyard with George Cunningham [MP for Islington South and Finsbury]. […] He actually said to [the workers], ‘If you vote Yes we will stop you building warships.’ As brutal as that. I thought these men will react; he’ll be lucky to get away from here. Instead of reacting, the way I thought they would, they put their heads down and their feet were shuffled. I thought: fear – total paralysis of fear. The ‘No’ side ran a fear campaign. One time they put people on the Kings Cross to Edinburgh East Coast [train]line and when they passed Berwick they put on uniforms and went round about demanding everybody’s passport, because this is how it’s gonna be if we voted for devolution. This is for an assembly with no power. So I knew we weren’t gonna do it, but by then I was really quite ill, because I had this bad, bad ulcer, my health had really gone. I was under constant attack from the Labour Party. This constituency, which I was trying to hold, every day was murder in it. Going around the country it was a dreadful, dreadful time, nightmare of my life. But, I emerged from it, one of the hardest men in British politics. When I emerged from it I got to the point, and politicians should get to this point as fast as they can: I don’t care of what anybody says about me. At all. Jim Sillars (Labour/SNP, March 1970–9; 1988–92)33 We [the Labour Party] didn’t spend several years of work creating the Scottish Parliament just because we were afraid of the nationalists. It was because we genuinely thought that was the right thing to do. I came to it because I realized that even when Labour was in government, Scottish local authorities, all that distance away from Whitehall, didn’t get the attention that they deserved. I thought devolving brings people closer where people are, so I was strongly in favour of creating a devolved parliament. [...] We spent five years or so in the Scottish constitutional convention, planning together with the unions and the churches and businesses, you name it, various bodies in Scotland came together to create the Scottish Parliament. Maria Fyfe (Labour, 1987–2001)34 *** In March 1979 the Labour government, led by James Callaghan, faced a no confidence vote following the result of the referendum on Scottish devolution. With no majority Callaghan would have to rely on the votes of minority parties to win the vote.

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The rule was if somebody was [ill] on the premises they could vote. [...] This led to this ambulance business, when an ambulance would come into New Palace Yard with a sick Member in it, two whips, one from each side would go down and check [...] and then they would be nodded through. [...] It was eventually crucial in 1979 in the confidence vote. The question was whether Sir Alfred Broughton [MP for Batley and Morley] should be brought down [...] when he was very ill. The story goes [...] that the deputy chief whips [...] got involved. Walter [Harrison, Labour] said, ‘I can’t bring him down, he’s very ill, [...] I’m told by the doctors that it would kill him probably.’ [...] Jack [Weatherill, Conservative] is supposed to have said to Walter; ‘I’ll stand out of the lobby, I will pair with him.’ [...] Walter said to Jack, ‘I can’t allow you to do that, there would be too much fuss. [...] We’ll take the risk.’ [...] Of course the government lost by one. Apparently Margaret Thatcher got to hear that Jack had made that offer and therefore didn’t give him a post when she formed her government. John Cope (Conservative, February 1974–97)35 You know the work behind the scenes that had gone on to try and get that vote for [Callaghan] that night. We were in Downing Street going round the table having done the analysis of the votes. I remember the Yorkshire MP talking about Doc [Alfred] Broughton who had been ill the whole of Parliament; we hadn’t seen him other than on a stretcher. [...] Terrible situation. The Yorkshire whip said, ‘[He] knows, Jim, that you need his vote and he wants to come down to save the government. His consultant says it’s entirely up to him, but he’s so ill it could possibly kill him.’ [...] Jim actually went and spoke to the consultant. [...] He said to the consultant, ‘Please pass on my kind regards to Doc Broughton, thank him for his loyalty, but tell him it won’t be necessary.’ That was a tremendous decision to take for a prime minister facing defeat. [...] I don’t think the chief whip at the time should have given the prime minister that responsibility. Whips: that’s what our job is. Frank White (Labour, October 1974–83)36 The 1970s had been a dreadful part of our history, the domination by the trade unions and the collapse of really anything that made any sense. The vote itself, by one vote the government were defeated. I watched Jim Callaghan’s face – I hadn’t realized I was on my feet cheering. Because instinctively something one realizes: this was one of those moments in history, when direction was changing. Callaghan’s face, you could see, he acknowledged it was the end of the road, a new era was beginning. It was exciting to win that election. I wasn’t a natural Thatcherite but I admired her leadership; she had great qualities as a leader. Richard Luce (Conservative, 1971–92)37 The only thing I’m ever proud of having said on television: some Anglia TV reporter thrust a microphone under my face when the [1979 election] result had been announced and said: ‘Well, you must at least be pleased that we’ve got a woman prime minister.’ I said, ‘She’s not a woman, she’s a Tory.’ [Laughs] Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)38 After ten years in power, Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher faced growing opposition within her own party, thanks to the introduction of an unpopular ‘Poll Tax’ to replace local government rates and her position on European integration. Following

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the resignation of Cabinet Minister Geoffrey Howe in October 1990 she faced her second leadership challenge. I was a whole-hearted supporter of [Margaret Thatcher], and I was absolutely horrified that after her fantastic record for the country, let alone the party, she’d been treated by her party in the way she was. The disloyalty of her cabinet colleagues and others. [...] I could see that her support was ebbing away, for all sorts of reasons. [...] I remember clearly going up to Peter Morrison, who was her PPS, and saying, ‘Peter, I think you’ve got a serious problem here, the prime minister is in danger of losing this leadership contest.’ He smiled at me and patted his top pocket. He said, ‘Don’t worry, Charles, the votes are all in here.’ [...] I wasn’t happy in the House anyway, and then to see the way Mrs Thatcher was treated, it was appalling. It was disillusioning. I genuinely felt in mourning for a long time thereafter. Charles Goodson-Wickes (Conservative, 1987–97)39 The chat in the tea room got very, it was probably very guarded, because you never knew what was going to get back. I remember the football spectators bill, the reason David Waddington phoned me on a Sunday was he’d heard of something that I’d said in the tea room and some nark went back and told him or told a whip who told him. In fact the Thatcher campaign which was really very badly run by the late Peter Morrison [parliamentary private secretary to Thatcher] was based upon what people did say in the tea room. John Marshall (Conservative, 1987–97)40 The very memorable time I think for so many of us was the demise of Mrs Thatcher. There was such an atmosphere going on, in the opposition we were just standing back and looking astonished at what was going on. I always remember in the corridor leading to the Chamber a journalist rushed by me, rather wild-eyed, and he stopped and looked at me and then said, ‘Oh, no, you’re Labour’ and rushed on again. There was such a frantic atmosphere trying to find out what was going on as this putsch was developing. Joyce Quin (Labour, 1987–2005)41 The one [speech] that really stuck in my mind is the last speech Margaret Thatcher made as prime minister. That really does stick in my mind. It was a very emotional moment for everybody on the government side. We were all, I think, feeling that we were going through a loss. [...] I still think that there were people, even if they disagreed with her on many things, [...] people realized that she was a one-off in her own right. Not only being the first woman prime minister but her achievements, the real changes that she’d made. [...] I was pretty emotional myself actually. I was sitting right behind her. I always sat behind her even though I wasn’t her PPS, but I think they wanted to show that there were one or two women, otherwise it was just ranks of men. Of course you’d got television, [...] I was quite famous for my knees [laughs] behind Margaret. For her it was a sort of devastating experience, but she was still coming out punching. [...] It wasn’t a woman who had been deflated by events, [...] she was still there being a tough lady. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)42 On 12 May 1994 the Labour leader John Smith suffered a fatal heart attack. A popular leader of his party, his death led to Tony Blair becoming Labour leader and introducing his ‘New Labour’ programme.

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I got to know about ten to eight in the morning that John [Smith] had had a very serious heart attack. So I went speeding into my [London] office; it was a working day. [...] When John died I was in the flat. I got a telephone call from the general secretary of the party and went straight to Parliament and took control, there, because it became clear that the Smith family [...] didn’t want [the death] communicated until they could get in touch with one of their daughters who was in America. So I stayed within my office and told all the rest of the whips what the message was: that John had had a serious heart attack but there was no news. [...] We did manage to keep it [secret] for about two hours. I had to convene a meeting with Margaret [Beckett] and the general secretary during this period. I had to get from the general secretary the constitutional position and that Margaret was the leader. We had to convene a special meeting of the shadow cabinet. So all this was being done whilst the consequences of John’s death were being absorbed by the wider world and the media and our own Members after we made it public. We were extremely busy and I said to Margaret, ‘Look, I’ll run the party. You devote yourself entirely to what you are going to say about John at two thirty.’ Because this is what we had to negotiate with the Speaker and the government chief whip, that we cancelled business for the day, that there would be nothing but tributes to John. [...] Believe me, the shadow cabinet were already sort of in electioneering mode, to pick the new leader, but we were in the middle of European elections. So I managed to get to general secretary to agree that there’d be no leadership campaign until the European election was complete. Then we had to get the shadow cabinet to agree to that. So all of these internal bits of organization, I mean I didn’t surface until about eight o’clock at night, from all of these events that had to be organized. [...] In a sense, it was one of the most moving experiences of my life. He was greatly loved, because John had a rapport with every member of the parliamentary party and wanted to. He was a gregarious man and he liked to be with people. Derek Foster (Labour, 1979–2005)43 [On the morning of John Smith’s death] when we got [to his flat] it was very clear that there was a problem. His press secretary had been called, the ambulance hadn’t arrived. So the driver went in to try and resuscitate John, because they’re all trained, so I was with [his wife] Elizabeth. So it was pretty grim. [...] The ambulance arrived and took him to hospital. Elizabeth and I followed on and waited in the hospital. [...] Then I had to come back [to the House] and we had all the tributes. You always just expected he would get better. It was the night after we’d had a party fundraiser. So he’d been up late, he’d not had that much to drink because he was speaking, he was doing the tables. [...] [At an event the previous week] he actually had not been very well, and when he went home, he went to hospital, they gave him a check and they didn’t find anything else. I think there had been signs. It was a big shock for the Labour Party. The Labour Party had to make its mind up about what it was going to do. [...] It was absolutely going to be between Tony [Blair] and Gordon [Brown]. Indeed when I was John’s parliamentary private secretary [...] if they didn’t turn up to a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting John would send me across to see them and say, ‘One of you two is going to be his successor, and he says you’ve got to learn to turn up to these things and do the business.’ They’d say, ‘Just ask him how many times he went before he was leader’ [laughs]. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)44

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It has never ceased to baffle me why the Conservatives tear themselves apart over Europe, whereas the other parties don’t appear to do so. [...] There was no trouble about [the Maastricht Treaty] before the [1992] election. There were various people who expressed opposition in Parliament but there was no great trouble. [...] Possibly because of the narrowness of the majority. Possibly because of the trouble over the exchange rate mechanism, the interest rates and the pound – that during the summer and the autumn of 1992 and then onwards became matters of great controversy, and it never stopped. [...] I thought that we had to implement [the treaty] legislation, and I felt very annoyed that a small number of people were keeping us up through the night. We knew that when that legislation was down for debate in the Commons [...] it was quite likely to be an all-night sitting. David Nicholson (Conservative, 1987–97)1

Foreign affairs and matters of war and peace were an overriding interest to a significant minority of interviewees. For this reason we have chosen to group international affairs, the Troubles and Britain’s relationship with Europe together in this chapter. For MPs less inspired by them there were still a few occasions – like the 1992 Maastricht Treaty debates or the 2003 Iraq War – where these issues took over the Commons and had an enormous impact on the domestic political agenda. MPs did not always have the influence they might have wanted on foreign affairs, but many worked hard to make their voices heard, especially when it came to matters of life and death. International events were some of the issues that inspired interviewees to get involved in politics: either to take an interest or more often as the spur to be actively involved (see Chapters 1–3). For many it was one of the most prestigious or ‘heavyweight’ of interests. Seen as a ‘male preserve’,2 women often found their voices ignored (see also Chapter 8). Getting involved in foreign policy would be a matter of speaking at particular debates, joining the right parliamentary groups and trying to get on related committees. Those who did pursue government careers in this area remember a very rewarding but difficult job – one where the unexpected could come and trip you up. The UK was, for most of this period, involved in its own long-term security crisis in Northern Ireland: the Troubles. This collection includes just one MP from Northern

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Ireland – Robin Chichester-Clark, a moderate Unionist – but many other MPs from mainland Britain took an interest and played an active role in the province.3 ChichesterClark, brother to James, prime minister of Northern Ireland 1969–71, complained that Ulster Unionists had a lack of interest in wider UK politics. In turn, he felt there was a lack of understanding of Northern Irish politics from mainland Britain ‘as long as things stayed quiet’.4 For those who were involved as ministers it did not stay quiet, and security requirements had a major impact on their lives both on mainland Britain and in Northern Ireland. John Wakeham told us of the tragic loss of his wife in the Brighton bombing of 1984 and of the kindness of his colleagues afterwards.5 His fellow-whip John Cope described his lucky escape having decided not to stay in Brighton at the last minute.6 Britain’s relationship with the continent became, over our period, the major foreign policy issue. Many in the archive were passionately for or against UK membership of the EEC or the later European Union (EU), although many others were frustrated at the deep divisions, and late nights, the issue caused. The interviews constantly remind us that the Brexit debates are just another series of arguments over Britain’s place in Europe, which have constantly caused deep rifts within both major political parties. The interviewees focused on two periods. First entry in the 1970s: MPs remembered conflicts of conscience over rebellion or resignation, and cooperation across party lines as anti-Europe Conservative rebels worked with Labour colleagues and pro-Europe Labour MPs kept in close touch with Conservative whips. Labour Members also faced constituency party discontent. Second, during the debates over the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 similar rifts appeared. The extracts here reflect the passion and the organization of the Conservative rebels; a period of late nights and long filibustering that led to real frustration for those who cared less. Of the Conservative nine who lost the whip over Maastricht in our archive they largely have cheerful reflections, remembering support from activists or joy that the whips now had to beg for their votes. Reminiscences of the Suez Crisis, the Falklands War and both Iraq Wars are also of a deeply divided Commons. During the Falklands conflict, Frank White remembers his constituents phoning him up the night before to advise against supporting the war.7 During the First Gulf War, Maria Fyfe, who opposed the conflict, complained about ‘gung-ho’ Conservatives ‘whooping and shouting’ at TV news reports ‘like it was a Saturday matinee. It was awful.’8 The most controversial foreign policy issue of recent years was the decision to support US military action in Iraq in 2003, an event which had far-reaching international and domestic political consequences. For MPs in the Commons at the time it was clear that the vote created intensely difficult choices, although it is hard to believe that MPs do not benefit from hindsight. Labour Party opposition to the vote was strong and those who opposed it were proud to have done so, whereas Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong defended Tony Blair’s position.9 This was not an issue confined to Labour however. This was perhaps the most obvious example of how, when asked, MPs used the power they did have to influence world events. ***

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The Troubles In the 1970s the divided communities of Northern Ireland – Protestants loyal to the British government and Catholics in favour of joining the Republic of Ireland – exploded into violence. In 1972, Northern Ireland came under direct control from Westminster, with violence continuing until the peace process of the 1990s led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. What was wrong over there, why things didn’t change more quickly is partly, I think, due to the fact that the set-up, I mean [in the UK] you see the Labour headquarters, you see the Conservative headquarters, you see the research departments you know about them all, there was no equivalent over there. All you had was a place called Glengall Street. This was the headquarters of the Unionist Party and it was manned by people of different and indifferent administrative abilities sometimes. They did nothing. […] They weren’t all bad people but they talked about one thing which was making sure that no one lost an election which, as far as they were concerned, could be conducted on the partition issue. [...] [Northern Irish MPs] got lazier and lazier and they tended to leave it to the civil service. There were some very good civil servants over there who had some quite good advisers but you couldn’t expect them to do everything. If they did, they were sometimes ignored because of what the local politicians thought was the urgency of keeping the border. Robin Chichester-Clark (Ulster Unionist, 1955– February 1974)10 At Christmas time I’d be down in the Strangers’ bar [...] and there’d be Unionists and Catholics there from Northern Ireland. [...] They’d be singing songs to each other – and we’d all sing songs. It was just such a wonderful atmosphere to be in. John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)11 I had always been prepared to work with whatever party seemed to be supportive of the continuation of partition [...] although democratically it had its problems. [...] It seemed that the Conservative Party was the most likely although, my goodness, they knew little enough about Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland got a hell of a lot of money out of Britain but they knew very little about it. As long as it remained quiet, they didn’t want to do anything very much more. […] [I remember at a lunch party] [Sir Samuel] Knox Cunningham, before he became a parliamentary private secretary to [Harold] Macmillan, turning to Macmillan and saying: ‘Oh, prime minister, what more can you do to help us with the problems we’ve got with these wretched IRA [Irish Republican Army] people setting fire to barracks, one incident after another, what can you do about it?’ ‘Well,’ said Macmillan [paraphrasing]: ‘I’ll go into that again but these bombs and so on in your constituencies are good for loyalty, aren’t they? Getting loyalty votes it makes them more Brits than ever than if a bomb is going off with the IRA over the border.’ […] It makes them sound more callous than they were, telling that story but it was always, you know, in one’s mind that this alliance wasn’t necessarily forever. Robin Chichester-Clark (Ulster Unionist, 1955–February 1974)12 ***

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[When the Troubles started in the 1970s] I had to have people sitting in a boiler house just in our yard behind the house at night and that was a real bore. [...] The worst thing really was, they threatened my children, the three children of my first marriage who were at school [in England]. They threatened to kidnap them, so I was told, so they had to be watched at school. So that went on, but this was happening to everybody. […] They were going to kidnap me too [laughs]. […] All I had in the house was two dogs, one of whom was extremely deaf and the other one rather timid. I took both out from my bedroom and locked the door. Put a shotgun across the bottom of the bed [laughs] but the next day in the morning I went out, I planted some roses someone had given me and dug away in the garden, and it never occurred to me that they could shoot you over the hedge quite quickly [laughs]. But you suddenly forget about it, it’s very odd that you do and then you wake up one evening completely terrified. Robin ChichesterClark (Ulster Unionist, 1955–February 1974)13 I was in the Chamber, [in 1970, when a member of the public] threw a CS canister into the House [in protest over the use of the gas in Northern Ireland]. It burnt, for ages it was still there – a hole in the carpet just at the end of the table where the mace was. That was when [security] had to change. The house was full. Michael Foot was on the front bench. If that had been a hand grenade, I think almost thirty, forty MPs would have been killed. That was the saddest occasion. [...] I saw the thing coming. I remember throwing myself down on the bench, flat on it, because [the House] wasn’t full, and then there was a bit of an explosion as the thing went off, not a bang but a noise. By the time I looked up I thought Michael Foot wasn’t going to survive because he was asthmatic. [...] His lungs were full of the acrid smoke; the whole place was awful. David Clark (Labour, 1970–February 1974; 1979–2001)14 [The Brighton bomb] was a terrible experience because I had an eight-year-old and a seven-year-old sons and my wife was killed. It was just absolutely awful. Alison, who I’ve now been married to for over thirty years, was working for me. [...] She moved down to Brighton. [...] Only twice when I was there she didn’t bring papers into me in the morning and not leave until I was asleep at night. [...] There was an attitude in the whips’ office: the chief has fallen. Every day one of the whips would come down [...] to see if they could help. [...] I think I mellowed a bit during that time. I think I was less aggressive, less pushy [...] I understood people much more than I did before. [...] I found out that I’d fallen from the fourth floor to the ground floor of the hotel. I was surrounded by the rubble. The only reason I’m alive is that there was a girder that stopped me being crushed by the way it fell, and the springs of a bed which gave me a bit of air to breathe. I was seven hours under the rubble before they got me out – seven hours is a long time. [...] All these things do have an effect on you [voice breaks]. It was awful. I’d like to think I’m a better man for it. […] I was very keen to come back as soon as I can, and I came back in about four months I suppose. It was a pretty emotional occasion because the whole House rose as I staggered in on my crutches to take my seat in the middle of Question Time. John Wakeham (Conservative, February 1974–92)15 I went to the party conference [of 1984]. [My wife] was still in hospital. I checked out of the Grand Hotel on Thursday night after dinner and drove home to Gloucestershire. [...]

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A few hours after I left they blew the hotel up and I was at home. [...] It was extremely difficult to find out anything. [...] I went back off down to Brighton. [...] I went to see John Wakeham who was some hours in the rubble, and was in a terrible state in intensive care, [...] his wife having died next to him in the rubble overnight. One of the first things I had to do was go to the mortuary and identify Roberta Wakeham’s body. [...] I went to see John in intensive care. He opened his eyes just enough to realize I was there, opened his eyes to say, ‘You’re in charge’ and went back to sleep again. John Cope (Conservative, February 1974–97)16 We always travelled in armour-plated cars. There was one occasion when I was travelling with Merlyn Rees [secretary of state for Northern Ireland]. We had gone by helicopter to Strabane [County Tyrone]. […] We landed in a field and then were driven in a convoy from this field down into the centre of the town. […] We had two army vehicles in front of us and two behind. As we went down this hill there was a slow moving hay truck coming up the other side. We all immediately [laughs] saw this as a possible threat. Hidden in the hay, we didn’t know who was there. So we were immediately pushed down to the bottom of the cars. When eventually I did have a peek out, this hay truck was surrounded by armed soldiers on all sides. […] Of course it was all perfectly innocent, but it looked as though it could have been a rather classic ambush incident. Edmund Marshall (Labour, 1971–83)17 [In 1989 Margaret Thatcher] said, ‘I want you to go to Northern Ireland as the security minister.’ So I said, ‘Prime minister, that’s one I shall have to ask my wife about.’ She said, ‘Fair enough, ring me back in ten minutes [laughs].’ [...] I arrived [in Belfast the following day]. Driving in there’s some smoke coming up. [...] About twenty-four hours [later] I was standing in a pile of rubble explaining to the television how we were very sorry that the IRA had just blown the front off the Royal Courts of Justice and we would do our best to avoid them doing it in the future [laughs]. That was my introduction to Northern Ireland. John Cope (Conservative, February 1974–97)18

Europe The UK was not part of the EEC when it was founded in 1957. The British government was prevented from joining the community in the 1960s due to French opposition and did so under Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath in 1973. This was confirmed by a referendum held under Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. In 1992 the Maastricht Treaty led to greater integration and the foundation of the EU. Conservative Prime Minister John Major faced a determined rebellion from his own backbenches, as well as Labour and Liberal opposition to ratifying the treaty. I was always pro-European [...] but if you think back to the late ’80s and early ’90s you’ve got a new situation where the Tory Party is quarrelling over Europe, split over Europe, [...] John Major finding it difficult to handle it. I have allies in the Tory Party like Kenneth Clarke. My own party is a bit split on the issue. I know that the new generation, [Tony] Blair, [Gordon] Brown and [Peter] Mandelson, I know that they are

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pro-European instinctively but they’re not going to risk much on it, either electorally, because they know it’s a fifty-fifty issue, but also because it splits the Labour Party. [...] I should say that I always had very good connections on the continent and in the period where we almost broke with the continent, when Michael Foot was leader, I was Denis Healey’s sort of ‘man’ on the continent going to meet people and so on, so I was always very interested. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)19 Post-war, it took [the UK] a long time to come to terms with the fact that we weren’t one of the great powers. [...] The younger generation had to deal with the aftermath of the [Second World War] and realized we were very close to being bankrupt. Then the decisive moment I think it was the withdrawal from east of Suez, that was when it was obvious that Britain didn’t have a world reach any more. […] I felt that the United Kingdom simply had to come to terms with its situation as a European power, and the European Union was the organization by which we did that. I’d served as the Financial Times correspondent in Brussels that was the point that I decided the task of my generation was to commit Britain to Europe, and reconcile Britain to Europe, so I felt very ill at ease with this sort of persistence of Euroscepticism. [...] Of course, traditionally, we sort of would like to unify the United Kingdom and divide Europe. But what was changing in the light of a world in which you had a Cold War with two superpowers […] [what] I wanted us to realize [...] first of all, quite a lot of the continent wanted us to be committed, but secondly we were winning the argument. This is what I found the most frustrating thing of all [during the Brexit debates]: Europe has been shaped in the way Britain likes it. The famous single market, which is apparently such a poisonous thing, […] was created by [Margaret Thatcher]. […] ‘Managing the party’ for me kept meaning trying to keep the, anti-European, Eurosceptic right wing happy, and that was not my sort of party. My party was a liberal party on economic matters […] but on Europe I just wanted Britain to stick. David Curry (Conservative, 1987– 2010)20 *** [My] resignation [from the shadow cabinet] in ’72 was predominantly because we had gone along, and I had collectively agreed it with my colleagues too, that it was the responsibility of Ted Heath to get through the legislation for the European Community, therefore once we voted for the principle of entry were no longer responsible for the legislation. This was humbug. We went along with it to ease the traumas within the Labour Party. [...] But the truth was that that legislation only went through because there was a small group of people, of which I was not a member, who met and hobnobbed with the Conservative whips and when they needed eight people to abstain, eight people did abstain. They were older Labour MPs by and large who were taking the flak and getting the legislation through for us. That was not a very attractive way of starting the morning, cleaning your teeth and the radio would announce that the division was won by six votes and you knew that you had basically been screened by these others, who were largely people who were not going to stand again but they were taking a lot of flak in their constituency and you were just going through lobbies entirely against what you believed in, so that was the atmosphere. David Owen (Labour/SDP, 1966–92)21

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I had been put on the front bench and I was the only one who hadn’t served as a minister who actually resigned over the European issue. I felt so strongly about it that I just couldn’t stomach what had happened. [...] [Harold Wilson] had actually gone around trying to persuade the French, particularly, to admit us and in 1970 he changed direction because Edward Heath came in and took it up and so on. It was a partypolitical move. Robert Maclennan (Labour/SDP/LD, 1966–2001)22 There was a tremendous debate [between 1970 and 1974] about Europe. Again I was very prominent in that, in the debating of that, because I had legal knowledge and training. I remember a lot of all-night sittings and I would be encouraged to stand and talk and talk and talk to keep the [debate] rolling on. At that time I was against going into Europe and therefore I was closely associated with some of the Conservative people who were against going into Europe, a little separate lobby, if you like, of anti-European people. My main reason was [...] that Edward Heath tried to steamroller everybody into joining Europe. The Tory establishment set up an extremely undemocratic system for dealing with it. As an ordinary MP, in opposition, I was very used to proposing amendments to legislation that was opposed by one group or another or another group of the Labour Party and I was quite active in doing that. When it came to the European Union, nothing was allowed: there were no amendments, they were all steamrollered away, and it was very, very undemocratic. So I was absolutely furiously anti-European at that stage. Of course, later things have changed. Ronald Murray (Labour, 1970–9)23 It was an unofficial group and that was to oppose our entry into the Common Market. We had a cross-party group which used to meet to plan the opposition to the bill. I wasn’t really experienced enough or clever enough to get to the real core of the arguments, but I was a member of this committee. [...] [It] included people like Enoch Powell, Richard Body [...] Nigel Spearing was the secretary of it and Peter Shore was the chairman. [...] There were very clever people in it. It took a hell of a long time – there were points of order here, points of order there, long speeches. David Stoddart (Labour, 1970–83)24 *** On the entry [into the Common Market], which was in ’72, and the time leading up to it, [my local party] didn’t pay much attention at all. We had debates within the party. I had a lot of central Europeans, interestingly enough, in my party. [...] They were all bitterly opposed to going in. Mainly because of their wartime experiences, fascism and Nazism and the concentration camps which they’d managed to escape from, so they didn’t want to go back into a continental system that was bossed by the Germans and the French. Raymond Carter (Labour, 1970–9)25 Then came the [1973] vote over the Common Market. [...] [Harold] Wilson by then turned right round and said, ‘We oppose entry,’ swallowing every word he’d previously uttered in favour of joining. The question was what would the pro-European Labour MPs do? Led by Roy Jenkins we all said, ‘No, we are not going to change our minds.’ My local party was absolutely clear about it and they said: ‘If you vote for entry against the

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three-line whip we will withdraw support.’ So I did, and they did. A big battle ensued; in fact it became a national battle, because there was a Granada World in Action programme which televised a debate in which I confronted the leader of my local party, Leo Beckett, and some of his followers. In which they said, ‘Didn’t we support you? Weren’t we on the doorstep with you?’ and I said, ‘Yes, you were and of course I take note of your opinions but I am not a puppet. I don’t vote as I am instructed by my puppet masters and I am going to vote for entry.’ [...] [By then] I’d made up my mind I was going to stand as an independent, because I couldn’t live with them anymore. Dick Taverne (Labour/SDP, 1962–72; 1973–September 1974)26 In 1975, I voted in favour of going in [to the EEC] and my constituency followed and voted in favour but they weren’t very keen on Europeans but they thought that in the long run it would be to the benefit of the British. I can remember an old man saying, ‘I don’t like it, of course, but I’m voting for my grandchildren.’ Unfortunately, that very sensible thought has weakened over the period because of the lack of leadership by the politicians. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)27 *** [John Major] actually felt that he’d secured the most incredibly impressive victory in Maastricht. We had a dinner with him that evening. [...] He was absolutely over the moon, exhausted but over the moon. He said, ‘I’ve done it, I’ve got all these opt-outs.’ Of course the Maastricht rebels weren’t interested in that. So he was batting on a very sticky wicket. John Hannam (Conservative, 1970–97)28 [John Major] was looking for a fix over the issue of the [Euro] currency. He didn’t want to be in it, but at the same time he didn’t want to say no to it. He wanted a sort of half-way house; we want an opt-out. [...] I said, ‘I don’t believe it, because once you’ve got that door open and you’ll never be able to keep a foot in it because there are always going to be pressures on you to join it.’ So a number of us formed the view that there was really a need to make a stand on this. Something called the Fresh Start Group was founded, [...] that brought together like-minded people. There were about seventy of them attended those meetings when John came back from Maastricht. [...] We met and we decided what we were going to do, knowing full well that that seventy wouldn’t hold together because they would be picked off. Indeed there was a mole in that meeting, I well remember, I know his name, I won’t say what it is. There was a mole in that meeting who went back to the chief whip and gave him a verbatim notification of what went on then and what sort of rebellion he was going to face. This was important, this was a big rebellion and that individual was made a parliamentary undersecretary of state there soon thereafter: so he was paid. James Cran (Conservative, 1987–2005)29 We decided to set up, for this bill [implementing the Maastricht Treaty] only, a proper way to oppose. […] We appointed whips to whip people, to speak, to keep the debate going. […] Between us it was formidable. Once you’d learned about how to oppose and use the ways in which you could oppose, the customs of the place, we could oppose. [...] We were as entitled to learn from the clerks as the government. […] We set up [our]

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whips’ office on those two green seats immediately outside the government whips’ office. This caused enormous problems because we could see all the Members coming in and out and every time we saw one of ours we said: ‘Oh, we shall need you to be speaking from nine o’clock to ten o’clock please.’ [Richard] Body and others were quite capable of speaking for one hour, two hours, three hours, without any break – ever – or preparation. Although they did make good speeches, they didn’t want the Speaker to rule them out of order. But that kept it going for twenty-six, twenty-seven nights, and I don’t think there has ever been a time like it for many years in the House of Commons. It showed that a self-governing nation can have a Parliament which works and where there are opposing points of view, it’s going to be debated. My God it was. […] [The whips] must have been extremely irritated. There were times they had information that we didn’t. We always relied, for instance, on the Ulster Unionists. Well, it was very unfortunate one night the Ulster Unionists couldn’t get there because of the fog at the Belfast airport. So suddenly they made a great dash for growth and kept going all night. Then if they kept going all night we would say, ‘All right then, we’ll speak until half past two the following afternoon and then you are losing tomorrow’s business.’ And that’s what happened. That is how bitter it became. […] It sounds exciting, actually it was terrible. Roger Knapman (Conservative, 1987–97)30 Poor John Major used the word ‘bastards’ [to describe the Maastricht rebels], he didn’t really mean it. [...] There were nine whip-less, one came back almost immediately, so there were eight of us became whip-less. That was great fun, I enjoyed that, it was good, of course one thing I didn’t have to be was always voting, ‘Oh, Dick, thank you for voting for tonight, it’s very good of you.’ My relations with the whips was very good after that, they were constantly trying to get me back. Chief whip took me out to lunch [...] tried to get me back and then, oh yes, the fishing minister was told to approach me, he asked me for a meeting, I thought, I’ll be a bit high-handed, I won’t go down to the ministry to see him, he can come and see me. So I said come and have a drink at the Athenaeum [club]. So he came round to the Athenaeum and tried to do what he could. All senior colleagues said, ‘Oh, Dick, you ought to come back, you’ve made your protest,’ but I did hold off because I was rather enjoying it. I was enjoying the freedom. Richard Body (Conservative, 1955–9; 1966–97)31 It’s quite funny when you go to party conferences – people get to know you if you’re a rebel. [...] You’ll find that an awful lot of people come and speak to you and say, ‘I must say I agree with you, Mr Taylor. I think your views are the kind we should adopt in the party.’ The ones who didn’t [agree] just seemed to keep out of your way. [...] I didn’t have any great trouble there because people knew the views I had, and apart from occasions when the group of eight [rebels] was there, going to conferences people would say, ‘You’re a troublemaker, I wish you’d go and join the Labour Party.’ You know the kind of thing. Apart from that kind of thing it wasn’t very much at all. Teddy Taylor (Conservative, 1964–79; 1980–2005)32 [The 1992–7] Parliament was really a very unhappy Parliament in some ways. It became bedevilled by the Maastricht Treaty debates and everything that happened thereafter. Normally once you’ve had a debate and you’ve lost the vote, you expect the issue to

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almost go away, but throughout that Parliament, the Eurosceptics continued week after week to make the prime minister’s life very difficult. [...] You could sense that the whole government business was being disrupted by these guys week after week. At Prime Minister’s Question Time, if someone like Iain Duncan Smith stood up to ask a question, it would not be helpful. I think that made much more difficult for [him] when he became party leader. Because he could ask for loyalty, but people would say, ‘Well, actually we will be as loyal to you as you were to John Major.’ John Marshall (Conservative, 1987–97)33 My greatest achievement as a chief whip was during the Maastricht process, which should have been quite smooth for the Prime Minister John Major, by astute use of parliamentary tactics in with all the parliamentary party, including the twelve rebels, we managed to string it out for ten months and it was a fairly miserable period for John Major. He had a twenty-two [seat] parliamentary majority, but he had well over thirty rebels. I had to get all the minority parties in agreement with us, so we could push him into the hands of his own rebels one week by choice of subjects, and we could push him into the hands of the Ulstermen the other week. So I think this was very fundamental in getting John Major the image of a sort of weak prime minister. Derek Foster (Labour, 1979–2005)34 I knew [John Smith, Labour leader], was pro-European. They were playing silly buggers. They were making things difficult for the Tory Party; I didn’t think we should do that. I thought that we should vote [for Maastricht], we abstained. [...] So I said, ‘OK I’m sorry. I’m going to vote for Maastricht. It’s ridiculous we shouldn’t; we believe in it and we’re playing party politics with Europe’ which is one of the things that has been done by politicians – much to the detriment of our position in Europe. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)35

Foreign policy in the Commons In 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which had previously been owned by the British and French governments. Prime Minister Anthony Eden, in alliance with the French, responded militarily before being forced to pull out following economic pressure from the United States. The military action and the rationale given for doing so were extremely controversial (both inside and outside of the Commons). When I first got into the House of Commons, Winston Churchill was still prime minister, and latterly my uncle [Anthony Eden] succeeded him. Then came all of the events that led up to the Suez Crisis, and I was a Suez rebel, which didn’t make me particularly popular in the family [laughs]. John Eden (Conservative, 1954–83)36 Suez – that’s the key [...] we didn’t actually go to Suez [despite serving in the Coldstream Guards at the time]. [...] I was extremely impressed by [Hugh] Gaitskell; this was the key moment in my political awakening. I thought Gaitskell was absolutely right; he was very courageous. I thought we were doing the wrong thing. [...] I remember amongst

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a number of the officers, we didn’t all think it was a good idea, you know, we thought it was all a bit strange and we wondered what the hell Eden was up to. What was going on? It sounded most unconvincing that we would go in to Suez to separate the combatants. [...] Surely this is rubbish, it can’t be true – it turned out it wasn’t true. [...] It really was a strong feeling [among the officers] and Hugh [Gaitskell] became one of my heroes. [...] It was coming from an odd position, here I was in the most snobbish, prestigious regiment in the British Army, here I was deciding really that the most attractive and persuasive person was the leader of the Labour Party! Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)37 *** In April 1982 Argentinian President General Leopoldo Galtieri invaded the British dependent territories of the Falkland Islands, the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. The British government responded by sending a naval task force to reclaim the islands. The war lasted ten weeks before the Argentine surrender returned the islands to British control. [On the night the Falklands was invaded] I was just dropping off about half eleven; my vicar phoned up. He’d had a few drinks. [...] He was crying his eyes out that we’re not to go to war, [...] almost going hysterical. Finally got him off the line: ‘Please go to bed father, I’ll listen to the debate and vote accordingly.’ I was just dropping off again and about one o’clock my dentist phoned me up, and he was in the same state [...] with some friends, had a dinner party, they’d all been arguing saying what they’d like to say to their MP and he’d said, ‘Well, I know how to get hold of one.’ They’d taken a mini vote at the dinner party and he was saying there was no way [we should go to war.] [...] Finally got him off the phone so I could go back to sleep to get up at six o’clock to catch the early morning train down to London. Frank White (Labour, October 1974–83)38 That was a moment of very great drama. [...] [Margaret] Thatcher, who could seize on the emotions of British patriotic feeling, although the population of the Falklands was tiny. [...] Here were these British people, who all wanted to stay British being invaded by some ‘diegos’ from South America. [...] So I got very excited about supporting [the war]. I went on the radio to urge that we went to war in the first day or two. Toby Jessel (Conservative, 1970–97)39 When the first ships started to get sunk, we were having an all-night debate. John Nott was the [defence] minister. A notice went up on the board: statement, ten o’clock. So the place was crowded. I couldn’t get anywhere. In the end the only way I got anywhere to sit was to go up in the gallery. [...] He came in, and Margaret sat next to him. This was a woman who some people say was mad, military mad, she wanted to go to war. As he announced the loss of the first ship, she sat there weeping. I could see her. And then people had the blumming nerve to say that she had deliberately done all of this. It just was not true. She felt it, she felt responsible. [...] It showed that she cared. Peter Fry (Conservative, 1966–97)40

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Those of us who opposed [the Falklands] got together and had discussions. We met in a committee room and as we came out there was a reporter from the Daily Star taking pictures of us all. The next day there were all these papers: ‘Traitors’ because we were talking about trying to find a peaceful option. It was not an easy thing to do. [...] Tam Dalyell had wanted to get in, and he took over the leadership effectively in Parliament from then on [...] but I was the first one to speak out, it’s something I never regretted doing. [...] I was on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and we went out to the Falklands. [...] Of course I wasn’t popular with the Falkland Islanders [...] there was this big container, someone had painted in big white letters ‘Fuck off Foulkes’. [...] I managed to get on alright with them in the end. I was also on the first [informal] delegation that went to Argentina. [...] We had a meeting with [...] the mothers of [Argentine] pilots who had not returned. They wanted to talk to me about what they could do to contact their sons in the prisoner of war camps in Britain. I said, ‘Look, I’m a Labour MP, I’m the opposition. I would tell you if there were prisoner of war camps in Britain, of course I would. There aren’t any.’ I suddenly realized what I was really confirming to them was that their sons were dead. It was not a very nice experience, but it made me think that when I spoke in debate, these were [the deaths] that I’d been anticipating. George Foulkes (Labour, 1979–2005)41 [The House] was full, packed to capacity. People were sitting on the steps, they were standing by the bar of the House and it was packed to the rafters. It was a very grave occasion, because we’ve just lost territory and on our side we regarded it as absolutely careless. […] Subsequently the two Tory frontbenchers resigned. […] [The Labour Party was] divided, some of us saw it as a partisan issue, which to some extent it was. The government were to be criticized; it was their responsibility and they’d lost the Falklands. A lot of our side were against the invasion. I was for it. I think I made my best speech in the House. I said the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands was reminiscent of fascist expansion in the interwar period. Argentina had a military fascist government and they were bent on expansion. We had to resist. It didn’t go down well in the constituency that. I was hauled before the constituency at a special meeting and I had to explain myself. Kenneth Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)42 When I became minister of state in the autumn of ’81, [...] I immediately inherited the Falklands issue. [...] I realized we had a problem; Galtieri [...] had become the leader. The assessment of the advisers was: ‘Look, this is going to be a tough age but we’ve got to keep talking to them.’ [...] I realized there was a problem [a fortnight before the invasion, when Argentinian scrap dealers landed on South Georgia]. I did what I always did when there was a crisis. I brought my walking stick with me to London to strengthen me. I didn’t think there would necessarily be an invasion, but they were provoking us no end. [...] It came to resignation because once an invasion had taken place, I felt as the day-to-day man in charge I should go. [...] [Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington] said, ‘No, I’m the foreign secretary, it’s my responsibility.’ [...] I felt that all right, I will stay. [...] He said, ‘We’ll battle on.’ When he was in front of the 1922 Committee the next day [...] he got a mauling, [...] I wrote him a note saying, ‘If you go, I go.’ [...] [On the Monday] Carrington rang me and said, ‘I ought to tell you I don’t like the Times calling us traitors, I’m going to go.’ [...] I saw the prime minister and I

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resigned with Lord Carrington. I knew instinctively it was the right thing to do, but the pain of doing it was terrible. The pain of living with people being killed – soldiers, British soldiers – for another two months because even if you knew you couldn’t have done anything else it was still a disaster and it was your responsibility. Richard Luce (Conservative, 1971–92)43 *** In 2003 Britain joined the United States in military action against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein on the grounds that Hussein had stored, despite United Nations [UN] sanctions, significant weapons of mass destruction. This formed part of a more aggressive US foreign policy following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon. Both the war itself and Britain’s involvement in it were extremely controversial: it was unclear whether it was sanctioned under international law, did not have the backing of the UN and led to protests across the country. I think that [the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon] was when Tony [Blair] completely lost his way. It all built up to the Iraq [War] vote. I was amazed really at the way MPs were treated as voting fodder, kept in the dark, various lines given to them. I just think that we were given poor information and expected to put up with that. The pressure that was put on MPs who raised questions about all of this was ridiculous. [...] Hilary Armstrong was the chief whip. I trod the floor of the whips’ office a few times getting a verbal lashing from Hilary about various issues I’d been raising about Iraq. I absolutely supported Tony on military action in places like Kosovo,44 Sierra Leone,45 [...] Afghanistan,46 but never ever thought that they made a satisfactory case for military action in Iraq. [...] It certainly tainted my second term in Parliament. [...] I just thought it was so wrong, I thought some of the information we were given was just blatantly propaganda. There wasn’t the ability to have a serious discussion about Iraq. We were constantly being given the party line on these issues, we were asked about our loyalty on this issue, we were supposed to follow the line on Iraq because we had been elected as a Labour MP, because you’re supposed to be loyal to Tony. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)47 I was absolutely sure that we were doing the right thing [in Kosovo and Sierra Leone]. [...] As it became more and more obvious that we were brewing up towards military action in Iraq – now I was outside the cabinet by now – I felt very strongly [...] that this was the wrong thing to do. [...] I’d tabled the parliamentary motions [on two occasions in 2002–3] to try and stop us going to war. [...] I was very proud of the fact that when we got to the eve of war vote, we had, I think, 130 Labour MPs going through the division lobby against their own government. [...] There was one really distressing moment. The Speaker, Michael Martin, was being supremely unhelpful [to an opposition amendment]. Effectively we knew we had to get 100 signatures onto an amendment before he would consider taking it for a vote. [...] It was the night that Robin [Cook resigned]; we had to submit [the amendment and signatures] before the close of business that day. We had this sheet of paper [with the signatures]. It was while the Chamber was all gathered and absolutely packed out for Robin’s speech. I’d

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arranged for the paper to be passed along the back row of the Labour benches, where all the rebels always sat. [...] It got to Jim Dowd. [...] I had always regarded [him] as a very good friend. [...] He looked at it, he read it, he frowned, he folded it up and put it into his pocket. [...] I go up to Jim [after Cook’s speech] and said, [...] ‘I noticed that you’d taken [our motion paper]. If you value our friendship, could I please ask for it back?’ He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t and I won’t.’ Chris Smith (Labour, 1983–2005)48 One confrontation [with the whips] was when we had the votes on Iraq. Unfortunately, I found myself in Athens at the time with the Council of Europe. [...] It was all very strange because what was being said before I went to Athens was that [...] it hadn’t been decided. [...] [While in Athens] we’d all seen on television [...] that there was going to be a vote, that day, in Parliament, on going to war in Iraq. Couldn’t believe it. I think that they changed the arrangements because they knew a great lump of us [against the war] were in Athens. [...] Nearly everyone on the delegation from the Labour side were going to be voting against the war. I went down to breakfast, and I thought very carefully before saying this. I said, ‘Look, I don’t know what you lot are doing but I’m going back.’ [...] So I led the charge, pretty well all the rest followed my example and we all changed our tickets and went back that morning. [...] As we arrived Robin Cook was just making his speech [to resign]. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)49 I can recall in particular with [Chief Whip] Hilary Armstrong. [...] I wasn’t expected to be [at the Iraq War vote] because my wife was in hospital and I’d been given some time off. I thought I’m not going to miss voting on this issue, although I don’t think I realized then how fundamental it was going to become. I came down that night. I was spotted ten minutes before the vote and wheeled into her office and she screamed at me. [...] I was just unconvinced and voted against the government. Thank God I did. It would have been on my conscience for the rest of my life that I had been a party to something that was so fundamentally wrong. I think at the time I just had a feeling it was fundamentally wrong. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)50 We found out fairly soon who had a difficulty of any nature [with supporting the vote], and we then would work out who should be talking to them. [...] We would work out who were their influencers and I would then talk to the influencers. [...] It was incredibly stressful. [...] There were some people who didn’t care whether the government fell, but they were just a handful. [...] We were very lucky that there were two amendments and we could move people around the amendments, that was very important on the day. It was also very important what the Tories were doing. [...] It was the Americans who worked on the Tories, not us. [long omission] What I know now is that the prime minister absolutely believed in what he was doing. [...] He would frequently say in PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] meetings: ‘I understand that people take a very different view from me, but that doesn’t mean we’re on different sides. We have to find means of accommodation’ [...] but he absolutely believed in what he was doing. [...] We worked hard for a second [UN] resolution. [...] There wasn’t lying, there wasn’t ‘sexing up’ of the document. What it was was presented in a way [...] that wouldn’t be the normal dry, security document, because the public were going to have to read it. It had to be in more graphic and clear terms. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)51

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I’m less proud of how we handled the sequence of events from 9/11 onwards. It was a horrifying event which was going to change everything. Where did it lead to: the Americans deciding that Saddam Hussein was the bad man, they were going to invade Iraq. I was in the Lords [as opposition spokesperson on foreign affairs], having to defend the Conservative opposition’s position, which was not only thoroughly supportive of Mr Blair, people forget this, but even more gung-ho in favour of supporting the Americans in going to Iraq, under the then leader Iain Duncan Smith. So I had to, well, I had qualms about it and I didn’t like these sepia prints, photographs purporting to show sinister installations in the desert, which turned out to be nothing at all, a couple of caravans. I was uneasy but I did defend, I did join and supporting the then Labour government of Mr Blair in going into Iraq, as did the whole Conservative Party in the Commons and the Lords. So not very glorious, because one had twinges that there was something basically wrong with it all but I suppressed the twinges. But there you are, one is faced with, as you often are with these things, you think: there is something wrong here but I’m not sure how much, is this a matter I just stand down and resign on and say goodbye or do I try and tease it all out? So I chose the latter course, probably not very gloriously. There was quite a lot of people in the Labour Party who did resign from their front bench because they couldn’t bear the thought of invading Iraq. Which I admire their courage, but I was not one of them. David Howell (Conservative, 1966–97)52 I was totally opposed to invading Iraq, because I did not see that they were a threat to us. [...] We had a parliamentary party meeting to decide what line the party would take. The party being mainly men were all a bit, gung-ho, you know, got to support the government, march on, march on. I went into the library and [...] they gave me a stapled together [copy of the intelligence dossier]. [...] I looked through it and honestly I’ve never seen such an amateur thing. [...] I went in to the parliamentary party meeting waving it saying, ‘This is what you are making your minds up on, is it? It looks like an A level essay to me.’ [...] We were arguing and arguing in the parliamentary party. I think I was probably losing, [...] then Shirley [Williams] came in and she started arguing on our side. That was when the party took the decision, Charles [Kennedy] took the decision to oppose the Iraq War. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)53

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Back home Local politics in the constituencies

I reckoned, being a Member for a marginal constituency, I had to work hard to keep it. Also I had that sense of duty, if you take something on. It’s a big thing for people to give you their vote. It’s a precious authority from anyone, isn’t it? I felt conscience bound to do all I could and I wanted to do all I could. All I could manage to do in the time that I had. Harry Greenway (Conservative, 1979–97)1

Having discussed scrutinizing legislation and supporting a party, we now turn to the third significant aspect of the role of an MP: that of representing a constituency. In practice, MPs have a relationship both with their electors as a body and, more directly, their constituency party; their ability to continue in the job depended on both. These relationships could be difficult to judge and manage, and MPs themselves held very varied attitudes to their constituency and interest in casework – an aspect of the job that certainly grew over the period covered in our archive. For some of our interviewees, constituency casework and dealing with the local party were distractions from the job they really considered important. Some felt that they had bigger issues to deal with ‘than being a councillor’,2 and battled against the expectation they be a ‘bottle-washer’ rather than a representative.3 However, others loved casework and felt it was a way they could make a real difference to people’s lives, believing it was important to actively take up a constituent’s issue and not just be a ‘post office’ (see also Chapter 13).4 For example Edwina Currie remembers that winning the trust of her constituents meant that she gained an authenticity when speaking on their behalf in debate.5 Issues raised could be deeply personal, such as transgender rights or marital difficulties. It has been widely recognized that this aspect of an MP’s job has increased dramatically over the period covered in the archive, and to some extent active MPs have helped to fuel that rise. The ease of emailing an MP was particularly noted by many as a key difference. The greatest amount of work, however, was heaped on those in marginal seats. Some of them resented colleagues with safe seats who did not have to take constituency work so seriously. Whether an MP had a safe or marginal seat could completely change the trajectory of their career or how they saw their role: some

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reported that being in a marginal seat held them back in their ministerial ambitions; others with marginal seats positioned themselves as independent of their party acting as their constituents’ representative, not out to climb the ministerial ladder. Listening to constituents had a darker side, however, and MPs also faced hostility from those who did not agree with them. Hugo Summerson mentioned death threats from the ‘green ink brigade’.6 At the time these were generally not taken seriously, one exception was Jackie Ballard who needed a police escort in her constituency following her active support for the foxhunting bill.7 But in the aftermath of the 2016 murder of Jo Cox, MP for Batley and Spen, our interviewees reflect on these threats in a new light. More often, however, constituents lobbied their MPs in a non-violent manner and the individuals concerned had to decide how much they should listen to this lobbying. Particularly on matters of conscience, such as the abortion bill, constituents’ advice was either sought or forthcoming, especially from vocal religious minorities. Some, such as Hilary Armstrong, chose to make up their own minds on non-party issues.8 An MP’s relationship with their local party was crucial. For some, when discussing their constituency they meant their party members, not voters as a whole. As mentioned in Chapter 4, the power to select or deselect a candidate was held by the local party and, at times, they wielded it. When relationships were good, local parties were remembered with affection, campaigning together or having constructive debates about contentious issues. MPs valued local party advice, but particularly so when local party officials did not try and impose their views on an MP or order them to vote in a particular way. The fiercely independent Tam Dalyell took great care with both his constituents and his local party because of his independence, and always warned them if he was going to rebel.9 If relationships were bad it could cause significant difficulties for an MP. Motions of confidence arose particularly when an MP made a stand on a controversial issue, such as Ann Cryer’s call for English to be spoken in Asian homes, or Robert Hughes’s position against Scottish devolution.10 Emma Nicholson had a complicated and difficult relationship with her constituency chair that emerged from political differences as well as a very specific relationship breakdown. Although she survived a deselection attempt this added to her decision to leave the party.11 Some Labour MPs in the 1970s and 1980s faced an organized campaign from the left-wing Militant Tendency and had to battle hard to keep their seats. Interviewees remember supporting moderate members from verbal and sometimes physical intimidation from the hard left in order to keep control of their local parties. Ben Ford lost his deselection battle, admitting that he did not have the energy to keep rallying his support. He was pleased that his stand as an independent in the following election meant his Trotskyite replacement lost to the Conservatives.12 *** I was a career politician. If you ask what were the motives, the motives were the capacity and ability to run a department, to bring about change and to pursue your intellectual and moral philosophies. That’s what it’s about. I hope I served my constituency well. There is not a shred of evidence that there was general disgruntlement. [...] I had a

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big majority and the way I read it was that no one could accuse me of being lazy, no one could pretend that I was in it for the ride so to speak, because with modern communications – radio, press and television – my constituents knew I was working my butt off for the country as a minister for the Conservative Party. [...] They could say, ‘He’s not here,’ but they knew where I was. So I think that in that sophisticated Home Counties seat there was an acceptance that if you have ambitious guys you can’t expect them to be doing the job of a local councillor. Michael Heseltine (Conservative, 1966–2001)13 I think constituents should understand what the primary duties are [of an MP]. [...] I, in thy name, am elected to represent this constituency at Westminster, that is my role. Not to be bottle-washer in the constituency. I tried to explain it gently but it wasn’t successful. Members of Parliament should understand that their role is to represent their constituency as a whole in Westminster and to be in the Chamber of the House of Commons and to speak their mind as they see fit. John Eden (Conservative, 1954–83)14 I always took the view, fundamentally, that I was the constituency’s representative in Westminster and not Westminster’s representative in the constituency. [...] Even though I was up there a lot we weren’t going to uproot [my children], therefore London’s always been the main base. [...] I felt able to take [this position because] I knew the constituency like the back of my hand. Ian Wrigglesworth (Labour/SDP, February 1974–87)15 I always felt that where I could make a real difference was in my constituency, in representing local interests, in supporting local causes and networking, putting people together in the constituency, finding someone who had a need and then someone else who was able to meet that need and in doing individual pieces of casework. I prided myself on being very approachable as an MP and I set up all sorts of forums, where I would get people together on a regular basis. [...] I just felt that I could achieve so much more there than I was achieving in Parliament, but the party expected you to be in Parliament four days a week. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)16 You had to do anything under the sun that delivered a result for the constituent. Whether it meant sweet-talking, bullying, pushing, shoving, whatever, your job was to get a result. […] I never saw myself as a great law maker, no. I saw myself as a people’s champion, somebody who would spend a long time making contact with ordinary people and trying to bridge this gulf between people and their elected representatives. Trying to persuade them that somebody actually cared about what they were doing and somebody was trying to do the job properly and taking them seriously. John Cartwright (Labour/SDP, October 1974–92)17 You do have lots of people in your constituency who really have no friends and no influence on anything. So you really have to take care of their interests as well. [...] There is inevitably a competition between [international affairs and local issues], but I would call it a competition rather than a conflict. Denis Healey (Labour, 1952–92)18 Some of the Labour Party criticized me for being too much like a social worker, in terms of my constituency work. But I worked on the principle I’d gone around all these

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people’s doors, knocking on their doors asking them to vote for me and promising to help if they did. It wasn’t for me then to judge what they came to me about. If they thought I could help, and if I could, I would. I do think that a letter from an MP about the house with its filthy damp and black mould is going to be taken more seriously than a letter that they’ve written. […] I know some MPs wouldn’t do this sort of constituency work, some of them, particularly Tory MPs, actually, said, ‘Oh, you just put that in the cupboard, you don’t deal with it.’ [...] I did a lot of it. I felt that it was not a personal relationship, but it was an honourable relationship. I had asked them to support me in return for me saying I’ll help you in any way I can. And that’s how I saw it. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)19 *** People would ring up and say to me ‘when can I see you?’ I’d say, ‘I’ll see you on Edmonton Green on Friday morning at half past eight’ ’cause I knew I would be there doing shopping for my family. Ted Graham (Labour, February 1974–83)20 I got heavily involved in stuff about flooding. [...] Just making sure that these people who had been flooded got their compensation to reinstate their homes from the insurance companies that they had been paying into for a long time. [...] [One insurance company was] giving Doris, an elderly lady, a really hard time. They would only employ cowboys to do the work on her house. [...] A year after the actual floods she was still living in a Bed and Breakfast. [...] I really went to town on that one. [...] I said, ‘Look, I’m just fed up of this. Doris is in the mess she’s in because of you. [...] Now you’re threatening that she can no longer stay where she is. [...] If you persist with this I’m going to name you [...] on the floor of the House. [...] I have the right of a Parliamentarian to raise what I want and you have no sanction that you can bring against me. [...] It will go out and will do harm to your business.’ [...] The following day he [hired] a local firm of skilled people. [...] Within a month it was all done and Doris was back in her house. Sometimes you’ve just got to threaten people like that. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)21 One of the first people that came to see me at an advice surgery was someone who had been turned down by the health authority for an operation to change gender. He came to see me because he thought – he wanted the operation to become a woman – he thought that I would be more understanding and sympathetic than the previous MP, whom he felt he could never go to because he was a male and a Tory, and he just didn’t think he’d get a sympathetic hearing. I lobbied the health authority. We succeeded in getting the funding and he had the operation. […] I was so glad to have been able to help him, and also feeling that he wouldn’t have come if someone else had been his MP. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)22 I suppose one of the most difficult cases I dealt with was a constituent of mine, a chap called Rudi Petschi, from Cullompton. He was a British Telecom engineer out in Chechnya when he and three others were taken hostage and later were found beheaded. That case went on for several years. We never did discover who was responsible. But supporting the family and asking questions as I did and holding debates in the House

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about what had happened to him and his colleagues, very, very difficult situation. Very difficult. So you deal with everything. From the person who rings you up and says, ‘The bin man has just gone past and hasn’t collected my cardboard,’ not sure why they ring an MP, but they do, to those sorts of problems. You get the whole spectrum, really. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)23 You would have big issues, of course: a firm being closed down, where you would have to come in and go and see everybody and take a tough line and so on, do your best. You also had quite strange things. I remember there was a couple who wanted me to help solve their marriage problems. That I did say, ‘Look, I’m not really’ – I didn’t say ‘well, actually I’m divorced’ – but ‘I’m not an expert on this’ [laughs]. But that meant that I had by that time established a reputation as a sort of wise person who would help you. I was prepared to take everything, but without making a great fuss about it. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)24 *** I think I’d had quite a rich experience in some ways before I went to Parliament. I used to try and work out how other MPs could cope with the sort of surgery issues that I dealt with. I could do surgeries because I’d done intake in a social services team where you get people coming in saying somebody’s been abused, something terrible has happened, you’ve got a queue of people outside all hammering on your door because they’re very needy. So I thought I could cope with that but I did wonder how anybody else could cope with that. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)25 From Thursday to Monday it would be surgeries, constituency campaigns and casework. Casework, casework, which grew and grew and grew, as you can imagine. I think we’d just about got computers by 1992, but a lot of people hadn’t so it was telephone calls to the office. Very quickly emails started coming in and – wow. [...] My two colleagues in Bristol worked their socks off and I felt I was working mine off too. It was seventy to eighty hours a week. [...] The number of cases that we dealt with was extraordinary. It’s a lot. It’s an important job, but there is a question of whether you want an MP to be a local councillor as well. [...] I think at some stage something’s got to give. Roger Berry (Labour, 1992–2010)26 I didn’t believe in surgeries, actually. I tried it, but I had to try and persuade somebody to come in, you see. They didn’t attend surgeries very much. I discovered, through my secretary, that the best thing to do was, every letter I got I would reply and say, ‘I’ll come and see you.’ It was far easier doing that than going to a surgery. Nobody came and you’ve wasted your time. So I went to see people rather than hold surgeries. I told them that, I said I am not going to hold surgeries, if you want a surgery, yes, you organize it. They came along to support me rather than came along with problems, you know. So a surgery was a waste of time in my belief. A nice name, but ... . David Myles (Conservative, 1979–83)27 You got used to this bizarre lifestyle. Of course, I had a very large rural constituency. [...] So there was no way you could have a central point for people to come and see

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you. I did hold surgeries in the big towns, but most of the time I spent driving around to visit people, to see people, because there wasn’t public transport in all parts of my constituency. The weekends were very busy as well. So you had to get used to life in Parliament and weekend work that was actually quite demanding. But there was almost that adrenaline buzz that I don’t think it finished until I left Parliament. The adrenaline kept you going. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)28 *** When you get elected representing 50-,60-,70-,80,000 voters, although Parliament is the focal point of national attention, your work is actually much more focused on representing the interests and serving the interests of your constituents. Now if you’ve got a safe seat you can go through the motions, shovel the votes rather than count them. But all the marginal seats in the country, the MPs know that if they want to stay in Parliament they have to really work hard and it is very hard work. [...] It’s a very powerful part of our political system which is sadly sidelined a lot of the time [...] I vowed when I became elected that my priority would be, as it was a marginal seat, I was passionately fond of the nature of the seat, it has to be my priority. [...] So it would be always, number one [priority], was to keep on top of the constituency. John Hannam (Conservative, 1970–97)29 I knew it was not a safe seat, and as soon as the figures came in of the count I knew then that I would have to be an MP who spent most of his time servicing the constituency and cultivating votes there rather than trying to make a big splash in the Commons. Chris Butler (Conservative, 1987–92)30 I wanted to continue in the ministerial role but there was a price to be paid, which is if you don’t nurture a constituency like that, if they don’t feel you are spending enough time with them, then that will cost you in terms of your majority. Chris Pond (Labour, 1997–2005)31 As an MP for a very marginal constituency you obviously had to give a high priority to your constituency work. I tried to make dealing with correspondence a real priority. I was slightly horrified that there were printed cards in the House of Commons for MPs, presumably with large majorities to use, which said, ‘Thank you very much for your letter dated so and so I have taken up the point you raised with the minister and I will be in touch in due course.’ So MPs literally just signed these things. When I wrote to a minister I didn’t just act as a postbox; I really tried to act as an advocate for somebody’s problem. There is no doubt that that paid off in the 1970 election when I was re-elected against the swing. Michael Barnes (Labour, 1966–February 1974)32 *** Constant badgering by myself and Alice [Mahon] got the forced marriage unit. It was paid by the Home Office and the Foreign Office. It was a phone line, quite a lot of people working on it, so any girl who felt she was going to be forced into a marriage could ring this phone line and get advice. [...] A lot of the leaders of the Pakistani Muslim

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community had been bringing pressure to bear on all of us, prior to the election, that if we were elected we would make sure that the primary purpose rule, which gave the staff at the High Commissions a lot of leeway over who could have a spouse visa, that some aspects would be removed. It meant that it was easier for people to force their girls into marriage. […] I thought I was doing the right thing, I mean they were saying to me that this primary purpose rule is totally racist. [...] I felt responsible that we got rid of this rule that did give people at the High Commission an element of discretion – if they thought this girl was being forced into a marriage they could [...] refuse a spouse visa. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)33 There were all these seaman’s hostels [in my constituency] where Somali sailors came, stayed a few nights, and then they went off sailing somewhere else. [...] When all the fighting started [in Somalia], they didn’t go back and forth, they stayed in these hostels. [...] Then they started bringing families over, and untangling who was who was really [difficult] – they’d give the names of three or four wives. [...] We would only recognize only one wife for a pension. [...] They’d come to me, to my surgery, and they didn’t speak English so they’d bring someone with them – usually with a missing arm and leg who’d been in the fighting, who would translate. It was all very sad and fraught. They’d give lists of children but because of the way their society operated they could be nephews but they regarded them as their own children. They weren’t trying to be fraudulent, that’s the way they had the extended families. But sorting it out for English law wasn’t funny. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)34 In 1970, when I lost the seat I was very active in the abortion campaign. [...] I used to speak on the abortion issue and I had two votes of no confidence moved against me in the local party to say, ‘You have a majority of 864, you are throwing the seat away in a Catholic constituency.’ Peter Jackson (Labour, 1966–70)35 When you win the trust of your constituents what comes forward then is invaluable. It is political gold dust it is. You can’t gather it in handfuls but it creeps in ways that make your language authentic, your sensitivities absolutely spot on, your knowledge well ahead of many of the pundits. […] I would ask constituents to organize a meeting. I would say that I wanted to ask their opinion and I meant it. I would go back to Westminster full of admiration for them. One example was abortion law reform. I know my views, but I need to know theirs. I remember going to a meeting of the Mother’s Union and [explaining] the proposals. […] They said, ‘We’ve talked about this with our families. We want the law as generous as possible.’ ‘Why? You surprise me. Why?’ ‘Well, it could be our daughters, couldn’t it? We don’t want to see their lives ruined for a mistake.’ That’s your sentence [to use in debate]: you don’t want to see their lives ruined for a mistake. I said, ‘It’s a free vote and my instinct is to vote for twentyfour weeks. […] How does that go with you?’ They said that’s fine, so that’s what I did. I spoke in that debate and I was able to express the view of good women. Edwina Currie (Conservative, 1983–97)36 There was a big debate about abortion, and I was in favour of a woman’s right to choose. There was a proposal to liberalize – it was very contentious, so I went to my constituency party. I said, ‘Look, this is coming up, I have no religious views [...] but

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this is what I would like to do, what do you think?’ They had a very heated debate, because I had some very good Catholic people who supported me, they were some of my strongest supporters in the constituency, and they argued against what I was proposing. Other people who argued in favour, it was about fifty-fifty. In the end they decided unanimously that I should do whatever I thought was appropriate – ‘Having heard the debate, you vote whichever way you think, George.’ I thought well that that’s nice: first of all to consult them, they liked that, but then for them to have the confidence that they were letting me make my own mind up. That was good. George Foulkes (Labour, 1979–2005)37 One of the most pressured was the question about the ordination of women priests. I remember getting hate mail from vicars [laughs] – I’m exaggerating a bit – but I’d get letters from vicars in my constituency saying, ‘I’m never going to vote for you again if you vote for this.’ [...] My natural instinct was to vote for the ordination of women, but I got a lot of pressure on that. [...] So I did vote for the ordination of women, and you do have to get to the point [in your own mind] with that and any other campaign that you don’t get swayed by the amount of postcards from one side and the amount on the other. You have to be true to yourself, use your judgement, because you are there as a representative, you’re not there for one group or another. At an election people have the choice. If they didn’t like the way you voted on that that’s their prerogative in a democracy, not to re-elect you. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)38 I used to say, ‘look, if you want just to send postcards – fine, but I will argue with you.’ [...] I had a very militant pro-life group in the Catholic Church in one part of the constituency. I had others who were desperate for IVF treatment. The two don’t go together. I have my very strong views, which come from my feminism and everything else. So I was never going to agree with the constituency on abortion, although I think that there were quite a lot in the constituency who would agree with me, they were never the vocal ones, that’s all. You know, you’ve got to do what you think is right. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)39 *** I mean, yes, of course you encounter hostility on the doorstep from time to time, but nothing so extreme as what happened to poor Jo Cox. I did have death threats, but I think that probably lots of MPs do. [...] One thing that email has probably done away with is the proverbial loony who writes in green ink. The ‘green ink brigade’ we used to call them. You knew if you got a death threat written in green ink you’d pay no attention to it, it was just some complete idiot. In fact there was one thing which Labour and Conservative could always agree on, that the worst person to meet out canvassing was the old man in a string vest on a council estate, who would either be rabidly anti-Labour or rabidly anti-Conservative and who would pursue you down the street shouting obscenities at you [laughs]. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)40 In the last year before I lost my seat I did my rural advice surgeries out in Exmoor. I had one advice surgery where I had to have a police escort, because there were a few hundred

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hunt supporters there baying for my blood. It was on the national news. [...] I had another one in a rural village at a similar time, when they surrounded our [car], shouting abuse at me. [...] It terrified me, I didn’t like it. It’s not nice to be hated, and it’s not nice to feel physically threatened. The one at Dulverton I had to drive through this crowd [...] who were banging on the roof of the car. It was horrible. So it did bother me, but they hated me, they didn’t want me as their MP because my views on hunting were not their views and they didn’t think I was representing them. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)41 *** The crucial relationship with local parties made an MP’s life much easier when it was good, but could make life extremely difficult otherwise. The councillors, the membership hierarchy of my party, I always called it the team. I thought of the Conservative Party in my constituency as being a line horizontally working together [...] not a vertical line with the MP on the top of the pile. That’s how we worked. I always went out campaigning for my councillors, and they came out campaigning for me, so I went and banged on doors in the marginal wards, up to them where they sent me. So I was giving them support when their turn came. [...] I think that is why I had that good relationship, an honest relationship. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)42 In the leadership battle [of 1990], I remember with affection going to Wimbledon to consult with the officers of my association. The prominent members of which were Theresa May and Philip May; Philip May was chairman. I remember Theresa May saying to her colleagues: ‘You must remember Charles, like any MP, is a representative and not a delegate. So in other words we can’t mandate him to vote for a certain candidate, even if we wanted to.’ I thought that was amazingly civilized. The officers were asked to give their opinion about the three candidates: [John] Major, [Michael] Heseltine and [Douglas] Hurd, and I answered questions about all those three candidates. I gave an undertaking that I’d take on board everything that my officers had said and I duly voted. Charles Goodson-Wickes (Conservative, 1987–97)43 I was extremely assiduous, because if you were going to vote against three-line whips, if you were to be one of the ringleaders of the sixty-nine Labour MPs who went into the same lobby as Ted Heath in order to go into the European Common Market, you’d better be very sure about your constituency base. Now, before it was generally done, I had a surgery every week in a different place. […] My wife was marvellous in acting, really for a long time, as my secretary and dealing with problems. […] A lot of people had been quite satisfied that Kathleen dealt with the situation or answered the phone when they would have asked, what’s Tam Dalyell doing? But also very, very careful to have good relations with my constituency party and on any occasion when there was a difficult vote, I would let them know beforehand how I was going to vote and why. Tam Dalyell (Labour, 1962–2005)44 ***

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The crucial issue was [the unilateral declaration of independence by] Rhodesia. I was very much against [Rhodesian prime minister] Ian Smith, whereas my constituents were almost 100 per cent in favour of Ian Smith. The other crucial issue was capital punishment that came up. I was persuaded by the speech of the former home secretary [Henry Brooke] and in due course voted against capital punishment. I think my constituents thought that I wasn’t really concentrating at the time, or didn’t listen to the debate! [Laughs] […] The combination of capital punishment and Rhodesia caused some problems in the constituency. My chairman [...] did not share my views on either subject, but was extremely loyal, I must say. The issue became one of great national importance, on Rhodesia. A meeting was held by the pro-Smith crowd, who were very strong along the south coast, in the Assembly Hall in Worthing. […] There was a huge row. At the end the chairman, who claimed to be a judge of the International Court, [...] tried to pass a motion in favour of Ian Smith. There had been no motion on the floor ahead of that, one hadn’t been debated. I refused to allow that, I grabbed the microphone, he grabbed the microphone. It was all frightfully spectacular at the time! [Laughs] So anyway the motion was not put or carried, but it was slightly disrupted. As I say my chairman fortunately was very supportive, and so was the association on the whole, despite the fact that they certainly tended to disagree with my views. Subsequently there was a move by a very right-wing organization to have me removed. Terence Higgins (Conservative, 1964–97)45 One of the local branches which made up [my] constituency put down a motion of no confidence [over the issue of Scottish devolution]. My chairman phoned me and said, [...] ‘You must be at the next [meeting] to defend yourself.’ [...] So I went with some fear – trembling – to the pairing whip [...] who was a strict disciplinarian, and he gathered I was kicking over the traces of Scottish independence. [...] I thought he would say, ‘Hard luck, chum. You’ve made your bed, you lie in it.’ To my surprise, ‘No, no,’ he said. ‘You must go. Don’t worry about being paired, I will pair you.’ [...] The meeting was packed, well over 100 people there. I looked around and I couldn’t see anybody from the branch [that had put up the motion]. The meeting was opened. The chairman explained the proceedings and called [the branch proposing the motion]: silence. I thought great, that’s the end of it. Chairman said, ‘Well, we can’t leave it like that’ and I thought: ‘You stupid – ! Let it bloody go!’ Wily old bird, he said, ‘Right. We’ve a vote of no confidence in our MP. Let’s have a show of hands.’ Nobody voted against it and that was it. Put to bed. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1970–97)46 I got on with all [the constituency party] except the toffs in the north of the party [laughs]. The ones who were friends with Tony Blair, who lent him their villas in the Dordogne for holidays. [...] They didn’t want someone like me, I wasn’t posh enough. They wanted someone who would make an international mark for the party, which is what Peter Hain said he would do when he tried to take the seat. [...] Then they sent a woman [to challenge me] because they thought a woman might unseat me. They did everything they could but they didn’t get anywhere near unseating me, I increased my vote. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)47 I forewarned [David Blunkett, secretary of state for education], that ‘I want to mention the fact [in debate] that most Pakistani kids go into school without a word of English,

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and that definitely influences their future. It takes them two or three years to catch up. I’m going to ask you a question about whether you think it would be a good idea for Asian families [...] to start to use English in the home.’ [...] I did, I raised it. [...] He had it off pat, he agreed with me. You’d be amazed at the trouble I had. It sounds quite reasonable; it is not something revolutionary. [...] Eventually [a meeting was set up with local councillors from the Pakistani community]. It was terrible. [...] At a certain point the ringleader [...] said, ‘Your late husband [...] the Honourable Bob Cryer would be disgusted with the sort of things that you’re doing on this issue.’ I just stood up and I said, ‘Get out of my house. I will not listen to this absolute claptrap and you are not going to bring my late husband into this.’ [...] It got so heated, did the discussion. [...] That same group, shortly after that, devised a scheme where they stayed on after a [Labour] group meeting and passed a motion asking for my expulsion from the Labour Party. That’s rough stuff, it was all very upsetting. [...] I meant, well, it wasn’t meant as anti-Asian, I just wanted the best for Asian children. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)48 *** In the 1970s and 1980s many Labour Members faced challenges from the Trotskyite group Militant Tendency who were attempting to infiltrate the party. In the 1970s, the constituency I suppose you could say started to break up. [...] There was a chap who came from Shipley into the Bradford North Labour Party and he was an infiltrator for the Militant Tendency. He discovered a weak ward: there was a few elderly people running the ward. He intimidated them and eventually they stopped going to ward meetings and he took over. [...] Eventually of course it came to reselection. I think I’m the only chap who has been deselected twice [laughs]. […] I stood as an independent [in the following election] and stopped the Militant chap from being elected. [...] I felt that the Labour Party was leaving me, rather than me leaving the Labour Party. [...] [The constituency party] devolved into two sections: those who supported me and those who supported the other chap [...] I think I could have been more active in promoting the ‘true’ Labour Party spirit in the constituency, but I think I was becoming a bit war-weary at that time. [...] I saw the Militant Tendency candidate as my main opponent, he was the cause of my standing as an independent, and I would not wish him to succeed. […] Fortunately, from my view, the Conservative won and so democracy was preserved. The Militant Tendency people were very put out, very annoyed that they hadn’t won. They had fully expected to win in a landslide. They came up and offered some violence, but fortunately one or two people around got in the way. [...] I was disappointed of course, but it didn’t seem to affect me materially, not at that time. Ben Ford (Labour, 1964–83)49 There was certainly an organized attempt [by Militant Tendency] to get rid of me. I’d fallen out – not that I’d ever fell in [laughs] – fell out with the Trotskyists who tried to take over the anti-apartheid movement. They tried to take over the constituency, to get rid of me. [...] There was a sudden increase in the party’s membership. Luckily they weren’t sophisticated enough to realize that to vote in the reselection of an MP you

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had to have been a party member for twelve months. [...] So I had them all excluded as delegates to the constituency party. [...] The intimidation in those days was that they used to sit [at party meetings] and there’d be eight, or ten, or maybe a dozen of them and when someone got up they didn’t agree with they would hiss. [...] Especially intimidating for ordinary people who weren’t that articulate, not used to speaking in public meetings. [...] I wouldn’t let them get away with it. [...] I said that was not how people behaved. But I couldn’t be at every meeting, obviously. But we saw them off. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1970–97)50 I remember every weekend [we had a constituency meeting] we’d have to spend the time before the meeting ringing up, making certain that our people, who would vote for us, would be at the meeting. [...] So meetings were always crowded. There were always people out to cause trouble, or moving daft resolutions, but you had to have [your] vote there. [...] Tony Blair was a good leader and he had to do what he had to do. We just had to change, and I think he was the right person there. [...] Some of the things naturally you don’t like, you don’t like giving away, but you have to, you have to win. You have to take people with you, that’s what a democracy is all about. Llin Golding (Labour, 1986–2001)51 It was the beginning of the second infiltration of the hard left into the Labour Party. It never greatly affected my constituency, where it did, I was so hard-working, and I can’t use the word without making it sound boastful: popular, that I could beat them off. I even became friendly with them. If you show a sense of humour with people, they end up liking you. They don’t dig the knife in as deeply as they otherwise would. Alan Lee Williams (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–9)52

Part V

Reflections

13

Ups and downs Great achievements and few regrets as an MP

The East End [of London] was full of problems, and poverty, and difficulties for people. I hoped as a Member of Parliament that I was going to be able to do as much as possible to improve things. Looking back – I don’t know. Except for individual cases, specific issues […] I don’t think I did anything basic to improve things. I didn’t get more houses built. I wasn’t able to improve people’s incomes. I wasn’t able to make any major changes. I think it was very foolish to think that I could, actually. I think when I left Parliament, except for Canary Wharf and the luxury flats that were built there [...] things were much like before. Some of the old slums that have been there when I was a child were still there. I hadn’t changed it. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)1

We always ask our interviewees to meditate on their achievements as an MP, and whether they have any regrets about their careers. Although oral history interviews often produce deep reflections, this specific line of questioning directly encourages MPs to consider their successes and failures and it can be very revealing, of course on a personal level, but also about the nature of political power itself. Often MPs believed that they were unable to achieve anything significant, given the pressures of the system. Of course, by asking MPs to reflect on their careers in this way we are inviting them to think about how they want to be remembered, and we cannot be completely sure that they are not framing their answers to give a certain impression.2 Some of our interviewees, however, say openly that they had very different expectations of success when they began their careers, and have in fact learnt to be proud of a career they would have been disappointed with when starting out. When discussing achievements, more Members referred to their constituency work than to anything else. This was perhaps because most of the interviewees were backbenchers and this was the area they could make the most difference: Bryan Magee described this work as his ‘only chance I, as a backbench MP’, had to do so.3 Linda Gilroy called it a ‘privilege’.4 Constituency issues ranged from saving local hospitals, individual legal cases, local schools, campaigns for or against roads, airports and other infrastructure – a whole list of specific improvements. Many talked about how they had been responsible for changes in the law (see also Chapter 10). This was a way an

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MP could improve a wider range of people’s lives – for example Marion Roe’s antifemale genital mutilation bill.5 These bills were remembered with great emotion – Peter Jackson’s voice broke as he talked about abortion.6 MPs could be proud simply of the personal achievement of becoming an MP itself. Kenneth Carlisle remembered, ‘I felt very lucky to have been part of it.’7 Those who became ministers reflected on their pride at reaching the position they did and the influence they were able to have. Others expressed sadness at not achieving high office, or at losing positions within government. Finally, some were proud of taking stands that they believed in, whether they worked out or not. Jim Sillars was pleased that he left Labour to set up the Scottish Labour Party in the 1970s even if the party did not survive.8 Others were proud of staying in their parties and trying to change them: Allan Rogers in the fight against Militant Tendency,9 John Watson in making the Conservative Party less posh.10 Many found that their expectations were not matched in reality: what they thought could be achieved at the start of their career compared to the actual role and power of an MP. As David Curry described it, being a government backbench MP was ‘the most useless, awful thing on the planet’11 and a couple openly criticized their governments for treating them as ‘voting fodder’.12 Even those who became ministers did not necessarily do all they wished: Bill Rodgers said, ‘In the whole of my eleven years as a minister and twenty-one years as a Member of Parliament, I can actually point to the metro. I saved the Tyneside Metro; otherwise, I haven’t changed the world. I wish I had changed the world.’13 Some regretted the timing of their careers. Anthony Coombs reflected that he entered the House when he was too young.14 Several Labour MPs were frustrated that their party was in opposition between 1979 and 1997. We did have some who reflected on failed ventures. Those who left Labour to start or join the SDP had mixed feelings, even to themselves, about whether they should have stayed or should have left. Others regretted specific votes – for example Patrick Jenkin in voting for the death penalty when he did not believe in it.15 Yet most did not regret their decision to pursue a political career, even if they did not quite achieve all they initially hoped to personally or politically. *** [I am proud of] the things one managed to do for the constituency. There were certainly two schools where I had a big hand in getting them rebuilt; they were in a terrible state. Maxwell pensioners, I had a lot to do with that. [...] Stopping the third London airport at Wing, that was an early campaign; getting Leighton Buzzard’s bypass built. [...] It was managing to do the things locally that people recognize the part I played, I know they do. That is what you’re sent to Westminster to do. Often a question asked at selection [meetings] was, ‘Well, what sort of priority: country or party?’ The correct answer is the country comes first, then the constituency, then the party. David Madel (Conservative, 1970–2001)16 There was one guy and his son was dying; he was really, really, ill. They wanted a proper bed that moved and did everything, which would really make him more comfortable.

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They hadn’t been able to get it, so we took it up and he had it. After I lost, I bumped into him and he said, ‘Thank you so much’ and I said, ‘I’m really sorry he didn’t have it longer,’ and he said, ‘No, it was really wonderful for him to be comfortable.’ So, on that kind of personal level, because you know if you ring up someone and go, ‘I’m the MP,’ they pay attention. [...] You know on that personal level you can help some people. Not everybody, but that gives you a good sense of achievement. Eileen Gordon (Labour, 1997–2001)17 It was an enormous privilege to have three terms to be able to try and do your best for your constituents. That was my main preoccupation. I never aspired to, as many MPs quite rightly do – you couldn’t operate without them – to become a minister, delivering on the manifesto. I did I suppose see my aim in life being to try and make sense of democracy, and my particular type of politics for people who shared the same place on our planet. Linda Gilroy (Labour, 1997–2010)18 *** I think the truth is that if you can stand up and say I changed life considerably for literally hundreds of thousands of people by introducing legislation, that would be your finest moment.19 [As the minister of state for the environment and countryside] the Environmental Protection Act was my baby. I nursed that baby all the way through Parliament, saw it through the House of Lords, came back in the committee stages and did the report stages to the House of Commons. And it still is effective to this day. [...] It was the toughest piece of legislation in Europe. That is something I can genuinely say was me, me and me. David Trippier (Conservative, 1979–92)20 One [I was proud of] – it’s in all the history books now. A thing called the Confait case. It was three youngsters who were in my constituency, who were done for murder and it took four or five long years to get it sent back to the appeal court. They all got off because they were completely innocent. That led to all the new legislation about interrogating, and police, and a whole lot of things. That is the thing I’m proud of. [...] It really switched from the police having a grip of everything, covering up all their mistakes, now things have to be uncovered, that the police mess up. And this was a terrible mess up; it was an appalling mess up. Chris Price (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–83)21 The thing I’m most proud of doing is the Home Energy Conservation Act [1995, a Private Member’s Bill]. [...] I stood up in Parliament and said this is going to create jobs. And some councils ran with it and indeed it did create jobs. [...] Probably the second thing is playing quite a good role in making sure we had a fuel poverty strategy in the [2010–15] Parliament. Diana Maddock (LD, 1993–7)22 It was more a case of changing the direction of minor pieces of legislation. Occasionally, I was able to put down an amendment to the finance bill, which I had agreed to with the government in advance. I didn’t have any idea that I would be responsible for massive changes. It was more a case of wanting to make sure that the changes that were made were, to me, in the right direction. Michael Stern (Conservative, 1983–97)23

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My mind on the abortion issue was very much concentrated by – I could strangle the man – a judge who gave a woman a long jail sentence [for carrying out an abortion.] I sounded off in Parliament. I don’t know what I did but I made the lead story in the Sheffield newspapers, which surprised me, in criticism of this particular judge. As a result of this, I was put in touch with a working-class man who was the husband of the lady who was sent to prison for I think it was four years. I went to see him and he had three kids and he wasn’t skilled in childrearing and he was devastated by this. I felt very sorry for him [voice breaks] I can still see it now. That concentrated my mind, like nothing, to see a family’s life being destroyed by a shit judge. If you ask me what was my most important contribution it would be my role in bringing about rights for women which they never had before, and hopefully not sending women to prison [for abortion]. Peter Jackson (Labour, 1966–70)24 Undoubtedly [my proudest achievement at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport] it would be free admissions for the national museums and galleries. It was something I had been passionate about when I was a student. When I became secretary of state I wanted to do it. It became very obvious it wasn’t going to be easy, partly because we had no money to play with in the first couple of years. [...] Tony [Blair] initially was reluctant, [...] I convinced him. [...] There was a wonderful moment when the Science Museum had invited me to come [to the first free opening]. About half an hour later I was wondering around in the foyer and this young man carrying his little daughter on his shoulders was making a beeline towards me. As he came up to me he turned to his daughter and said: ‘I want you to say thank you to this man, it’s because of him we are able to be here today.’ That was the moment that I thought perhaps a career in politics has been worth it after all. Chris Smith (Labour, 1983–2005)25 I entered politics to get something done. If it’s nothing else, that Freedom of Information [Act 2000] is my legacy [following the publication of a White Paper on the issue in 1998]. [...] Of that cabinet, there’s not many can say that they’ve got a legacy issue, I may not have lasted long but I achieved something. I think it’s important for democracy. It’s important for a modern democratic country that people should be trusted and have access to as much information as possible. David Clark (Labour, 1970–February 1974; 1979–2001)26 *** [Being an MP] was just a wonderful thing. I mean it was the end of what was probably a seven- or eight-year ambition. So to actually get in and be here was really wonderful. I mean, you did feel you were walking on clouds for quite a long time. Just the thrill of having done it and being here. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)27 I enjoyed being part of history. It sounds really grand, but I didn’t mean to say I was making history. It was the fact that you walk into an office building each day which has got a lot of history, which you had in a way dreamt about all your adult life. So there was the magic of the place. I think there was a magic about the procedures and

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so forth. There was enormous kindness from colleagues on all sides and the staff. But it was this meeting of my trio of likes, I think. Which is the like of the performance, and I always enjoyed theatrical work in an amateur way. And the desire to be part of decision making, whether as backbencher or on a select committee or on a standing committee or in government. [...] And the joy of getting to know people. People who need help and people who, without your help, don’t know what to do. Maybe, I don’t know, three out of five times you succeed, two times you don’t. But at least you’ve tried. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)28 I felt that I was taking part in something important. I got a buzz from it. I was a sort of House of Commons man. Although I was a minister for a total of ten years, I was always much more just an MP, really. I wasn’t one of those people who was ambitious to be a minister. […] I saw myself as the MP for Eastwood: that was who I was. So I got a great deal of satisfaction simply from the sense of being there, not necessarily doing anything, but just being there during great events, participating in history kind of thing. John Allan Stewart (Conservative, 1979–97)29 The rare occasions I could ‘make a difference’, like my knife bill, meant that I left a footprint.30 […] I felt an enormous sense of wonderment, really, being at this amazing theatre and at the heart of government. Meeting all the top people, who were really part of the decision-making process and feeling that kind of sense of energy and urgency and the whole apparatus that went with it, whether it was civil service or whether it was government departments. We were pretty spoiled. We were given an elevated position, which, you know, once you lost it, you had to decompress. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)31 I suppose there was a certain pride in having power, which you didn’t have before, to do things. Ronald Atkins (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–9)32 My life has been interesting. [...] When you think I was the first boy from the village to go to university, and being the youngest of twelve, it wasn’t easy. [...] I’ve had a good life. I hope in some ways I can say I’ve helped other people to have good lives. [...] When people say: ‘You were a Member of Parliament’ – you know, I don’t regard it as a job. Still a lot of people, well, 99 per cent of people – I’m almost afraid to say I was a Member of Parliament in case they say, ‘Oh, one of those crooks’ [laughs], on the other hand 99 per cent of people [are impressed]. It is when you think of it a rather unusual job. Allan Rogers (Labour, 1983–2001)33 Why do people want to be going into politics? You ask politicians – ‘I want to improve the society and world’, they all say that. But there are times when you have a chance to do it. […] Clearly the desire to change things, the only chance you have to do that is if you are a minister. You can’t change very much as a backbencher, really. You can try and nudge things a bit, you can ally with others and try to get a movement going, but ministers deal the cards. It is always more fun dealing the cards and playing the hand, because [laughs] by dealing the cards you can influence how the hand is played. So I loved being a minister. I enjoyed it enormously. Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)34

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When you become a minister you’ve actually got a proper job to do. You actually can have some control over things. You can start to say yes or no to various things that are going on. That gives you not only a much greater interest, you are no longer just in Parliament talking shop, you are actually a part of a doing shop and that gives you a far greater interest, makes you work much harder, means you’ve actually got a fulltime job, where you are actually performing certain functions. Whereas as an ordinary backbench Member you have no real responsibility and no function of government, you are a part of a regime but you are totally an advisory part rather than being part of doing something. James Prior (Conservative, 1959–87)35 The point is being in [government] you actually have influence on what happens in the world. As a backbencher you only have influence on other Members of Parliament, not on the outside world at all. [...] I enjoyed the defence [brief] most because I travelled around the world a great deal and went to places I would never have gone to otherwise, like the jungles of Borneo and so on. I found it very useful actually. The one great achievement in my life, I would say, was when the Americans were fighting the war in Vietnam and tried to win it by bombing, they lost with millions of casualties. I was fighting just across the water in Indonesia against a similar type of guerrilla warfare and I relied entirely on the SAS, wouldn’t let the air force drop a single bomb, and we won it with fewer casualties than [there were] on the bank holiday roads in Britain. Denis Healey (Labour, 1952–92)36 Of course [I regret not becoming prime minister]. I had the next best thing. I don’t in anyway qualify my regret, but I would say this: because John [Major] invited me to be his deputy, I was very close to the job. It’s a wonderful job, but it’s a terrible job. It’s non-stop, and it’s worse now. It’s 24/7. [...] There is no escape. Michael Heseltine (Conservative, 1966–2001)37 I don’t think [ambition] has been tremendously important. I’ve always been more interested in issues. I’ve never seen myself as quite a leader of men. Probably my aspiration would have been to be foreign secretary, because of the war and peace issue. I was, actually, for a brief moment in the team, in opposition, under Denis Healey, before the Falkland Islands business, before I left the Labour Party. And I also had been shadow defence in a junior role, doing the army. To be honest I never really thought that I had all that it took. Robert Maclennan (Labour/SDP/LD, 1966–2001)38 I would have loved to have been a minister, but I recognized the limitations of my own shortcomings. I never had a higher education, I had a humble education, I had no degrees, nothing of that nature. All I’ve got is life’s experience. I didn’t know people of influence, I came from Chesterton in Cambridge and my father was a shop steward. I didn’t know Lord somebody or other and so on, so I had no influence in that direction at all. […] I think you’ve got to have certain abilities to achieve ministerial ambitions. I knew full well that I didn’t have those qualifications, but I did know that I’d been elected and I would do my best as a humble backbencher, and I played football for the parliamentary football team. John Powley (Conservative, 1983–7)39 I would have loved to be a minister, of course. Yes. Yes. But I wasn’t. It was slightly irritating, seeing other people get it and you didn’t. But then, I would rationalize it and

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say that I did have a very marginal Labour seat in London and so I did spend a lot of time there, I didn’t hang around the Chamber making sycophantic speeches. So I was told by whips that they would like to see me do more, but then that would have meant abandoning the constituency. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)40 [After losing his government post following the Conservative defeat in 1974] Of course, your [ministerial] car is immediately taken away […] and the first morning that I had to walk to the tube I believed that all the way along the road that people were drawing their curtains back and pointing and laughing. Of course that was complete nonsense but that was what I thought. I felt in a sense humiliated because we’d lost the election and I was here having to give up what I’d become used to over the previous four years. Patrick Jenkin (Conservative, 1964–87)41 *** I’m actually quite proud of helping form the Scottish Labour Party and leaving the Labour Party. I sort of saw what the Labour Party was becoming, I think, quicker than anybody else saw it. Because you don’t make a pledge to people the way the Labour Party did in ’74 [over Scottish devolution] and, really, basically make sure you renege on it later on. I mean, to me that is fairly fundamental. Jim Sillars (Labour/SNP, March 1970–9; 1988–92)42 One thing I’m quite proud of was helping to lead the fight against Militant Tendency. I’m very proud of that. I mean, we threw them out in the Rhondda, and I was very helpful in getting them squeezed out of London. I enjoyed my physical battle on one occasion with Derek Hatton [Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council, 1983–6]. Allan Rogers (Labour, 1983–2001)43 [Achievement] is to do something rather than be something. And I always wanted that. [...] It’s what you do in politics, what you achieve which matters. Whether you are a peer or a backbench MP or a cabinet member, that doesn’t determine always what happens. [...] In the Commons I think the big thing was supporting Gaitskell against Bevan. That was a big thing because the split in the party at that time was immensely damaging. Denis Healey (Labour, 1952–92)44 *** It’s quite interesting when I go around the shops and the offices around here in Southend, people keep on saying, they are terribly nice to me: ‘Teddy Taylor, I know you, you were terribly kind to my sister-in-law, or you were very kind to my brotherin-law when they came to your surgery and you sorted out problems of one kind or another.’ People are very conscious of that here. But nobody ever says, ‘I am so glad, we are missing you very much because I was glad to have someone fighting against the European Union, or someone fighting to stop the wars in the Middle East,’ these kind of things. That seems to be dead. It’s the personal things that people seem to remember and it is rather sad for me in some ways. I think I would like to have them

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remembering more about the things you did politically, but what seems to matter to them more than anything is what you do for people. Teddy Taylor (Conservative, 1964–79; 1980–2005)45 I think I achieved more than I expected, considering it was circumstances that made me a Member of Parliament. I had one view about being a Member of Parliament. I really hadn’t sufficient memory, and I was not good enough to do the job any better than I did. I had opportunities to pursue wider interests but I hadn’t the ability to do it. [...] I never admitted to enjoying being a Member of Parliament. There are good sides to it and there are bad sides to it and I did feel it gave me a magnificent opportunity to find out more about the world and the different countries of the world, so I valued the opportunity of being a Member of Parliament but I didn’t think I was good enough to say I enjoyed being a Member of Parliament. John Osborn (Conservative, 1959–87)46 I always lied to myself about that. I think I used to say to myself, from the very beginning, not subsequently, unless you could be satisfied with just being an MP and not regard it as a process to getting something else you shouldn’t do it. I think I still believe that. But of course it can be very frustrating. You can be an MP and do a good job as an MP up to a point, but it depends how much clout you have as to whether you can do anything more than that. So I never quite sorted that out. It’s got a bit better in that respect, because the one thing I did have a part in establishing was the system of select committees. I think that has made a big difference to the backbenches and I am very pleased about that. But generally speaking I’m not sure. Fred Silvester (Conservative, 1967–70; February 1974–87)47 I never put up a bill. I would think my work on the services committee in the House of Commons, and as chairman of the accommodation administration subcommittee, I think they were my main contribution at two Parliaments. Politically I carried on my work for the constituency, trying to help people individually in the constituency, but I’m afraid that I cannot record any sort of great contribution to the continuity of Parliament at all. That may be a great fault on my part. I haven’t been fortunate enough to be endowed with that sort of drive that people have to keep them going. [...] I can’t say that I had a distinguished parliamentary career. I’ve just sort of been one of the workers as it were. [Long omission] I don’t believe I ever reached my full potential but that was my fault, just probably sheer idleness or love of social intercourse, I don’t know. I have been a politician but I don’t feel as though I had made any sort of mark as a politician. Ben Ford (Labour, 1964–83)48 *** I didn’t actually like life as an MP. It’s very frustrating, you have lots and lots of meetings and they don’t get you anywhere. It may be a bit better now, but you want to speak in a major debate and you will probably only be called in one of three debates you put your name down. So there you are sitting and waiting to be called and all sorts of other people talking nonsense, you’ve got this complete solution for the problem there and you are not called! It’s very frustrating. [Long omission] Being a backbench MP is not

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in my view a satisfactory life. Sometimes you could achieve things, which is immensely satisfying, but it does make family life very difficult and it also, you know, what do you achieve? Most MPs are very frustrated. […] There are too many MPs and not enough for them to do except the endless meetings; they’re busy all the time, lots of constituency work. Of course if I could get somebody a pension it was rewarding but I didn’t want to be a welfare officer. I didn’t want to be a local councillor. I wanted to take part in national and international affairs. That was my interest. You can’t do very much you feel a lot of the time as MP. So you are terribly busy, you achieve very little and you have very little family life. Not very satisfactory. Dick Taverne (Labour/SDP, 1962–72; 1973–September 1974)49 I’m not quite sure why we do it. I think there is a rather unpleasant sense of selfindulgence and inviolability that once you got there, you are almost in a league apart. It’s a very selfish life. You get used to being the principal guest wherever you go to speak, you get used to people being around you, it is often said it’s an aphrodisiac. I was single when I was a Member of Parliament and I didn’t want for girlfriends. Interestingly, Members of Parliament have no power, whatsoever, and yet they have the illusion of power, or they have the illusion of influence. It’s the dynamism of being in the political [world]. It’s that excitement of knowing what the headlines of the newspapers are going to be next morning before they are even written, because you’ve been there where they’ve been created. It’s the excitement, the adrenaline that goes through the body the whole time. Keith Best (Conservative, 1979–87)50 I chose to remain a councillor for forty years. [...] I didn’t have to do it, of course I didn’t, I didn’t get paid anything until towards the end, so I wasn’t doing it for the money, there is not a great deal of glory in it either. I did it because I think that I could get more done that directly affected people’s daily lives than I could as an opposition MP. That is not to belittle MPs at all and certainly not to say, you know, that the London Borough of Sutton changes the world. […] I think we brought some good, significant changes about in the London Borough of Sutton. Graham Tope (Liberal, 1972– February 1974)51 I enjoyed [my time as an MP] insofar as one got certain things done and at least had the chance of trying to get certain things, like industrial relations, trying to get them done, maybe not succeeding. From that point of view it was very interesting but very hard work in government to get change, much more difficult than I thought. I thought once one was in government it would be easy to get change but it’s not. It’s much easier to, in a way, to get change, in opposition, because you can threaten to bring a government down if they don’t do certain things. So I think, really, I preferred opposition to government. Ronald Murray (Labour, 1970–9)52 *** I might have liked to have been a top cabinet minister, and I suppose if my party had been in power in the ’80s I would have been a cabinet minister. Just for the experience. But I have enjoyed being the kind of MP that I have been. Which I think actually if

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I had been told ‘Radice, you are not going to be a bloody cabinet minister, whatever your ambitions are,’ I might’ve been a bit disappointed to hear this in 1973, but in a sense I made a role for myself. That’s what I had to do. I think my books and my ideas and running the select committee with it, in a sense I made a new role, if you like, for me. Maybe that’s a possible role which others might like to follow, I don’t know. Maybe that’s very arrogant of me to say that. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)53 If you say to me ‘what did you achieve?’ I would say: I made democracy work [as an opposition MP]. And I think that is profoundly important to me. The rule of law and democracy give us our freedoms, our tolerance, and that’s so, so important. [...] I mostly enjoyed [being an MP], I didn’t enjoy opposition, of course I was in opposition for eighteen years. Clive Soley (Labour, 1979–2005)54 I’m glad I did it, but I’m not glad when I did it. In other words, I did it far too early in life. I should have established myself more financially and emotionally, as a rounded personality with heavier weights on my shoulders than I did. I rushed into it almost a sort of a natural extension of my PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) degree than my council work. I’m glad I did it but I’m not glad when I did it. If I look back, I don’t look back with a huge amount of satisfaction. Anthony Coombs (Conservative, 1987–97)55 *** I wish that there had been a sort of social democratic to the left of the centre [movement] together and standing for the values which were mine and my friends’. [...] I wished it had been that. I think that the governments of [Harold] Wilson, [James] Callaghan [...] and then of Tony Blair were defective in some important ways. I wish that I had played my part and I wish I’d been able to rescue the Labour Party in the 1979–83 period. William Rodgers (Labour/SDP/LD, 1962–83)56 I don’t know. On balance, I think it was right to try to create a new party. But I … [breaks off]. David Owen (Labour/SDP, 1966–92)57 I can date exactly when I made the wrong political decision. […] For two years I was an opposition whip and I was very good at it, actually. Shouldn’t say that but I was quite good at it. They said would I like to become pairing whip, which is the next stage up. [...] At the same time, the chief whip said to a meeting of the whips gathered together, ‘We are running up towards the election, we got a plan for the next election to win it. So I want a commitment now that if you want to, you stay in the whips’ office now until the election.’ [...] They tried to persuade me and I very foolishly made the wrong decision. Because I thought, I don’t know why I thought it, really, except a misjudgement, I said: ‘Oh, no, I won’t stay,’ because I’m the only MP in Manchester and as a whip you are not allowed to make speeches so you are never in the paper and all that sort of stuff. Of course it was a misjudgement, because people don’t remember whether you made speeches or not. What they remember is what you’ve done and what your position is. Fred Silvester (Conservative, 1967–70; February 1974–87)58

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I suppose I was responsible for [the Serpell report].59 It was not my idea; the involvement of Sir David Serpell was not my choice. I didn’t know him at all. I think I was moving along in a much larger set of ideas driven by the civil service and various interests in British Rail and in the transport sector. I think looking back that I didn’t have enough experience to guide it all the way I wanted. It was not a happy choice. It was not a happy timing. It was necessary to the beginning of unravelling the old nationalized, centralized, out-dated and – people forget how inefficient and run down a system – British Railways was. But it became involved in other events and in a most unsatisfactory way. So I look back on that whole episode without any pleasure at all. David Howell (Conservative, 1966–97)60 I had one vote [in favour of the death penalty] of which I remain very ashamed. There was a particular vote and a particular amendment, [I felt] that I could support it, but the fact of the matter was that I had been consistently against the death penalty for all the usual reasons and for most of that I voted against it. Of course I did argue with the constituents on that and I said: ‘Look, I’ve been elected to Parliament to make up my own mind and to listen to all the arguments and not be persuaded by arguments with which I disagree and you have your sanction that if you feel that something that is so important to you in politics, then it’s your right in the next election not to make me your candidate.’ I think a lot of the constituents respected that. They may have disagreed but they respected that that was and always has been the proper constitutional position of a Member of the Parliament. Patrick Jenkin (Conservative, 1964–87)61 To end on a sad note and reflecting on my parliamentary so-called career is that I think that I was very busy doing other things and I didn’t have time [hanging] around Parliament twiddling my thumbs when there was a vote. I think, as a criticism of myself, I was probably arrogant in that I thought that somebody would spot that I had some sort of ability or talent and give me a job. In which case I would’ve dropped everything and loved doing it. But I wasn’t going to – it was not my nature to go around ingratiating myself with people. So I suppose that was criticism of my own attitude really. Charles Goodson-Wickes (Conservative, 1987–97)62 One thing I do regret, and I have to say this, is that my party were prepared, after fifty-four years of unpaid service incidentally, they expelled me because I objected to a Tory, Shaun Woodward, being parachuted into a safe Labour seat of South Helens. I was so incensed, because it had happened before in Newport and other places that defecting Tories were being given safe Labour seats when there were 600 people on the Labour Party’s panel of candidates, that when one of the people who were objecting in St Helens South said he was going to stand against the party, I wrote him a letter and sent him fifty quid to help him stand against Shaun Woodward. That was enough to get me expelled. I didn’t appeal against it because, you know, if that is what they wanted, I’m quite capable of operating alone. The letter of expulsion came through on Christmas Eve 2001. […] I do regret that because I spent a lifetime in the party and really was insulted a bit, I think, by getting thrown out in favour of a Tory. David Stoddart (Labour, 1970–83)63

14

Happy families Managing personal life and politics

I was having a conversation at home with my wife, we were discussing what we would do if I lost, which seemed very likely, and my younger daughter was listening to it and she asked me: ‘Are you going to lose?’ I said, ‘Yes, probably.’ ‘Does it mean you will be at home at weekends?’ I said ‘Yes,’ ‘and in the evenings?’ ‘Yes, most of the time.’ ‘Oh, I do hope you lose!’ Dick Taverne (Labour/SDP, 1962–72; 1973–September 1974)1

For most MP politics was ‘all-consuming’: not just a job but an entire lifestyle, affecting family life and relationships, professional careers and financial security. The whole life nature of our interviews allows us to explore these very personal aspects, and, on occasion, led to deep reflections on choices made, particularly about the impact on their families. An MP’s spouse in many ways bore the brunt of their partner’s decision to pursue a political career. Some MPs either actively sought a political spouse or partnered with someone with a similar level of activism. Judging by the tearful reaction of some wives to their husband’s selection, this was perhaps a sensible approach. Relationships could be strained to the point that some blamed working hard at politics for the end of their marriages. In general more male than female MPs expressed concern about this, mostly blaming long hours away from home or Westminster’s drinking culture: a ‘recipe for adultery’ (although not one all succumbed to).2 A supportive partner was a ‘real asset’ to MPs, both in the constituency and to support a political life. Several female MPs missed having ‘a wife to run things’.3 Many male MPs certainly expressed their gratitude at the amount of work their partners took on, in the constituency but particularly raising children. For some, children or parents could offer support instead of, or alongside, a spouse. Children were a complication to a political career, and women often felt the problems more acutely given the extra expectations around motherhood; Helene Hayman recalled being ‘terribly torn’ after her son was born.4 This was not just a concern for women, men felt it too. Ian Twinn drove home each night for bath time with his newborn, described as an ‘exciting’ time – but one lacking in sleep.5 Children

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were of course exposed to the public eye, yet being an MP’s child could bring some excitement; John Watson’s children occasionally rushed in to Parliament in their pyjamas so he could vote.6 The 1997 Labour government determined to change political working hours to make them more family-friendly. The change met with mixed reviews. Many blamed Harriet Harman personally for ‘destroying’ the camaraderie in Parliament.7 For London-based MPs shorter working hours were much more convenient, as they could get home in the evenings. Yet for those with family outside of London the concern was that change might make things worse, not better, with more lonely nights away. The changes to sitting hours were welcomed for MPs’ health – Chris Butler said he took years to return to a normal sleeping pattern.8 Rather different than what we currently find in the House of Commons, in the period before the 1990s MPs commonly earned money outside Parliament and being an MP was not a full-time job for many. This was especially the case for barristers where the hours could complement the Commons, but others could work as consultants or write for newspapers to supplement their income. There were positives and negatives to this. It could be difficult to manage a diary and the whips did not like it – Geoffrey Howe even chartered planes to get back to vote.9 On the other hand, it gave financial independence and security. MPs’ payment and allowances have long been a controversial topic, and it was only in 1971, with the creation of the Top Salaries Review Body, that reviews of Members’ salaries started to be routinely updated. The basic salary of £4,500 was implemented from 1 January 1972. Allowances for Members in money or in kind are mostly fairly recent.10 Extra costs of being an MP were then not recognized financially: accommodation in London, or in the constituency, constituency spending, even post had to come out of this salary. Wives ended up doing a lot of constituency work unpaid, beginning a culture that would cause trouble later. Of course some MPs were well off and did not notice these costs. For others, they faced real financial difficulties – cheap Bed and Breakfasts were the norm for many. Under Harold Wilson’s government Joe Ashton was so concerned about the lack of pay – and the possibility of corruption that followed – he organized a strike.11 The response under Margaret Thatcher was not to raise pay but to increase allowances, leading directly to the expenses scandal of 2009. Familial or financial, there were few areas of an MP’s private life that the role did not touch. *** I then formed the view that politics was so important in my life that it would be impossible to marry anyone who was not political. […] Women who were interested in politics, in my view, then were very thin on the ground, so when you actually met someone who you found physically attractive and who was politically involved you didn’t have second thoughts. Peter Jackson (Labour, 1966–70)12 We [husband Bob Cryer MP] got engaged on an Aldermaston march by the way, with CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). He went from Shipley I went from Blackburn. Ann Cryer (Labour, 1997–2010)13

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When I was selected [for Arundel and Shoreham] […] I was very excited, but my wife appeared to be in tears, in fact she was in tears. The agent quickly said to the press, ‘She is in tears of joy.’ She wasn’t at all. She knew what it meant for family life. She knew it was the best thing for me. The next day the headline in the Sunday Times was ‘Mrs Luce’s husband wins Arundel and Shoreham’, which made her even more upset [laughs]. The truth is she was the most superb support to me, actually in every walk of life, but in constituency life. As the oldest of four daughters of [Sir Godfrey Nicholson, MP for Farnham 1937–66], she was the one who always campaigned with him in the constituency in Farnham and she knew what it was all about. She liked people and therefore I can’t understate what her support and her knowledge and experience meant to me. Richard Luce (Conservative, 1971–92)14 [Family and politics] didn’t fit in very well actually, in some ways, because my first wife didn’t like politics and our marriage probably broke up on the political issue. Not that my second wife is totally enamoured at being an MP’s wife. Being an MP’s spouse is not a good thing to be. [...] I do remember when telling her that I’d been selected for Chester-le-Street […] I’d phoned her and she burst into tears on the phone, my second wife, because she knew what it was going mean. I don’t think anybody has any idea of what impact it is on the families, I mean any members of the public. They want wives to do things, to be an extra MP really. They probably shouldn’t, it’s outrageous really [laughs]. [...] By 1966 I was aware that my first wife was a bit unhappy about me pursuing a political career and I was clear I was going to go on doing it. But that was life. A sadness, a failure of mine. Fortunately my children have forgiven me. My grandchildren don’t experience it. I had a terrific party for my eightieth birthday, all my grandchildren and so on, thirty-five people here. I felt they’d all forgiven me [laughs]. Giles Radice (Labour, 1973–2001)15 [Politics affected my life] disastrously. It destroyed my marriage, because I was out all the time. I had a young wife, much younger than me. [...] I was then asked by George Brown when he was foreign secretary to go out to the UN [for two years to assist the British delegation on the decolonisation committee]. [...] That presented me with a big problem because it meant I was away from the constituency. […] My young wife [ran] my [constituency advice surgery] for me, which she did very well. […] I shouldn’t have accepted that job but they were very keen I should do it. I did it to the best of my ability, but it did mean living in New York, entirely alone, in a hotel. [...] I had a very lonely existence. The price was when I came back my wife had ran off; we had two small children. [...] You asked me about the impact, I would say it was disastrous. Alan Lee Williams (Labour, 1966–70; February 1974–9)16 I was focused more on – I had a child, being a mum, things like that. In terms of politics, I didn’t do anything political until 1983, my daughter was four. [Long omission] In 1987 I got elected to both the town council and the district council. […] At my first group meeting I was elected deputy leader of the council. […] After two years of all of that my husband had had enough of my politics, because he didn’t share my political views and he didn’t like me being out all the time doing politics, so my marriage broke up in 1989. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)17

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You got to know so much of what was going on [as a whip for the Conservatives], on a great many subjects and also, of course, about the private lives of people and things like that, that you became more and more secretive [laughs]. […] It doesn’t help one’s marriage, it helped to break up my first marriage undoubtedly because you couldn’t get away as much, anything like as much. Robin Chichester-Clark (Ulster Unionist, 1955–February 1974)18 I think it is a recipe for adultery and divorce being an MP, or again it was when the hours were different. My advice to new MPs always was: don’t live in your constituency if it’s a long way from London. Live in London with your wife and children and have a base in the constituency. Otherwise, you will find it almost impossible to keep the family together. Your wife will be alone for five-sevenths of the time and things will go wrong either with her or with you or with both. Bryan Magee (Labour/SDP, February 1974–83)19 I was fortunate that I had a wife and family in London. [...] Other MPs, whose wives and families were in the constituency, often fell in to the perils of the Strangers’ bar and so on. Some of them became alcoholics, some went off with the other women who were relatively freely available, amazing really. But I never did and I think I might have done if my family hadn’t been down there. [...] It was an affront. I can remember being down in the Strangers’ bar, how about this for an approach? This was only three or four months after the election: ‘Hello, we haven’t met before,’ some young woman, well constructed, ‘What’s your name?’ ‘My name’s John Watson.’ ‘Are you an MP?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Are you a Conservative?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Have you got a safe seat?’ ‘Yes, I’ve got a safe seat.’ ‘And are you very rich?’ ‘My dear, I’m rich beyond your wildest dreams.’ ‘Are you married?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Never mind, that was only the third of my priorities.’ I can remember that exchange now, a more overt invitation to have an affair, I’d never actually known, I laugh about it, but if I’d taken it, it was there to be taken up. You had sort of political groupies that were amazing in those days. I don’t know whether they still do or not. But, happily, I didn’t avail myself of any of those things, but there’s a great long list of people who did. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)20 *** We [the family] had a round-table discussion before I even did it. You have to have. My husband was very supportive. […] That is the whole thing. If you don’t get the support there is no point in doing it. You just can’t. You can’t live away from home for most of the week, or a whole week sometimes, without having some support. We had help in the house, so I knew that somebody was coming in and he was working, but not away, he was much more locally based at that time, so the two years for [my son] Nick to go to school were no problem at all. Every so often at the weekend I would have a massive baking day, I baked lots of cakes, lots of fruit pies, fill up the freezer and there was always food there. They weren’t going to starve. Elizabeth Peacock (Conservative, 1983–97)21 Of course I didn’t have a wife to run things. I know it sounds silly but that actually makes a big difference. When I looked at the lifestyle of my male colleagues, they

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had wives that were organizing all the cleaning, laundry, the ironing, food. Well, my husband also had a full-time career, so he wasn’t doing that. In fact he’s never cooked anything in his life. […] So there was a different pressure on a woman in those days. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)22 [The support of my wife] was very important with the constituency association. Obviously, she is a very good-looking woman, she was a model, she was only twentyfour, most of the older guys thought their birthdays had all come at once, couldn’t believe how good looking the potential MP’s wife was. Very charming. All the women liked her, because she was quite obviously sensible and loyal to me. So she was a very major asset. Anthony Coombs (Conservative, 1987–97)23 [The constituency association] wanted two people for the price of one, which they didn’t have to pay for anyway. The wife would throw parties, bring people together, help at election time. My first election in Burton, we were the only two people canvassing during the election campaign. […] So they chose somebody with a wife, and if she was attractive, as Gloria was, that was even better. Ivan Lawrence (Conservative, February 1974–97)24 Margaret [my wife] very sensibly said we should move our house to London. She understood that I wouldn’t be home all that much, but at least at the weekend when I was at home, I was at home. At least you will see the kids at the breakfast time, if not in the evening. [...] I think the pressure on her must have been enormous, she actually brought the family up and I didn’t see as much of the kids as I should have done or I would have liked to have done. But luckily I had a wife who shared my view of life. I would have never been on the council without her agreement. I would never have stood for Parliament without her agreement. So she knew what she was letting herself in for. It didn’t make it any easier but I just got on and did what I had to do. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1970–97)25 I had a very happy and satisfying marriage. I decided certain things together with my wife. First, I would only ever represent a seat in London or near to London. That was a deal I did with my wife, so that I could always be close to the family and have breakfast with the children and all the rest of it. That is very important. I’ve been tremendously lucky in that we had a very happy marriage; my wife had a huge career on her own. [...] She kept me in the style to which I’d become accustomed, which I wasn’t able to be by being a Member of Parliament [laughs]. It’s very important for a politician to be a family person. That was a big mistake of Ted [Heath] and a big mistake for Gordon Brown, although he became a family person later. Therefore, he became much more human. And that’s important. Kenneth Baker (Conservative, 1968–May 1970; October 1970–97)26 *** I didn’t have kids [when I first went into Parliament]. My colleague did. […] One of the things that he said was: ‘My wife’s done a good job bringing up my kids. I’ve got five, they are all great kids. I don’t really know them. Be careful. Make sure you get your balance right.’ Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)27

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I think they both found it quite difficult. My younger daughter was fifteen, she was about to do her GCSEs, my older daughter was about to do her A levels. Having said that, they both did alright. […] It was difficult for them because basically I left home, and we didn’t think that would happen. It is all-consuming when you arrive as a Liberal Democrat by-election winner in Parliament. It totally changed all our lives, although we still managed to have Sunday lunch together, we still managed to do that. They did survive, and I’ve talked to them about it afterwards. Diana Maddock (LD, 1993–7)28 I felt very lucky, that living in Greenwich I was still living at home. My children didn’t have to move house, there were no schooling issues. It was life as normal at home as possible. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)29 I wasn’t prepared to sit through endless debates with a newborn baby at home. Every night, not being home. [...] I can remember coming back here for bath time, for the boy, David, and his feed time and probably have an early supper, and then going back to the House again. That was the general; I mean I’m sure my wife was quite pleased to see the back of me by then. She was exhausted: we’d had an election campaign, given birth and then I got this new job thing, not a job, a role, which was all absorbing. We were both quite excited about the whole thing. Then I would roll back after the division, division at ten, normally, and then in those days probably divisions three nights a week rolling on towards midnight. So it was late back, and then a baby doesn’t allow you to sleep in much. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)30 Particularly after Ben was born I felt terribly torn between doing right by family, doing right by the constituency. […] Weekends were very much taken up with the constituency: surgeries, visits and everything. [My husband] was very busy, doing a job that involved a lot of travelling, foreign travel. The first couple of years were fine, because it was exciting, we didn’t have any children. […] It wasn’t as stressful as it got later on. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)31 I think families are badly affected by the mother or father being an MP. [...] [My children] didn’t complain, but I found out afterwards that they got teased a bit at school, taunted a bit at school, which can affect them. But we decided early on that I would keep [...] Saturday afternoon free and the boys and I went to the football. [...] So we had something in common and we spoke about it. We went on holidays, obviously, things like that together, but it was something. If you don’t do that your whole seven days can be caught up, and I think marriages are broken up because of it and children have become alienated or have taken to drugs or drink or got into difficulties as a result of it. George Foulkes (Labour, 1979–2005)32 The people who were clearly going to succeed had a degree of dedication to politics that I didn’t have. I enjoyed my job outside; I enjoyed life with the family. [...] I didn’t share to the same degree of some people, like John Major, for example, who had totally focused on whatever he did. He was a good father as well, but everything he did was in the direction of getting on. I just didn’t share that at all – and unlike them I had a job outside politics I could go to and I was earning more. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)33

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I had two young girls [at home] growing up. I was never there. I was always out and when I was at home I was tired out. In a certain way I somehow regret being a Member of Parliament; I missed my family growing up. My wife was fed up with it, really. […] There was tension. I used to be at my desk [in Parliament], quarter to ten, waiting for the vote, and my phone would ring. It would be my wife and she would say to me, ‘I’m finding it difficult to manage these children on my own. You’re never here and when you are here you are no bloody use.’ I had that quite regularly. […] I thought: ‘Well, I’m the MP, I’m here now and I’ve got to stick it.’ But I’m just wondering whether I would do it again. [...] I felt that if I stepped down we would lose the seat, I was established there and I was worth a few votes, so for the party’s sake I kept on. Kenneth Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)34 *** [My children] used to love it when the division bell went, because I couldn’t leave them at home [on their own]. Even in their pyjamas they were piled into the car; we’d drive the six or seven minutes to Parliament, the police would stop the traffic, they thought this was marvellous. Then we would run through, me an MP with three kids in tow, all in their pyjamas and dressing gowns and everything, and people wondering what this spectacle was. I’d dump them in the family room where they had access to free CocaCola then I’d go and vote and then drive them back. […] So it was difficult but they look back on those little adventures as being tremendous. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)35 [My children] came in [to Parliament]. They had their own passes. […] They quickly knew their way around. […] They went down to the canteen, they went back to my office – they didn’t come down a lot, but at half-term they would come down. Half terms were always more difficult, because […] you’d feel more guilty because you should be taking them to the Science Museum. On the other hand, there would be other people’s children around, so you’d take theirs out and they’d take yours out. [...] They coped. Ann Taylor (Labour, October 1974–9; 1987–2005)36 When I became an MP my husband was perfectly happy, he loved it. One reason being, he was a consultant at St Thomas’s hospital, which was just across the river. He had a parliamentary pass exactly the same as mine, and he could just come and go as he pleased. So if I was there late in the evening, he would come over and have dinner before he went home. He thought it was lovely. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)37 A room that had previously been used mainly for the wives of Members to sit in with some armchairs and settees, the papers and television, had to be made a little bit more accommodating for younger members of a family. Because suddenly there were a lot of young Members of Parliament, who had young children and their partners or spouses would be bringing little ones into this family room that wasn’t just the preserve of women. So they put some small tables in with some children’s toys and reading books, a nursing chair, things of that kind. They seem very small things, but that was quite a change in a way and it was a recognition that there are people here now with younger

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families who are Members of Parliament and they are likely to be visiting to see their mother. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)38 *** The big revolution was the Blair revolution, I think really led by Harriet Harman, who thought we should meet in the daytime and everyone ought to go home in the evening. Well, that was fine for her [because she lives in London]. […] But what happens if you are a Glasgow MP? What are you going to do in the evening if you are not sitting in the Chamber trying to jump up and talk about the Gorbals. You are gonna go drinking. It’s not a brilliant idea, really. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)39 Harriet Harman, so that she could see her children, managed to destroy the House of Commons [by campaigning to remove late-night sittings]. […] What you lose [with the change of hours] I suspect is that collegiate atmosphere of the House of Commons. Michael Knowles (Conservative, 1983–92)40 The Commons used to be [a Gentlemen’s Club], and now is much less so than it was, and that’s good. [Changing] the hours has challenged that phenomenally. [However] being a Member of Parliament will never be a normal nine to five job and people should stop trying to make it that. If you’re 250 miles away from constituency then actually you don’t particularly want to be free at night. I have a colleague who has found that very difficult. […] When she first came she made the stupid decision of moving her family to the constituency, out of London, and then she was here and they were up there. She used to be in agonies over it. That is the reality; you live a totally different life to any other profession. Hilary Armstrong (Labour, 1987–2010)41 In a way I think that made it worse for people living far away from London, because the Commons tearoom, one o’clock in the morning, you would be eating scrambled eggs on toast with your mates because the House was still sitting. Or you just stayed on and the men stayed on in the bar, there was life there, there was friendship and people stayed in. Now they finish at seven o’clock. Where do they go? […] I think it must be very lonely, I wouldn’t like it. I loved it in the Commons. I loved it, even the late nights. I remember once sleeping in my office because there were votes going on all night long. Jenny Tonge (LD, 1997–2005)42 We worked till Thursday evening at ten o’clock, sometimes later. So Scots MPs had to rush for the sleeper [train] back on a Thursday night. The refreshment carriage in the sleeper used to be busy with Scots MPs on their way back, catching up with things and having a last drink before going to sleep on a Thursday night. That was a long week. Scots MPs tended to be very active because we were down there and staying, either in a flat or lodgings, and so working in the evening as well. George Foulkes (Labour, 1979–2005)43 Sunday evening, quick meal at home, then off to catch the sleeper up to London. In London, at 7.30 go to the House of Commons, deal, as I did every day, with constituency mail. [...] So I would do that until lunchtime, then sit in the House until probably

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three o’clock. Then off to, in those days it wasn’t a select committee, I would be on a committee on a bill which would carry me through until about six o’clock, catch up with a little bit more mail. [Go] to the end of the debate at ten, back to a hotel that I visited in Russell Square. This would be it all the way until Thursday night when I would be off to Paddington to get the train back to Cornwall. Off the train at three thirty, breakfast, at least two or possibly three factory visits in the morning, a school in the afternoon, a branch or public event or a dinner in the evening. Every Saturday I would hold an advice bureau in Falmouth, Penryn, Hayle or Cambourne, doing that on a rota. In the afternoon, fetes or what have you, if I was lucky perhaps in the evening a little bit of spare time. On a Sunday a spot of relaxation, but I was a Methodist local preacher, so would be preaching on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and then back on the train and away again. David Mudd (Conservative, 1970–92)44 *** In those days, of course, you could go into Parliament and you were almost expected, many of us, to have a second job. In the mornings we’d go off and do business or be in law courts as a barrister or whatever it was. It was totally expected and it had a strength, of course, you were more independent to the whips if you had a second source of income. Richard Luce (Conservative, 1971–92)45 It was quite difficult but it was always manageable [to have both a legal and a political career]. [...] On one occasion I was doing a criminal case in Shropshire assizes and was on a three-line whip back in London. The case was on Monday and Tuesday, and I chartered a plane to come back for the Monday vote. [...] [On another occasion] I’d been doing a case at Haverfordwest assizes against Emlyn Hooson [MP for Montgomeryshire 1962–79]. I was able to say to him at the end of the second day when the case ended, ‘Can I give you a lift back to London?’ And we did fly back in my chartered plane. As we flew over the RAF base in Wiltshire, […] as our plane was going over, the radio to which we were listening on the plane gave the news of the verdict of the case we’d been in. […] I’d won. Geoffrey Howe (Conservative, 1964–6; 1970–97)46 I tried to keep my legal practice going as best I could. Fortunately, I’d taken silk two years earlier, so the burden of paperwork was not excessive. It was possible to do a certain amount of serious legal work as well as being an MP. But I would work at the home in the mornings, many of the mornings, on constituency correspondence, I would go into the chambers for a bit and then I would go along to the House of Commons in the afternoon and probably be there most of the rest of the day. Patrick Ground (Conservative, 1983–92)47 In the [1970s the constituents] were delighted that I was a barrister, a respectable person, going to court […] as long as I devoted time to the needs of the constituency. I could always show that, never mind that I was in the Old Bailey [Central Criminal Court] some mornings or working on cases, at the weekend I was in the constituency, doing the surgeries, going around to meetings in various institutions, going out to dinners and lunches, meeting all the important people. Nobody could ever say that I

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wasn’t doing my job as a Member of Parliament because I was also a barrister. They couldn’t, because I used to work like the devil. […] It also meant a wife who looked after the home and the house. […] It was a different world. […] There is so much more to do now, the internet is terribly demanding, mobile phones. Ivan Lawrence (Conservative, February 1974–97)48 I was once told by a whip, ‘You will never succeed to the whips office or to ministerial office while you have got an outside activity like running your own business.’ To which my reply was, ‘If ever I lose my seat who is going to look after me?’ [...] I managed to work it out quite well. Because in those days the House didn’t start sitting until two o’clock, so I was able to go to my office in the mornings sort out my office, drive up at lunch time, be there in the House during the afternoon and evening, and then at the weekends I held advice bureaus, I used to do three a month. Vivian Bendall (Conservative, 1978–97)49 I never gave [my GP practice] up. I carried on doing two days a week basically. […] I went on being on the council for a time too. I thought as an MP you are after all a representative not a delegate, you must actually know what people are thinking. You don’t have to do what they say, but you have to know what their case is. But it did become too difficult [to do all three roles] time-wise. Thomas Stuttaford (1970– February 1974)50 When I was elected, the principal of the College of Commerce, where I’d been teaching, asked me if I would carry on. I said, ‘Well, it’s just too much, I can’t do it. I don’t think it is right anyway, because I’d been advocating for the last few years that MPs should be full time and I really want to be involved.’ Denis Coe (Labour, 1966–70)51 *** When I first became a Member, the remuneration […] was just over £1,000 a year. I succeeded a Labour man and a Conservative, both of whom were well off. When people came to me asking for subscriptions for this, that and the other it really was a struggle. I needed to produce something to keep me going. Particularly when I had the tiresome business of maintaining two homes, paying a secretary, all these things, I had to find another source of income. I was lucky in that sense. That discipline, the financial discipline, gave me a degree of independence that was invaluable. […] I was my own man. I could do what I wanted. Edward du Cann (Conservative, 1956–87)52 [Salary] was much the same as I had as a senior lecturer, though I think I got a thousand or so extra, which was quite nice [given] the baby. Two things happened though. First of all being in politics is expensive. It’s very strong cash demand, even in the ’80s, easily get through a hundred quid cash in the weekend just visiting and doing things around your constituency. And this is not bribing people with drinks or anything; it is just going to things. So it’s quite expensive. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)53 My wife left me and that was an incredibly distressing and difficult time. […] I was having an extremely difficult time financially. […] My mortgage payment was

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£1,400 a month and my net salary, as an MP, was £1,700. I was trying to limit my own expenditure to a £100 a week and finding it extremely difficult because I was having to go here, there and everywhere. At one point, believe it or not, I’d spent my weekly allowance and I was so hungry that one evening I went around the chairs in the House of Commons library looking for coins that spilled out of MPs’ pockets. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)54 [In 1966] our salary was so modest and our allowances were practically non-existent. We had to pay for our own stamps and if we made telephone calls away from the House of Commons, we had to pay for them. […] If you phoned abroad, well, you just didn’t do it because it was so costly and the salary was so poor. Alan Lee Williams (Labour, 1966–70; 1974–9)55 [In 1974] I wrote a piece for Labour Weekly saying we haven’t had a pay rise for five years, and the bloody ministers are getting all this money and it stinks, because what happens is a lot of corruption: there are people in the House of Commons who are taking money from foreign places, taking money to put questions down, to block things and I could have named them. [...] I fought for a Register [of Interests]. It took three years. [...] The Tories fought against that vigorously. The Labour side, to be fair there were a few [who opposed], but the rest did want proper wages and all that sort of stuff. [But Prime Minister Harold] Wilson was terrified, he wouldn’t do it. We actually went on strike, the MPs, nobody knows about it. It was just before the break for the summer holiday [1974]. [...] He announced that we were not going to get a pay rise, and the ministers were. We called this meeting inside Parliament, we didn’t tell anybody [about our plans], but we were very angry and about fifty or a hundred were at this meeting. We didn’t have the press. We didn’t say anything, but we said to the whips, ‘We are going home.’ ‘Parliament’s sitting for another week, you know, you’ve got to be here.’ ‘No, we are on strike, we are not going to have a row about it, we are not going to show it up [to the press], we’re not going to do anything like that, but we’re not going to be here, we’re not coming back again, unless you get us something, some money for help.’ Joe Ashton (Labour, 1968–2001)56 I am not trying to be too puerile about the whole thing but I actually lost money when I first entered Parliament. [...] It only improved when the blessed Margaret, Margaret Thatcher, partly because she was forced to by her own MPs, […] [introduced] at last a reasonable salary. We began to get money for living away from home, we had a secretarial allowance. I’ve always said my wife was my secretary when I was a councillor. She was my secretary in my early days in Parliament and a tremendous secretary for the years I was in Parliament. And I paid her: I make no apologies for that. She did the work and she got paid for it. Robert Hughes (Labour, 1970–97)57 The idea was that in order to help you finance accommodation in London as well as in the constituency, that you had access to this allowance and I remember very, very clearly, I think the sum when I went in was about 15,000 or 16,000 per year. I remember saying, ‘How does this work? What happens? What do you have to do?’ And [the director of finance] just said to me: ‘Well, you just divide [the cost per year] by twelve and claim that amount per month.’ […] I said, ‘What about receipts?’ He

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said, ‘Well, for your mortgage or rent, but anything else, no. You are all Honourable Members.’ You say that today and people look at you with absolute disbelief, but I assure you it’s absolutely true. I came out thinking this can’t be right [but it was] up to that limit. […] Now they said, ‘We can only pay, if you’re purchasing a property, we can only pay interest on the capital.’ I thought, well, that makes sense. Well, rightly or wrongly [...] I didn’t take out an interest-only mortgage, but lots of people did because that’s what they were advised to do. […] It was a way of giving Members an increase in salary, without actually announcing to the world and everyone that MPs’ salaries have increased by x per cent. It was also a way of making sure that it wasn’t just rather welloff people who could become MPs. Because otherwise only fairly rich people could afford to have two homes. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)58 It is never the right time for an MPs’ pay rise. Therefore, there was a very subtle switch to the allowances, particularly the second home allowance – which we all know later became abused as a sort of a supplementary salary. […] That was important, but to me the most important change while we were there was the office costs allowance. When I went there I was in a shared room with four MPs, I had a desk and two filing cabinets. My secretarial allowance up there was a desk and two filing cabinets. By the time I left, I had an office, I had an outer office, with three people in it. I had an office in the constituency with somebody in it. So I had four staff, two offices, endless filing cabinet facility, all the computers and everything else that had been unheard of when we first went there. […] It grew very gradually. […] It was a much slicker, more professional operation. […] So really that was where the big difference was. Ann Widdecombe (Conservative, 1987–2010)59 People who had been in there for thirty years [...] generally men, I have to say, absolutely resented the fact that some young, usually woman, whippersnapper, aged twenty-seven, would come into Parliament and get the exact same salary. […] To them, they felt they could use their expenses thing as a supplementary perk, because they’ve been there a long time. Why could they do it? Because when they went there and bought their flat or whatever, they could borrow a very small amount of money, or have a very small rent, whatever it is. [As the expenses limit went up because it was indexed to house price increases] they used that for anything they liked, because they were still only paying a tiny amount on their mortgage. Some had even paid it off, but they thought what if I’m allowed, whatever it is, £30,000, I’m going to use it. A blind eye was given to it for years and years and years and then of course it all blew up. Colin Breed (LD, 1997–2010)60 I’m delighted I got out in 2005. It would have done real harm to [my wife] Sue, being an MP’s wife during all of that scandalous stuff. It wouldn’t have done me any good either. The ‘dung’ parliament as it is referred to I think must have been an absolutely hideous place to be. Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)61

15

Time to say goodbye Last days in the Commons

First was devastation. Suddenly you realize that you’ve got three kids, one is only five months old, and suddenly you have no job. But also a sense of bereavement, that something you so much loved doing had suddenly been snatched away, actually, unexpectedly. […] It took a while to overcome that sense of shock. But very quickly I thought: I’ve got a responsibility to these kids. I have to find something else to do. Chris Pond (Labour, 1997–2005)1

We tend to think of elections in terms of politics: governments change, parties win or lose. We rarely think about the personal impact on MPs of either losing their seat or deciding to step down. For former MPs this was not just a political event but also a dramatic change in both their livelihood and lifestyle. Some chose to leave Parliament, some did not; some saw their life’s ambition abruptly ending, some moved on quickly. For all, however, this was a significant life event. For the MPs who were unlucky enough to lose their seats it was a personal, public rejection; as Eileen Gordon remembered, ‘Your name is on the ballot paper.’2 Several used the term ‘bereavement’ to describe both the emotional impact and the shock of change. Bill Pitt developed clinical depression after his loss.3 Many conceded that they had not expected to lose and felt a real sense of shock. The feeling was particularly acute among those who believed they had a safe seat, including many Conservatives in 1997. Some admitted to anger at the result. For others, there was a sense of relief at losing, especially if political life had been difficult. Having lost one job the immediate priority was to find a new one, especially early in our period when MPs did not receive any form of redundancy payment. Some faced significant financial pressure, especially if they had children. This was not necessarily easy: Edmund Marshall was unemployed for six months.4 The contacts and opportunities made in Parliament would often help to build a future career, especially for those who went on to a job in lobbying, but some found their time as an MP could be a handicap. If they foresaw defeat, Members could always take the initiative and stand down before they were pushed. But this was not always possible. Helene Hayman felt obliged to stand for her seat because of the political circumstances in 1979, describing her duty

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to defend her party and the government: there was ‘no escape’.5 Some may have chosen to step back if they no longer fitted in with new party leadership (perhaps sweetened by a seat in the Lords). Others expected that the electorate would reject their politics – Robin Chichester-Clark described his moderate unionism struggling as Northern Irish politics became more extreme.6 There were many whose reasons for leaving were more personal. One group described feeling exasperated by the direction of politics, or by the Commons itself. Others described feeling too tired or old to continue. In these cases resigning could leave them with a sense of relief. Family circumstances also played a part: Jenny Tonge decided to end her career in the Commons to be with her grandsons after her daughter was killed in an electrical accident.7 Marion Roe and Charles Wardle mentioned that it was time to prioritize their families when their children were ill.8 A good number of the interviewees went on into the Lords. Several anticipated this appointment, although some were disappointed. The Lords provides a means of continuing a political career free from party politics or constituency work, but most agreed it is a different atmosphere: less combative, slower paced, with more time for expert scrutiny. Others could not see the point: the Commons was the centre of political life. The Lords simply did not hold the same interest. Even those who decided to leave the Commons described the sudden nature of change, a deeply personal one. For Toby Jessel, suddenly the things that gave life ‘a meaning and purpose’ all stopped.9 Looking back years later these MPs all missed some things about the Commons. For many it was being at the centre of things or the social life – the gossip, the staff and the people – that they were sad to leave behind. Those who left Parliament altogether missed the platform that being an MP gave them to raise issues they cared about. Yet a few admitted that it was a good thing to leave and to return to a more ‘normal’ life. Jackie Ballard’s godson told her she was ‘a lot nicer’ when she was no longer an MP. It made her realize the impact being in that privileged, busy position had had on her life.10 *** It is like a bereavement when you lose your seat. [...] I loved just about every minute of it, so when that was suddenly taken away, it was part tragedy. It was part tragedy but it was eased at the time by knowing that I had to keep the morale of my troops in the party up. Because fairly soon they would be coming to an election for Wandsworth Council. John Bowis (Conservative, 1987–97)11 It was a big, big shock. You have a lot of emotions like anger: ‘I didn’t want to go, I wasn’t ready to go, I’m going to get that seat back, I will get it back. I’ll make sure I’ll get reselected.’ I’m not sure they were the best decisions, in hindsight. […] I was so angry, I was so determined, I couldn’t believe that I could be out of the picture. […] [I was angry at] being thrown out. I felt I should’ve been there to carry on and I was losing something that was very precious. [...] To be outside that picture. I must say: since the day I lost I have not been back to the House of Commons. I will not walk into that building. Olga Maitland (Conservative, 1992–7)12

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It was horrible. You are only human, aren’t you? It was very disappointing. I was kind of upset for ages. I thought I don’t like anybody in Romford. I’m just not going out. So I did sulk for a few weeks, but then you’ve got to get on with it. I thought shall we move? We even thought about that because I really, ‘I don’t like these people who voted against me.’ And everyone says don’t take it personally, but I did. You have to really because your name is on the ballot paper. So I was unhappy for quite a while. […] I didn’t want to do anything. I really can’t work for anybody else. [Long omission] It was weird to stop, […] it was a bit like being on a treadmill and someone turns it off. ‘Oh goodness, what am I going to do now?’ I did sulk for quite a while. It is a shock. And I hated [the fact that I had to] clear my office within days I think. […] That’s painful, that’s really painful. Eileen Gordon (Labour, 1997–2001)13 It’s a public humiliation in a way, whenever you lose a seat like that. Because you lose a job, but it’s done in such way as everybody knows you’ve done it, you’ve lost it. […] It was devastating. I just kept thinking ‘of all the work you’ve started doing and you’ve done and you wanted to be able to continue’. You think too, it’s not just you that loses your job, but of course the people who work with you, they’re your employees and so they lose their jobs too. […] It is a bit like a bereavement. Because there’s this shock, disbelief, feelings of upset and distress over it. And then realizing that you’ve got to shake yourself and got to get on and you got to do something else, but you’ve got a lot of things to clear up as well. And suddenly all those people who wanted your view on a subject: not interested anymore. Sylvia Heal (Labour, 1990–2; 1997–2010)14 You feel that you have a bit of power in Parliament. […] I always felt different being an MP, that I could open doors, and I knew I could open doors so that gives you a strange feeling. I can’t put it into words, you have this power. I haven’t got the same power as being a minister, of course, but even being an MP there is power there to help ordinary people. You should never forget that is what you are really trying to do is to help ordinary people, I was anyhow. And it’s amazing, when I stood down that feeling just went, it evaporated. It’s a strange feeling and I never felt I was as important afterwards as I was before. You just know you’ve lost something when you step down from being an MP. Brian Iddon (Labour, 1997–2010)15 I knew it was tough, because there was no party and we stood as independent social democrats and it was just John [Cartwright] and I. [...] I fought to win, and I was bitterly disappointed when I lost, but it didn’t last more than an hour or two. I felt a sense of relief. [...] I was disappointed, but the next day, I thought, well, that is it. I haven’t got to worry about it anymore. I haven’t got to worry about what happens to the SDP, well it’s gone now, and I haven’t got to work quite as hard. Rosie Barnes (SDP, February 1987–92)16 I spent my entire life trying to get into the House of Commons; once I was there I spent my entire life trying to get out the place. I succeeded spectacularly in 1997. […] When I say to you that I would thank everyone who voted for me in 1997 but I would hug everybody who voted against me, because what they enabled me to do was to come

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back to Huddersfield and spend the last ten years with my father [before he died]. John Sykes (Conservative, 1992–7)17 *** I didn’t find [losing my seat] easy at all. In those days, of course, as soon as Parliament was prorogued you lost your salary. That was it, finished. No redundancy pay or anything like that. So that was me with a wife and four children and no money coming in and no job. It was a pretty hairy time for a few months, until things sorted themselves out and I got this very good job at a polytechnic. So at the time I was very sad about it, obviously, because I felt I’d got to a point in my parliamentary career where, yes, it would have been nice to have another four, five years, whatever, just to sort of consolidate what I was doing and what I hadn’t done. But it wasn’t to be. Denis Coe (Labour, 1966–70)18 It wasn’t so much ‘adjusting’ to life after the Commons, as finding a job was difficult. Because I’d been out of the financial world for ten years. After the 1997 election everyone in business thought that was the end of the Conservative Party. Tony Blair had created a new politics and this was the bright golden dawn of a revitalized [UK or] whatever. Business people didn’t want to know ex-Conservative MPs. I did what one has to do when looking for a job, you draw up a list of everybody you have ever known who might be able to give you some advice and you start working down the list. That’s what I did. […] Some people who were head-hunters tried to give me some help, but it was extraordinarily difficult to place a fifty-year-old, out of date banker, who’d been a reviled Conservative MP, not personally reviled, but we were all reviled: sleaze and all the rest of it. We were all tarred with the same crooked reputation. Matthew Carrington (Conservative, 1987–97)19 Out of the blue somebody phoned me up, that I had known as a lobbyist before, and basically offered me a job working for him. I hadn’t really thought of that kind of thing before, but he offered quite a good wage, which was more than Members of Parliament were being paid at the time. I thought his general demeanour was professional. I thought, ‘Well, I’ve seen lobbying done to me that was bad, therefore at least I’m starting off with a certain advantage, I know how it shouldn’t been done.’ So I did go to work for him; learned the craft of lobbying from the other point of view – rather than it being done to you I was doing to Members of the Parliament. […] Still feel strange going in there. Still don’t like very much going in there, because you’ve basically been booted out of the institution. You are an outside person looking in rather than an inside person. But I think, I’m sure, I have had more effect on legislation and policy, a lot more, as an outside lobbyist than I ever had as a backbencher. It’s more gratifying being a lobbyist than it is being a backbencher, I think. Chris Butler (Conservative, 1987–92)20 My friends were extremely kind. I didn’t have to pay any bills. Of course I had to give my car up. I started to shop in charity shops and things like that. I was determined that I would not go and live with my mother. [...] I ran into Mickey Grylls MP […]

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and he said, ‘I’m terribly sorry, Hugo, what are you doing with yourself?’ I said, ‘I’m desperate for a job, Mickey, if you can think of anything.’ And he said, ‘There might just be something, that might just be of interest to you,’ […] I would look at anything and it turned out that his wife was very big in an organization which worked through something called multi-level marketing. [...] I started selling water filters. I had to ring my friends, […] some people were very good about it and they bought water filters. I remember ringing Malcolm, the chairman of my association, so I [visited him] and I was trying to fit this water filter on his tap in the kitchen, water going everywhere, and Malcolm said, ‘Look at this fellow. Just think that he used to be our MP’. Oh dear, oh dear [laughs]. Hugo Summerson (Conservative, 1987–92)21 When I came out of Parliament I didn’t have any money, I mean my redundancy money wasn’t much and I had two children at university. I went to teach in this school and I hadn’t been in a classroom for twenty years. […] I felt satisfied that I was earning a few quid and keeping us going. Beggars can’t be choosers. Kenneth Weetch (Labour, October 1974–87)22 *** I couldn’t not [stand for the 1979 election]. I just couldn’t not. I was a popular MP, I was known. If I had stood down we would have had even less chance of winning it. So just as there was no way I could escape [by resigning] – everyone says you can always resign. There is no way you could resign with a 520 majority [in the constituency] in that Parliament [with a minority government]. You were absolutely stuck. So if you were very ill you were brought down in an ambulance, you didn’t have a by-election. Whatever you did, you didn’t have a by-election. There was no escape. I don’t think it ever crossed my mind not to fight the seat. It seems silly now. [...] It was about defending your seat. It was about defending the government. It didn’t feel a personal decision, didn’t feel to be about what I wanted. It didn’t occur to me not to fight the seat. Helene Hayman (Labour, October 1974–9)23 When [David] Cameron came in, basically I got wind of the fact that everyone in the candidates’ list were going to be told to get off it and you then would have to reapply. It also became clear that ex-MPs, ex-MPs over a certain age particularly, would not be welcome. So I basically got out before I was pushed. […] Hoping that if the weather changed I might be able to go back on. Well, the weather didn’t change. Chris Butler (Conservative, 1987–92)24 [In the run-up to the 1974 election Ted Heath said to me], ‘Somebody’s got to go and start a Conservative Party over [in Northern Ireland].’ I didn’t want to do that because if I did, if I went over there and did that, I would be, first of all, having to split the [Unionist] vote. Although I’m a democrat, [...] having supported the constitution as it was for so long, I’m not going over there to stand against the Unionist candidate. [...] So I didn’t do that and I tried [to find an English constituency as a Conservative candidate], maybe three I think [...] and nobody wanted to take on somebody [facing] death threats, who will bring the IRA with him. Robin Chichester-Clark (Ulster Unionist, 1955–February 1974)25

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The biggest reason for me wanting to leave Parliament was that I was feeling so utterly powerless. One of the best parts of my career was when I was managing children’s resources and being deputy leader of a local authority and really feeling as if I could get things done. One of the things that really brought it home how powerless I was was having a young man who’d left one of the children’s homes that I managed and the arrangement that I put in place for leaving care, for support housing, had by then ended and he had been put in Bed and Breakfast accommodation above a horrible pub in Morecombe. I would never ever have allowed anything like that to happen. If that situation had been brought to my attention, I would have sorted it like that, in my previous post. And now, as the Member of Parliament, all I could do was write a letter to my former director of social services saying how terrible this was, knowing that I would get a letter back from her which was just bullshit basically [laughs]. And we’d both know that what she’d written was nonsense. That was one of the most powerless experiences of my life, thinking, ‘What on earth am I doing here? I can go and pontificate about things but what can I actually do?’ Hilton Dawson (Labour, 1997–2005)26 I found that, unlike most MPs, I’m quite glad to be away. I like going to the House of Commons and going to the shop to buy some chocolates for wedding presents. But I don’t fancy going back. When I left, an awful lot of people wanted me to do an extra parliament, but I was wanting to punch people. I think that is when you should retire. Because I was really feeling things were getting worse, democracy is dying, why isn’t somebody shouting about it? I was getting very agitated. So I would say I don’t miss it so much as others do. Teddy Taylor (Conservative, 1964–79; 1980–2005)27 Once I decided to give up, I got fed up with politics. I can remember listening to Yesterday in Parliament and turning it off to listen to Radio 2 because I just found it boring. When the election came in 1987 and I was no longer an MP, no longer a subject to the whips’ office, it was frankly a feeling of lightness and relief. John Watson (Conservative, 1979–87)28 That [1997] Parliament was an awful Parliament. […] In terms of personality change, the whole damn place was full of ambitious people. You could see whatever they were doing, the thing was, is this going to advance my career? And that applied to both sides, I’m afraid. [...] I suppose [the Tony Blair government] played a part in it. I didn’t feel at home, I felt a stranger in the place. I just didn’t like the place at all. I didn’t belong. It was so different from what it was in the 1950s, where it was a wonderful place to be. Richard Body (Conservative, 1955–9; 1966–97)29 [The Iraq War] was one of the factors [contributing to my decision to stand down in 2005]. If I had been passionately enthusiastic about the direction the party was heading in, [...] I might have been tempted to stay on, but I wasn’t. Not just over Iraq, but over quite a lot of the domestic agenda as well. Tony [Blair] was becoming obsessed by organizational change in the public services and contestability and choice. It was no longer about putting the minimum wage in place, setting up SureStart [children’s centres], making museums free, getting LGBT equality and so on. It was all about bringing private providers into the public services in order to make sure consumers

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have a choice. When actually, they don’t want a choice, they just want something really good. Chris Smith (Labour, 1983–2005)30 I was feeling rotten and I knew that I was getting old. Couldn’t do the nine pints a night, and bloody get up at six and all that. Your body tells you. [...] You know when you are not as strong, or as fit, or as happy you should be. Joe Ashton (Labour, 1968–2001)31 I was hesitant about going into a new term of Parliament. [...] If you don’t quit at that age you might just as well not quit, you carry on until you’re in your mid-seventies or whatever. Quite frankly I’ve seen colleagues in their mid-seventies and they’d become sort of picturesque parts of the House of Commons decoration but nobody was interested in what they had to say anymore. When the prime minister is the age of your children, which was pretty well the case, then you really have to think about [retiring]. David Curry (Conservative, 1987–2010)32 I’d been reselected and everything and I’m not even sure now whether it was the right decision [to stand down] – rather late and slightly suddenly. I think I was upset when Robin Cook died because he was a bit of a guru for me. I liked his ethical foreign policy stance. So that was a shame. I suppose I suddenly felt that there was no point. I was tired and useless, so I thought: ‘Well, better leave it to other people.’ [...] Almost everybody I consulted with thought I was mad. I didn’t consult with anyone that agreed, really. So I was very obstinate. Helen Jackson (Labour, 1992–2005)33 [After being sent on to an island in the Western Pacific on a constitutional enquiry], I looked at the Parliament situation, this is in the early summer of 1975, I felt absolutely shattered. And then I made a decision which was simply disastrous. I thought: it’s going to be another election, I can’t face that. I said to the party you’ll have to look for somebody else. If I had looked to the thing more rationally, I would have had realized that the Liberals [had] their problems, the Tories [had] their problems. [...] I would have realized that [that parliamentary term] was going to go on much, much longer, and in fact last for nearly five years. It was brought down by defections and deaths. So I made a decision to stand down. Parliament went on. I recovered, but by then they’d got a new candidate. That was me out at the end of that parliament. John H. M. Lee (Labour, 1966–70; 1974–9)34 I retired because we’d had some sad news in our family. I didn’t hide it. My elder daughter, married when she was aged forty, and six months after she married she was diagnosed with very aggressive breast cancer, which was a bit of a shock. [...] I was a chairman of the all-party breast cancer group. So I knew quite a lot about breast cancer and I knew that you cannot say it’s going to be ok. You never know. […] I’d been in the House nearly twenty-two years; I’d done an awful lot in the House, and thought I’d really met my causes that I’d set out to face. I began to think supposing the cancer comes back, do I really want to look back and say I didn’t spend time with my daughter when I could’ve done because I was still a Member of Parliament? […] The more I thought about it, the more I felt that I need to put my family back on a priority list, top of the priority list. [...] So I decided that I would retire in 2005. I never hid it. Marion Roe (Conservative, 1983–2005)35 ***

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I knew just before election day that I was going to come into the Lords. David Cameron had phoned me and asked me if I would like to come in and I said yes. So I’d had to keep that secret. […] Then coming in here, for the first few weeks in the Lords I really looked down the corridor at those green benches down the other end and felt quite nostalgic. I thought, ‘Oh gosh, have I done the right thing?’ I did do the right thing. It was time for me to retire. I settled in the Lords and I thoroughly enjoy it. Thoroughly enjoy it. It’s different: it’s not so party political, we spend more time scrutinizing legislation which suits me fine, and you can pick and choose exactly what you want to get involved in. So you are not really at the behest of the party to sit on this committee or that committee, you choose what you want to do. So there is that freedom which is really very good. So is the best of both worlds really. Angela Browning (Conservative, 1992–2010)36 I like the committee work in the Lords. I think it’s very thorough. I always admired it, even when I was in the Commons. It’s more thorough than the committee work in the Commons on the whole. I like the fact that, really, people tend to speak on issues that they care and know something about. It’s not a question of your [political] career or whips saying please speak on this, it is important to the government or the party or whatever it happens to be. You do have a freedom to speak on the issues that you hold dear. I think there are also a lot of weaknesses, I happen to still be in favour of a wholly or largely elected House of Lords. Joyce Quin (Labour, 1987–2005)37 I love the House of Lords for its erudition. [...] One of the things that really stands out to me is the value of the crossbenchers, and there will be no crossbenchers if people have to be elected. [...] Normally without the power and the push of a political party they haven’t got a hope. I couldn’t bear to lose the crossbenchers, they are so valuable, they have got so much wisdom to give us. Jill Knight (Conservative, 1966–92)38 The atmosphere [in the House of Lords] is very nice, too nice perhaps. I learnt early on that whereas in the House of Commons you are encouraged to intervene on everything, it’s the cult of the amateur […] you have to specialize in the House of Lords. Donald Anderson (Labour, 1966–70; October 1974–2005)39 I had a heart attack in 1998. [...] Previously I’d been asked if I’d like to go to the House of Lords. The trouble is when you sit in a constituency with a 33,000 majority [...] there are a lot of people sniffing around [to take over the seat]. [...] I mentioned it to the family and my wife, and she said, ‘Well, if you’re going to finish – finish. If you’re going to go to the House of Lords you might as well stay [in the Commons].’ [...] By the time I finished I would be seventy, I said ‘right that’s enough, I’ve given enough now. [...] Let’s get back home,’ which is the best thing I’ve done actually. Because although I’ve missed it – it’s a bewitching place, Parliament, if you’re a politician it’s the place to be – but it wears off. Allan Rogers (Labour, 1983–2001)40 I could’ve sold my seat and got into the Lords. There was nobody in Bassetlaw who was chasing it or anything like that. I could’ve easily said, as a lot did, ‘Tell me who you want in my seat,’ and it would be some London lawyer or somebody like, ‘and I will see that he gets it and in return you put me in the Lords’. That happened with a lot of people. I reckon fifty people at least do that every time. But I didn’t want to go any

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more. I thought I’ve had enough travelling, it’s not fair on the wife, I’m getting tired, what would I do? I’d go in the bloody House of Lords. I don’t need the money. I’ll finish up boozing too much, as they all do. Joe Ashton (Labour, 1968–2001)41 What Tony [Blair] said to me was ‘you’ve been here a long while, you’ve been a whip and I’m in no doubt we’re going to win the [1997] election. I would like you to go to the Lords.’ […] I said to him, ‘What say will my party have in who is selected to replace me?’ and Blair’s comment was ‘it’s already decided.’ So I went back to my party and told people who’d been very loyal to me and they said to me, ‘Look – we don’t mind whether we have a woman or a man as a Member of Parliament, but we want a say in who is chosen.’ [...] Because of what my party said I saw Blair and said, ‘This is the view of my party, and out of loyalty to them, because they have been loyal to me, I’m not prepared to take [the seat in the Lords].’ […] I still remained a Member of Parliament for several years after it, but I have to say on reflection, now and it’s a long, long time ago, I possibly think I should have possibly discussed it in more depth with my party and accepted it. Tom Cox (Labour, 1970–2005)42 Well, one was very upset [at losing my position as secretary of state for the environment]. I mean it is a great blow. You have been in government for effectively six years under [Margaret Thatcher], four years under [Ted] Heath and suddenly you’re not. And you haven’t got anything. [...] I was sitting on the backbenches, the government backbenches, an entirely new experience. [...] I was aware of the fact that [Thatcher] had said very firmly, ‘I’m not going to have a by-election Patrick. You will have to wait for the general election before you go to the Lords.’ So I was just doing that. I was just waiting. Patrick Jenkin (Conservative, 1964–87)43 *** What was bad was that I retired and at the same time my husband died, so it was like going into a black hole. From having every minute of my life occupied so that I couldn’t take a breath, suddenly it was all gone. Just like that. Like a thunderbolt. Mildred Gordon (Labour, 1987–97)44 It’s a massive break. [...] With an MP everything suddenly stops. The invitations stop. [...] The welfare work stops, doing things for constituents. When you’ve been helping people with their problems for twenty-seven years and you get asked to take up things, not necessarily welfare, but things that are worrying or concerning people, you are suddenly not asked to do that anymore. That is a big gap in your life. [...] Everything stops all at once. It’s the social life and enjoyable things, and interesting things which give your life a meaning and purpose. They all stop at the same time as your salary and your activity. Bang. It stops. Toby Jessel (Conservative, 1970–97)45 I miss the chance to influence things; [to] influence things is fun, and being at the centre. Arguing, I like arguing. [...] I liked the constituency side, the getting to know an area and people and the issues very well so that you represent them. Helping people personally to sort out their problems, and we all need it from time to time, but a Member of Parliament does have the advantage of the notepaper and the access. I miss

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the social life of Parliament. I miss the introduction to a wide range of issues which wouldn’t necessarily come across anyway. Politics in the UK does verge on encouraging generalists, [who are] able to understand quite a lot but not much in depth. [...] I do like the access to lots and lots of information, lots and lots of people dead keen to talk to you about issues, and see which ones you think you can do something with. Ian Twinn (Conservative, 1983–97)46 You miss being at the centre of things, I think. On the other hand, you realize how separated from real-life existence in the Commons is. I realized that if you stayed in the House of Commons for a long time you inevitably become to some extent disconnected from all the nuts and bolts of ordinary life. Ben Ford (Labour, 1964–83)47 I miss a lot of the friendships. I miss the humour. There is in Parliament a wonderful culture of humour. And the fact that you’re working with some of the maddest people in society. I always used to joke that having worked in removing people from the old asylum system, I’ve actually met more genuinely mad people in the Palace of Westminster than in all the asylums I used to visit. There is an element of truth in that. You do get some very odd people in Parliament and some of the things that they do is bizarre and I used to find so much of it very, very funny. The gossip behind the scenes that never reaches the press of what’s going on in people’s lives, it was very, very funny. I miss that. […] I’m very proud I had eighteen years of experience in that environment because it’s a unique environment. David Hinchliffe (Labour, 1987–2005)48 I miss not having a voice. It would be quite nice to make the odd speech, or plot with various kindred spirits on how we might amend a bill or wreck a stupid bill or something. I miss that, but with that goes a lot of really boring stuff and really, really hard work. I also do think you need new blood, I think in a democracy an MP should not stay there forever. I just think it is bad for the system. You’ve got to have turnover. I miss being able to have a small influence on some policies. I do miss that. [...] But I don’t miss those late nights, I don’t miss those texts from the bloody whips [laughs]. I don’t miss these awful PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions), I didn’t use to go very often, but I’d have to watch on TV, I suppose. So there is lots of stuff I don’t miss. [...] It is quite a weird job, but somebody’s got to do it. You just don’t have to do it all your life. Roger Berry (Labour, 1992–2010)49 The thing that I miss most is the building […] that great building. I loved that building. [Long omission] I loved it. Looking back, it was the best four and a half years of my life. I loved being an MP. Michael Irvine (Conservative, 1987–92)50 I miss […] the stuff in the Chamber, and around the parliamentary work, as well as being a member of the community in the constituency and then having the opportunity to really change things at department level. Those are the things I miss. And, you know, it has to be said that Westminster is a very privileged place to be. You just walk into the place and it oozes authority, and perhaps also status, which one ought not be attracted to but I’m afraid it sucks you in. Chris Pond (Labour, 1997–2005)51 I’d already beaten the odds twice, I thought I’m not going to do it a third time, particularly because I have got a strong local candidate up against me. […] I remember

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thinking, ‘What this means is that I will never again be able to go to places that I regarded as being normal for the last eighteen years. Never be able to walk into the tea room, never be able to walk into the Members’ library, never be able to walk straight into the Members’ entrance. Life will be totally different from what I’ve known for the last eighteen years. I have got to get used to it.’ […] My local party wanted me to stand again and I said, ‘No, look, this is silly. I’m fifty-eight years old, there is absolutely no point.’ You have got to accept reality at some point, draw a line under it and say it was great, I thoroughly enjoyed it, we had an adventure in the SDP, but sadly now it’s over. I must go and do something else useful for the next few years before I retire. John Cartwright (Labour/SDP, October 1974–92)52 Generally, power is corrupting for all of us. I think that even those people who go in to ministerial office, or even to be an MP, thinking they will be different and they will do it differently, after a while, partly because of the way the system treats them and so on, they start to be the same and become pompous and believe in their own publicity and so on. I’m not just saying this to criticize other people, because after I stopped being an MP I remember one day going around to my godson’s, Andrew, [...] he must have been ten, eleven, and he said to me, ‘Oh, Jackie, you are a much nicer person now than you were when you were an MP.’ And he was right. I wasn’t a nice person when I was an MP. I think I am incorruptible; I think I have got strong values and all the rest of it. I’m an approachable person, all that. But the people who were closest to me, my godson, would say I wasn’t a nice person when I was an MP. I was very self-obsessed, I thought I was important, I thought I was terribly busy and everything I was doing was terribly important. If that happens to someone who was only in Parliament for four years then it’s going to happen in big way to someone who’s been in Parliament a lot longer and someone who’s been higher up the tree. Jackie Ballard (LD, 1997–2001)53

Conclusion

The memories included in this book are just a flavour of the HPT’s growing archive. We hope they will be a guide for others to explore the recordings for themselves: to listen to the voices, the significant pauses and the emotions that give first-hand experiences of life in Westminster. The themes we draw out here can only be tentative, as this book is not a traditional study of British political history but instead based on close knowledge of the archive and listening to hundreds of hours of interviews. Yet by collecting the memories of those who together constituted the House of Commons we can offer something new: an intimate perspective on British politics and Westminster’s culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Here are a few of the more interesting insights we have gathered from the archive on what it meant to be an MP; there are certainly many more to be discovered. First, the MPs interviewed are surprisingly diverse in terms of their backgrounds, levels of education and life experiences before entering Parliament. In the second half of the twentieth century, MPs did emerge from all levels of society, and although of course working-class MPs were more likely to belong to the Labour Party, not all Conservatives here could be described as patrician. This is not to say that those from non-traditional backgrounds necessarily found their political journeys to be easy, but they were at least represented in the Commons. Likewise, there were many routes into Parliament: a strong family political tradition, inspiring schooling, university political societies, youth organizations, union involvement, community politics or sheer anger at a personal or national political issue. Many of those interviewed believed that this had changed by the turn of the century. While 1997 was heralded as the beginning of a more diverse Parliament – more women, most notably, but also more ethnic minorities – others reflected that class and educational differences were beginning to fade away. This may be in part a reflection of wider changes in British society, but certainly many derided the rise of ‘professional politicians parachuted into safe seats’, even as they celebrated the decline in the idea that MPs had to be straight white men. Second, although the archive contains a wide range of perspectives, they all share a common experience: Parliament. Despite different political views and life experiences, the voices here all valued parliamentary democracy. They thought that political activism was a worthwhile thing to do: it gave them status, helped form part of their identity and gave them influence over others’ lives. Few suggested, even reading between the lines, that financial gain was a motivating factor for them. In fact the opposite was often implied as those who cared about their financial independence made sure that they achieved this outside Westminster. Instead, they saw other advantages to becoming an MP.

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That being said, motivations were complex, and difficult to pin down. By far the most common reason given for pursuing a political career was to change British society and improve people’s lives. Perhaps these claims of altruism, certainly if they were the only motivating factor mentioned, need a degree of caution. Yet we cannot discount improving people’s lives as a significant motivation when so many MPs listed specific examples of casework or legislation as one of their achievements. Many also expressed a real sense of accomplishment in becoming an MP or entering government if they did so, and at times disappointment if their ambitions were not achieved. Even if this was ostensibly to ‘do good’, MPs did gain prestige and status from their political success. Therefore it seems a complex set of motivations guided both the decision to enter into a political life and specific political acts along the way. Whatever they were, MPs took their role seriously: they valued the ‘platform’ they had been given to raise issues on behalf of their constituents and favoured causes, and they knew they had a responsibility to undertake casework even if they hated doing it. MPs also acknowledged that what they shared with their fellow politicians – not just a belief in the system but a full-time commitment to a political life – made them a little different to the people they represented. They were political ‘geeks’ and at times, such as election campaigning, saw themselves as different from the ordinary voter. This can be traced back a long way: for many, whatever class they belonged to, political activism was completely normalized by their family background and education. Campaigning for a party or on an issue was something that they often grew up with, certainly most had experience of doing so by their young adulthood. So while they did come from all walks of life, they all shared a common belief in democracy and valued political activism. Third, the level of commitment demonstrated to a political career was considerable and not one for the faint-hearted. By and large becoming an MP was not something that happened by accident – although we do have one or two who insisted that it was. Even for those who claimed that they were not ambitious for themselves and were instead persuaded to stand for selection (which can seem overplayed in some cases), there was still a significant commitment in time and effort in order to be selected for all but a privileged few. Most thought carefully about becoming an MP and to a greater or lesser extent planned their career: they put in the hours at a constituency party, stood in no-hope seats to gain experience and cultivated local decision-makers in safe seats. The idea that a ‘career politician’ is a completely new one is certainly undermined by most of these experiences, and this professionalism appears to be deepening. On arrival at Westminster MPs were greeted with long hours, late-night sittings and a growing pile of casework; for those in marginal seats or who were determined to ‘climb the greasy pole’ the intensity was even greater. It was a demanding life and placed MPs and their families under considerable pressure. An MP paid a personal cost for choosing this career. When standing for election they faced the acceptance or rejection of the electorate, comprised of the communities they lived in, where losing could cause considerable anger and hurt. The impact on family life was considerable: MPs had little time to spend with their loved ones, especially if they were based outside London. This is demonstrated in the number of broken marriages, and prevalence of feelings of guilt about times missed with their children. For some, especially before the 1980s, there

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was also a financial cost to becoming an MP. Salaries were not large and other expenses were not covered. The archive suggests that MPs were not well remunerated for their work in this early period. Given these testimonies it does not seem surprising that wives in particular were often entrusted with the increasing amount of constituency work, and that the politically expedient measure of designing a lax expenses system instead of raising MPs’ basic salaries blew up in 2009. Fourth, despite valuing the influence they did have and pursuing a political career often at considerable personal cost, most were disappointed with the amount of power they actually had as a backbencher. By the end of their careers it became obvious to most that one person could do little on their own in Parliament. Even to get selected MPs faced gatekeepers in local parties and in some cases had to change who they were. Memories here entirely support literature that argues local party selection committees actually decide who goes to Westminster. There was certainly a preconceived notion of the ‘ideal MP’, very strong in Conservative parties but also present in others. Single men, minorities or women often did not fit the bill. On arrival at Westminster MPs struggled to make their mark within the party system. They faced the power of the whips, pressures from their constituency party or difficulties holding a marginal seat. Even with a large personal majority and supportive local party, backbenchers themselves were unable to exert much political clout or influence legislation. Working with allies – within and outside their party – was the only way to make a difference, and that often involved compromise. Perhaps a more subtle, if just as powerful, pressure on MPs revealed here was the informal political life in Westminster, the ‘way things were done’. The dominant political culture resembled a public school or a gentlemen’s club, where alliances were made and compromises brokered in the smoking or dining rooms, and the ability to ‘work the tea room’ was crucial to anyone’s political success. There were also subcultures: a hard drinking one in the many bars, or a much smaller women’s one in the spaces set aside for them. Interviewees both loved and hated the informal side of politics at Westminster. Perhaps, at first, more were intimidated by it than we might expect. Even those from privileged backgrounds used to operating in a ‘clubbable’ world were initially bewildered by the range of conventions and rules they needed to follow with no induction process. Throughout the years covered in the archive there were always those who hated it or thought it ridiculous: who felt the long hours and lack of office space unprofessional and inefficient; whose accents were mocked or, worse, experienced sexual harassment from their colleagues; who did not find their political ‘tribe’ and were unable to form alliances. Yet by and large they were politicians who saw that attempts to change this culture would create hostility and were likely to fail entirely. Many decided to try and work within it, or, if possible, subvert it. Even after much of this culture was challenged in the years following 1997, those who drove change faced considerable bitterness from those opposed; either because they had profited by the old culture or had changed to fit into it. Finally, our archive demonstrates that the role of an MP could be complex and even contradictory. Once again, there were varying ideas about what made a ‘good’ MP. The role has different facets that are not necessarily compatible: Should MPs act in their party interest, their constituency’s interest, or exercise their own judgement? Were

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they guided by their ambitions or by their consciences? Our interviewees all reacted in different ways and their priorities could change depending on the issue. Even the most loyal partisans might oppose the party whip on constitutional matters such as devolution or Europe, or might seemingly sacrifice a rung on the ministerial ladder to try to protect a local industry. Alternatively, an MP may well have toed the line to appease either the whips or local constituency officials. Here, we must remember that interviewees are reflecting back on their careers, possibly with their historical legacies firmly in mind. For example, they might be emphasizing their position as a ‘good constituency representative’ because their original ambitions for a swift rise to number ten had not happened. Indeed, many more either saw themselves – or presented themselves in our interviews – as a ‘good constituency’ or an ‘independentminded’ MP than who admitted to harbouring significant political ambitions. This may of course be because more of our interviewees remained on the backbenches than climbed the political ladder. Nonetheless these memories suggest that the role itself is undefined and blurry. Once again political decisions had deeply personal consequences not always recognized, especially if taking a stand meant upsetting a party faction or a strong lobby group. Taken together, these themes challenge the current view of British politicians – that they are ‘all the same’, have ‘their hands in the till’ or are ‘just in it for themselves’. Some will be sceptical of what our interviewees say about their own motivations and achievements; but it is difficult to dismiss entirely the deep commitment to the role of MP on display in these recordings. There were hours of hard work, both to get into Parliament and once there; an emotional rollercoaster to ride as political and constituency battles were won and lost – and considerable personal sacrifices along the way. Overall, our archive presents a rich, complicated, human perspective on life at Westminster. Britain’s political class, while sharing democratic values, were in many ways surprisingly diverse and the system largely accommodated them all – although that is not to say it made them all feel welcome. MPs had complex motivations both to enter into political life and then to make the decisions they did: they were not ‘all the same’ in background or in what they hoped to gain from a political career. Likewise they judged success differently, and many perhaps felt they had not achieved all they hoped to on starting out. Westminster emerges from this archive as, at times, a bewildering, impossible place. Yet it held its ‘bewitching’ attraction for many – the centre of political life, the place to hear gossip or influence manoeuvring, with a privileged platform to raise causes close to their hearts. These recordings offer a window into this world, a behind-the-scenes view on British political history that we hope will add to many studies in the years to come.

Notes Introduction 1 The History of Parliament’s Oral History Project, Politics, British Library, C1503/72 [2, 00:02:10–00:02:55]. Hereafter references to interviews will be by catalogue number only. 2 C1503/89 [1, 00:29:15–00:32:15]. 3 For more on Josiah Wedgwood’s questionnaire, see Priscilla Baines, Colonel Josiah Wedgwood’s Questionnaires: Members of Parliament, 1885-1918 (London: WileyBlackwell, 2012). 4 The interviews available online are held at https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/The-Hi story-of-Parliament-Oral-History-Project. 5 By contrast, in the United States, the Senate Historical Office has interviewed both senators and staff members since 1976. The University of Virginia has the wellestablished Presidential Oral Histories project. The Columbia Center for Oral History started in 2019 the official oral history of the Obama presidency. See: Donald A. Ritchie, ‘Top down/bottom up: Using oral history to re-examine government institutions’, Oral History, vol. 42, no. 1 (2014): 46–58; Russel L. Riley, Inside the Clinton White House (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016). 6 See, for example, Nirmal Puwar, Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2004); Boni Sones, Women in Parliament: The New Suffragettes (London: Politico’s, 2005); Donald Searing, Westminster’s World: Understanding Political Roles (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994). There are also various recordings held in the British Library Sound Archive. 7 For more on ‘life story’ interviewing see Robert Atkinson, ‘The life story interview’, in Handbook of Interview Research. Context and Method, ed. Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein (London: Sage, 2002), 125. 8 The longest interview is with Jonathan Aitken, the shortest ones with Vivian Bendall and Joyce Quin. 9 We discuss with our interviewees how their recordings will be archived and possible future use of the material. They then sign an agreement form detailing any restrictions on the use of their recording. For more, see Emma Peplow and Priscila Pivatto, ‘Life stories from the House of Commons: The History of Parliament oral history project’, Oral History, vol. 47, no. 2 (2019): 96–7. 10 The project has interviewed thirty-five MPs who represented constituencies in London; twenty-three in the South West; twenty each in the South East and in Yorkshire; sixteen in Scotland; fifteen in the North West; thirteen in the West Midlands; twelve in the East of England; ten in the East Midlands; seven in the North East; six in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. 11 Roughly, the post-war UK Parliament composition had Conservative and Labour parties fluctuating between 30 per cent and 50 per cent; Liberal/Social Democrat/ Liberal Democrat oscillated between 10 per cent and 20 per cent and independent and minority parties were less than 10 per cent. For a full report, please see Lukas

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17 18

Notes Audickas, Richard Cracknell and Philip Loft, ‘UK election statistics: 1918–2019: A century of elections’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper, CBP7529, 18 July 2019. We class our interviewees by the party they were a member of when they left the House. Steve Browning, ‘Ethnic diversity in politics and public life’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper, 1156, 30 May 2019. For more on the issues discussed in this section, see Peplow and Pivatto, ‘Life stories from the House of Commons’, 95–105. Alessandro Portelli, ‘Trying to gather a little knowledge’, in The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997), 64. Michael Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990); Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991). Memories of the fall of Callaghan’s government in 1979 are presented in Chapter 10 and the Iraq War in Chapter 11. Gemma White, ‘Bullying and harassment of MPs’, Parliamentary Staff Independent Inquiry Report, HC 2206, 2017–19, 11 July 2019.

Chapter 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

C1503/4 [2, 00:14:30–00:15:15]. C1503/87 [1, 00:09:50–00:11:15]. C1503/76 [1, 00:46:40–00:47:22]. C1503/58 [00:04:27–00:06:11]. John Eden, Conservative MP (1954–83), is the nephew of Sir Anthony Eden, who served as prime minister from April 1955 to January 1957. C1503/139 [1, 00:10:05–00:11:20]. C1503/110 [1, 00:01:10–00:02:25]. C1503/62 [1, 00:17:00–00:18:40]. C1503/60 [1, 00:03:40–00:05:40]. C1503/127 [1, 00:03:40–00:05:15]. C1503/93 [1, 00:06:05–00:9:15; 3, 01:56:10–01:57:10]. C1503/119 [1, 00:13:55–00:16:35; 00:33:30–00:35:45]. C1503/29 [1, 00:18:10–00:19:25]. C1503/46 [2, 00:10:15–00:11:25]. C1503/148 [1, 00:45:00–00:46:10]. C1503/101 [1, 00:10:15–00:10:50]. Bevin Boys were young men conscripted to work in the UK coal mines between December 1943 and March 1948 as an alternative to military conscription. C1503/46 [2, 00:05:55–00:07:00]. C1503/98 [1, 00:12:25–00:13:25]. C1503/49 [3, 00:01:10–00:02:00]. C1503/144 [2, 00:00:40–00:00:50]. C1503/103 [1, 00:00:35–00:01:35]. C1503/77 [1, 00:57:20–01:04:10]. C1503/65 [1, 00:02:25–00:03:05].

Notes 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

219

C1503/97 [00:08:10–00:09:45]. C1503/104 [00:31:10–00:32:50]. C1503/139 [1, 00:10:05–00:11:20]. C1503/30 [00:02:00–00:03:15]. C1503/110 [1, 00:01:10–00:02:25]. C1503/40 [1, 00:16:15–00:17:10]. C1503/56 [1, 00:13:35–00:14:30]. C1503/82 [00:07:45–00:08:45; 00:14:00–00:14:50]. C1503/177 [1, 00:19:25–00:22:25]. C1503/104 [00:22:45–00:24:55]. C1503/88 [00:02:45–00:04:25]. C1503/106 [1, 00:03:44–00:05:35]. C1503/172 [2, 00:33:50–00:35:05]. C1503/87 [1, 00:09:50–00:11:15]. Political pressure group of supporters of the Conservative and Unionist parties who represent traditional conservative values. C1503/62 [1, 00:52:30–00:54:55]. C1503/60 [1, 00:03:40–00:05:40]. C1503/160 [1, 00:09:45–00:10:35]. C1503/97 [00:03:55–00:05:00]. C1503/51 [00:18:30–00:19:05]. C1503/96 [1, 00:18:20–00:20:20]. C1503/103 [1, 00:01:35–00:02:40]. C1503/23 [2, 00:11:45–00:12:45]. C1503/86 [1, 00:05:00–00:05:50]. C1503/127 [1, 00:03:40–00:05:15]. C1503/66 [00:03:55–00:05:25]. C1593/139 [2, 00:31:45–00:32:15]. C1503/31 [00:19:15–00:20:35]. C1503/119 [1, 00:13:55–00:16:35; 00:33:30–00:35:45]. C1503/87 [1, 00:00:25–00:02:05]. C1503/65 [1, 00:13:35–00:15:20]. C1503/185 [1, 00:07:28–00:08:03]. C1503/181 [1, 00:16:30–00:17:40]. C1503/108 [2, 00:13:15–00:15:20]. C1503/25 [2, 00:03:40–00:04:00]. C1503/60 [1, 00:01:10–00:01:30]. C1503/157 [1, 00:11:35–00:13:10; 5, 00:00:20–00:00:35]. C1503/14 [00:04:05–00:04:30]. C1503/132 [00:10:20–00:10:55]. C1503/114 [1, 00:07:30–00:08:00].

Chapter 2 1 C1503/26 [2, 00:06:40–00:07:40]. 2 C1503/127 [1, 00:06:15–00:07:25]. 3 C1503/161 [00:04:08–00:04:52].

220 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

Notes C1503/142 [00:14:55–00:16:35]. C1503/176 [1, 00:48:15–00:51:30]. C1503/11 [01:00:15–01:02:05]; C1503/75 [1, 00:12:30–00:13:15]. C1503/92 [1, 00:27:40–00:30:20]. C1503/32 [1, 00:11:10–00:13:20]. C1503/14 [00:14:00–00:15:20]. C1503/161 [00:04:05–00:04:55]. C1503/12 [00:07:00–00:08:40]. C1503/92 [1, 00:10:15–00:11:10]. C1503/81 [1, 00:06:45–00:09:40]. C1503/113 [00:01:55–00:03:20]. C1403/85 [2, 00:00:35–00:02:05]. C1503/3 [1, 00:00:45–00:01:45]. C1503/65 [1, 00:11:10–00:12:25]. C1503/18 [00:27:35–00:29:25]. C1503/163 [1, 00:16:50–00:20:10]. C1503/92 [1, 00:12:25–00:13:15]. C1503/148 [1, 00:01:35–00:03:35]. C1503/6 [00:02:20–00:02:55]. C1503/110 [1, 00:02:55–00:03:15]. C1503/84 [1, 00:16:20–00:18:05]. C1503/127 [1, 00:06:15–00:07:25]. C1503/3 [1, 00:23:30–00:25:20]. C1503/135 [1, 00:21:10–00:21:40]. C1503/49 [3, 00:13:00–00:14:40]. C1503/154 [1, 00:01:35–00:02:25]. C1503/142 [00:14:55–00:16:35]. C1503/114 [1, 00:20:55–00:22:30]. C1503/11 [01:00:15–01:02:05]. C1503/66 [00:16:20–00:17:30]. C1503/160 [1, 00:31:20–00:32:05]. C1503/18 [00:38:40–00:43:05]. C1503/75 [1, 00:12:30–00:13:15]. C1503/111 [1, 00:07:10–00:08:15]. C1503/122 [2, 00:27:30–00:28:00]. C1503/152 [00:42:10–00:47:35]. C1503/127 [1, 00:15:40–00:18:10]. C1503/126 [00:14:10–00:15:25]. C1503/158 [1, 00:38:10–00:39:45]. C1503/111 [1, 00:16:20–00:19:45]. C1503/40 [1, 00:28:15–00:28:55]. C1503/92 [1, 00:27:40–00:30:20]. C1503/65 [1, 00:27:45–00:29:25]. C1503/32 [1, 00:11:10–00:13:20]. C1503/127 [2, 00:03:25–00:05:55]. C1503/159 [2, 00:34:05–00:36:00]. C1503/14 [00:14:00–00:15:20]. C1503/121 [1, 00:39:20–00:40:40]. C1503/64 [1, 00:16:40–00:17:20].

Notes

221

Chapter 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

C1503/103 [1, 00:21:50–00:23:30]. C1503/155 [00:24:15–00:26:10]. C1503/156 [2, 00:04:40–00:05:50]. C1503/60 [1, 00:25:50–00:26:10]. C1503/162 [2, 00:13:20–00:14:55]. UK Conservative think tank. C1503/156 [1, 00:46:05–00:47:50]. C1503/132 [00:35:00–00:37:30]. C1503/71 [1, 00:04:35–00:08:35]. C1503/54 [00:05:30–00:06:45]. C1503/157 [1, 00:19:20–00:19:40; 2, 00:00:05–00:01:05]. British socialist organization founded in the 1880s to advance the principles of democratic socialism. C1503/155 [00:24:15–00:26:10]. C1503/156 [2, 00:04:40–00:05:50]. C1503/84 [1, 00:31:40–00:33:50]. C1503/40 [1, 00:33:10–00:33:50]. C1503/47 [00:04:27–00:06:27]. C1503/121 [1, 00:15:35–00:16:45]. C1503/65 [1, 00:18:15–00:19:30]. C1503/10 [00:06:50–00:07:15]. C1503/94 [00:06:10–00:06:45]. C1503/76 [00:29:47–00:31:45]. C1503/151 [1, 00:20:00–00:21:00]. C1503/115 [2, 00:01:20–00:01:40]. C1503/80 [00:14:40–00:15:20]. C1503/102 [00:14:00–00:16:30]. C1503/74 [1, 00:25:30–00:26:10]. C1503/21 [2, 00:00:25–00:01:35]. C1503/52 [00:12:15–00:13:20]. C1503/60 [1, 00:25:50–00:26:10]. C1503/158 [1, 00:06:30–00:07:35]. C1503/166 [1, 00:08:55–00:09:35]. C1503/70 [2, 00:53:00–00:54:00]. C1503/43 [2, 01:20:05–01:22:20]. C1503/169 [1, 00:14:10–00:15:25]. C1503/124 [1, 00:47:10–00:49:00]. C1503/132 [00:35:00–00:37:30]. C1503/177 [1, 00:49:45–00:50:35]. C1503/162 [2, 00:13:20–00:14:55]. C1503/140 [2, 00:10:40–00:11.05]. C1503/12 [00:24:15–00:25:30]. C1503/156 [1, 00:46:05–00:47:50]. RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire was the site of numerous anti-nuclear protests in the 1980s. C1503/139 [1, 01:28:50–01:29:55].

222 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65

Notes C1503/131 [1, 00:13:15–00:14:00]. C1503/71 [1, 00:04.35–00:08:35]. C1503/24 [1, 00:29:05–00:33:25]. C1503/58 [00:06:50–00:7:55]. The Federal Union promotes the idea that Europe should be economically and politically united based on the principles of federalism. C1503/121 [1, 00:34:10–00:35:30]. C1503/167 [1, 00:16:05–00:18:25]. C1503/157 [1, 00:19:20–00:19:40; 2, 00:00:05–00:01:05]. C1503/151 [1, 00:52:30–00:53:35]. C1503/124 [1, 00:42:00–00:43:10]. C1503/113 [00:22:10–00:23:30]. C1503/10 [00:26:15–00:27:40]. C1503/60 [1, 00:34:40–00:35:25]. C1503/18 [00:58:30–00:59:50]. C1503/116 [00:20:10–00:20:35; 00:34:45–00:38:00]. C1503/28 [3, 00:17:00–00:18:00]. C1503/155 [00:36:20–00:37:25]. C1503/102 [00:18:50–00:21:05]. C1503/158 [1, 01:23:30–01:24:46]. C1503/103 [1, 01:09:00–01:10:10]. C1503/148 [1, 00:09:10–00:10:25].

Chapter 4 1 C1503/54 [00:26:25–00:27:15]. 2 C1503/18 [01:14:05–01:15:40]; C1503/76 [1, 00:34:30–00:37:45]; C1503/6 [00:07:15– 00:09:20]. 3 C1503/132 [00:46:20–00:47:45]. 4 C1503/35 [2, 00:20:25–00:25:10]. 5 C1503/60 [2, 00:06:49–00:08:00]; C1503/45 [1, 00:26:55–00:28:45]. 6 C1503/139 [3, 00:06:05–00:08:00]; C1503/158 [1, 01:34:35–01:37:20]. See also C1503/39 [3, 00:10:25–00:13:45]. 7 C1503/15 [00:08:00–00:08:20]. 8 C1503/103 [1, 01:01:30–01:04:25]. 9 C1503/6 [00:07:15–00:09:20]. 10 C1503/18 [01:14:05–01:15:40]. 11 C1503/27 [00:29:25–00:31:30]. 12 On 20 October 1994, the Guardian accused Hamilton of receiving money to ask questions in Parliament, which became known as the ‘cash for questions’ scandal. 13 C1503/118 [00:11:30–00:14:40]. 14 C1503/5 [1, 00:21:30–00:22:20]. 15 C1503/3 [2, 00:12:10–00:13:25]. 16 C1503/84 [1, 00:47:30–00:49:40]. 17 C1503/81 [1, 00:14:00–00:17:10; 00:28:35–00:29:05]. 18 C1503/30 [00:17:15–00:23:00]. 19 C1503/24 [1, 00:41:20–00:42:30].

Notes 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

223

C1503/140 [2, 00:14:00–00:16:30]. C1503/182 [3, 00:29:55–00:31:40]. C1503/79 [00:18:10–00:20:50]. C1503/153 [1, 01:08:55–01:09:35]. C1503/92 [1, 00:33:55–00:34:30]. C1503/176 [1, 01:01:10–01:03:20]. C1503/49 [3, 00:45:30–00:46:45]. C1503/37 [4, 00:26:45–00:30:20]. C1503/13 [1, 00:33:40–00:35:25]. C1503/153 [2, 00:09:55–00:11:25]. C1503/60 [2, 00:06:50–00:08:00]. C1503/132 [00:46:20–00:47:45]. C1503/43 [3, 00:19:45–00:21:20]. C1503/45 [1, 00:26:55–00:28:45]. C1503/35 [2, 00:20:25–00:25:10]. C1503/165 [3, 00:17:30–00:18:20]. C1503/155 [00:52:50–00:54:05]. C1503/172 [5, 00:28:15–00:33:55]. C1503/77 [1, 01:21:20–01:22:00]. C1503/13 [1, 00:36:00–00:36:25]. C1503/40 [1, 00:44:50–00:45:30]. C1503/162 [2, 00:33:35–00:35:00]. C1503/156 [2, 00:32:35–00:33:15]. The 1983 Bermondsey by-election exposed the divisions in the Labour Party and the Labour candidate Peter Tatchell suffered homophobic assaults during the campaign. C1503/126 [1, 00:41:25–00:42:30]. C1503/153 [2, 00:01:55–00:03:20]. C1503/66 [01:04:50–01:05:10]. C1503/163 [1, 01:04:10–01:04:30]. C1503/112 [00:17:55–00:18:20]. C1503/71 [1, 00:14:55–00:17:05]. C1503/103 [1, 00:50:35–00:52:15]. C1503/86 [1, 01:23:40–01:24:30]. C1503/125 [00:35:52–00:36:55]. C1503/148 [1, 00:10:25–00:11:05].

Chapter 5 1 C1503/94 [01:15:25–01:17:55]. 2 Sylvia Heal mentions that computers and the use of a voters’ database became important in election campaigns during the 1990s. See C1503/172 [13, 00:28:00– 00:29:30]. 3 C1503/34 [2, 00:41:10–00:42:00]. 4 C1503/166 [1, 00:30:45–00:35:30; 2, 00:15:45–00:16:05]. 5 C1503/39 [2, 00:10:50–00:12:10]. 6 C1503/136 [1, 00:58:03–00:59:30]. 7 C1503/159 [00:30:50–00:32:40].

224 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55

Notes C1503/155 [00:54:10–00:54:55]. C1503/115 [2, 00:10:40–00:12:00]. C1503/173 [1, 01:29:25–01:30:45]. C1503/31 [01:03:30–01:05:45]. C1503/21 [2, 00:02:50–00:03:20]. C1503/56 [1, 00:51:45–01:00:20]. C1503/171 [2, 00:57:55–00:58:35]. C1503/144 [2, 00:34:45–00:36:55]. C1503/97 [00:37:00–00:39:15]. C1503/172 [25, 00:21:15–00:21:55]. C1503/121 [2, 00:27:10–00:27:50]. C1503/146 [1, 00:37:25–00:39:35]. C1503/93 [3, 00:43:00–00:44:15]. C1503/139 [3, 00:14:25–00:15:10]. C1503/96 [1, 00:58:30–01:00:10]. C1503/109 [1, 00:36:45–00:38:30]. C1503/153 [1, 01:34:00–1:35:30]. C1503/74 [1, 01:36:00–1:37:15]. C1503/34 [2, 00:41:10–00:42:00]. C1503/51 [00:48:20–00:49:50]. C1503/166 [1, 00:30:45–00:35:30; 2, 00:15:45–00:16:05]. C1503/124 [1, 01:23:07–01:24:00]. C1503/154 [1, 02:02:10–02:02:50]. C1503/74 [1, 01:38:45–01:40:15]. C1503/39 [2, 00:10:50–00:12:10]. C1503/165 [3, 00:25:20–00:27:05]. C1503/98 [2, 00:34:50–00:39:30]. C1503/127 [2, 00:16:55–00:18:55]. C1503/43 [3, 00:23:45–00:24:05]. C1503/106 [1, 00:51:45–00:52:20]. C1503/136 [2, 00:16:50–00:18:45]. C1503/86 [1, 01:17:20–01:19:25]. C1503/109 [1, 00:34:45–00:35:25]. C1503/84 [1, 00:39:15–00:40:45]. C1503/33 [01:02:55–01:04:40]. C1503/120 [00:22:05–00:23:00]. C1503/176 [1, 01:30:50–01:32:20]. C1503/136 [1, 00:58:03–00:59:30]. C1503/92 [2, 00:43:10–00:46:20]. The Countryside Alliance was a campaign group formed in 1997 to promote rural life. It strongly opposed the ban on fox hunting. C1503/85 [2, 01:36:40–01:37:45]. C1503/81 [4, 00:00:10–00:02:55]. C1503/93 [3, 00:35:25–00:39:00]. C1503/28 [6, 00:13:15–00:14:45]. C1503/62 [3, 00:07:35–00:08:00]. C1503/170 [3, 01:40:20–01:43:25]. C1503/167 [1, 00:30:27–00:33:55]. C1503/92 [2, 00:46:55–00:48:55].

Notes

225

56 C1503/139 [7, 01:33:15–01:33:55]. 57 C1503/85 [2, 01:38:30–01:39:35].

Chapter 6 1 C1503/159 [1, 01:03:20–01:04:05]. 2 C1503/175 [3, 00:45:44–00:45:48]; C1503/159 [1, 00:56:30–00:56:55]; C1503/167 [2, 00:38:20–00:39:45]. 3 C1503/79 [00:35:58–00:37:00]. 4 C1503/148 [1, 01:40:30–01:42:30]. 5 C1503/18 [01:59:58–02:01:02]. 6 C1503/166 [1, 00:50:12–00:54:20]. 7 C1503/151 [2, 00:27:30–00:28:30]. 8 C1503/70 [6, 00:50:10–00:50:40]. 9 C1503/73 [2, 00:16:10–00:17:25]. 10 C1503/48 [2, 00:52:08–00:52:44]. 11 C1503/167 [2, 00:38:20–00:39:45]. 12 C1503/131 [1, 00:48:55–00:49:40]. 13 C1503/176 [3, 00:16:45–00:17:25]. 14 C1503/70 [6, 00:17:35–00:18:45]. 15 C1503/181 [1, 01:21:50–01:22:25]. 16 C1503/169 [2, 00:45:40–00:46:20]. 17 C1503/32 [1, 00:47:20–00:49:55]. 18 C1503/133 [3, 00:05:55–00:06:15]. 19 C1503/41 [4, 00:45:25–00:45:50]. 20 C1503/54 [00:38:55–00:40:05]. 21 C1503/34 [2, 00:47:20–00:48:55]. 22 C1503/148 [1, 01:40:30–01:42:30]. 23 C1503/30 [00:30:50–00:31:50]. 24 C1503/65 [2, 00:06:55–00:07:40]. 25 C1503/84 [2, 00:39:15–00:40:00]. 26 C1503/55 [00:16:10–00:16:50]. 27 C1503/10 [01:13:35–01:14:30]. 28 C1503/17 [00:42:00–00:43:00]. 29 C1503/102 [00:33:45–00:35:45]. 30 C1503/148 [1, 01:37:45–01:38:35]. 31 C1503/76 [1, 01:03:00–01:11:30]. 32 C1503/86 [1, 01:08:30–01:09:25]. 33 C1503/160 [2, 00:14:20–00:17:35]. 34 C1503/110 [2, 00:20:15–00:21:35]. 35 C1503/141 [1, 00:45:15–00:46:20]. 36 C1503/165 [4, 00:20:30–00:21:50]. 37 C1503/176 [3, 00:15:05–00:16:30]. 38 C1503/19 [1, 00:45:05–00:46:50]. 39 C1503/142 [01:34:20–01:35:45]. 40 C1503/151 [2, 00:27:30–00:28:30]. 41 C1503/44 [00:51:30–00:52:05].

226 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

Notes 1503/29 [2, 00:56:55–00:58:20]. C1503/78 [4, 00:39:15–00:40:20]. C1503/124 [2, 00:07:55–00:08:45]. C1503/30 [00:40:55–00:41:40]. C1503/3 [3, 00:02:30–00:05:30]. C1503/53 [3, 00:03:15–00:03:40]. C1503/177 [4, 00:12:50–00:13:35]. C1503/165 [4, 00:22:20–00:22:35; 00:29:25–00:30:40]. C1503/148 [1, 01:56:18–01:57:00]. C1503/36 [9, 00:08:50–00:10:15]. C1503/13 [1, 01:33:45–01:35:40]. C1503/155 [01:24:20–01:25:50]. C1503/13 [1, 01:03:15–01:03:50]. C1503/29 [2, 01:14:35–01:15:45]. C1503/65 [2, 00:49:30–00:50:35]. C1503/127 [2, 00:57:35–00:57:55]. 1503/49 [3, 01:16:30–01:17:30]. C1503/71 [1, 02:49:40–02:50:20]. C1503/26 [2, 00:42:40–00:44:45]. C1503/125 [01:02:40–01:06:25]. C1503/19 [1, 00:54:55–00:56:10]. C1503/85 [2, 00:49:20–00:50:15]. C1503/167 [2, 00:35:30–00:35:50]. C1503/104 [00:36:05–00:36:45]. C1503/124 [2, 00:35:25–00:36:00]. C1503/73 [1, 00:49:20–00:49:40]. C1503/141 [3, 00:34:45–00:35:01]. C1503/71 [1, 00:26:25–00:28:40]. C1503/64 [1, 00:27:20–00:28:30].

Chapter 7 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12

C1503/13 [1, 00:52:55–00:54:00]. C1503/161 [01:10:10–01:10:19]. C1503/162 [2, 01:06:57–01:07:20]. C1503/118 [00:40:45–00:41:25]. C1503/81 [4, 00:09:30–00:11:00]. Ten Minute Rule Bills allow a backbench MP to make his or her case for a new bill in a speech lasting up to ten minutes. For more on Private Members’ Bills, see Simon Patrick and Mark Sandford. ‘Public Bills in Parliament’. House of Commons Library Background Paper. SN/PC/06507, 17 December 2012. C1503/25 [3, 00:36:00–00:38:00]. C1503/58 [00:26:28–00:26:41]. C1503/166 [1, 00:45:25–00:46:40]. C1503/161 [01:10:10–01:10:20]. C1503/130 [2, 00:31:15–00:33:00]. C1503/132 [01:32:50–01:34:00].

Notes 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

227

C1503/86 [2, 00:40:50–00:42:50]. C1503/114 [1, 00:52:50–00:54:25]. C1503/112 [00:42:20–00:42:50]. C1503/130 [3, 00:00:55–00:01:40]. C1503/132 [01:34:25–01:35:05]. C1503/85 [2, 00:41:55–00:43:55]. C1503/153 [3, 00:49:55–00:51:25]. C1503/157 [3, 00:15:05–00:15:40]. C1503/102 [00:56:55–00:58:15]. C1503/92 [1, 01:25:30–01:28:05]. C1503/172 [14, 00:48:55–00:49:50]. C1503/115 [3, 00:06:25–00:07:15]. C1503/93 [2, 00:46:25–00:48:20]. C1503/73 [2, 00:27:40–00:28:30]. C1503/70 [9, 00:23:35–00:24:45]. C1503/98 [2, 00:49:40–00:54:20]. C1503/154 [5, 00:55:05–00:55:35]. C1503/157 [3, 00:17:10–00:17:30]. C1503/29 [2, 01:18:20–01:20:45]. C1503/9 [2, 00:09:55–00:10:20]. C1503/62 [2, 00:25:15–00:28:05]. C1503/145 [4, 01:02:15–01:03:30]. C1503/81 [4, 00:09:30–00:11:00]. C1503/44 [00:57:35–00:57:55]. C1503/54 [01:31:05–01:32:55]. C1503/171 [4, 00:43:55–00:45:15]. C1503/154 [2, 00:26:10–00:27:30]. C1503/29 [2, 01:20:45–01:22:10]. C1503/140 [3, 00:54:10–00:56:50]. C1503/176 [4, 00:22:15–00:27:40]. C1503/154 [2, 00:41:00–00:44:25]. C1503/25 [3, 00:36:00–00:38:00]. C1503/85 [2, 01:00:55–01:02:40]. C1503/156 [5, 01:00:30–01:04:55]. C1503/5 [2, 00:18:55–00:19:30].

Chapter 8 1 C1503/115 [2, 00:44:55–00:45:20]. 2 Although one – Jenny Tonge – didn’t find the toilets were a particular problem. See: C1503/148 [2, 00:08:49]. 3 C1503/30 [00:39:07–00:40:43]. 4 C1503/148 [1, 01:52:11–01:52:46]. 5 C1503/129 [13, 00:54:50–00:55:00]. 6 C1503/124 [2, 00:31:37–00:33:00]. 7 C1503/157 [6, 00:10:28–00:14:55]. 8 C1503/62 [1, 00:11:45–00:12:20].

228 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

Notes C1503/14 [00:04:30–00:04:50]. C1503/124 [1, 00:45:40–00:46:20]. C1503/115 [2, 00:36:00–00:37:40]. C1503/62 [5, 00:10:25–00:10:50]. C1503/157 [3, 00:09:05–00:09:35]. C1503/132 [01:35:20–01:35:40]. C1503/107 [2, 00:26:50–00:27:45]. C1503/71 [1, 00:18:20–00:20:05]. C1503/163 [2, 00:29:10–00:30:55]. C1503/62 [5, 00:16:35–00:17:00]. C1503/61 [00:23:25–00:24:05]. C1503/148 [1, 01:29:30–01:30:00]. C1503/66 [00:57:35–00:58:25]. C1503/81 [2, 00:21:10–00:21:20]. C1503/2 [2, 00:49:00–00:50:05]. C1503/29 [2, 01:12:25–01:12:45]. C1503/14 [00:29:05–00:29:40]. C1503/177 [2, 00:34:00–00:37:30; 4, 00:13:35–00:13:50]. C1503/112 [00:18:55–00:20:15]. C1503/115 [3, 00:08:00–00:09:25]. C1503/29 [2, 01:16:50–01:18:10]. C1503/85 [2, 00:55:00–00:58:10]. C1503/175 [3, 00:47:25–00:48:00]. C1503/66 [00:51:15–00:52:05]. C1503/103 [2, 00:02:05–00:02:55]. C1503/81 [4, 00:45:15–00:45:35]. C1503/139 [1, 01:00:00–01:00:35]. C1503/29 [2, 00:11:45–00:12:30]. C1503/115 [2, 00:25:20–00:31:35]. C1503/87 [2, 00:29:15–00:29:30]. C1503/177 [2, 00:49:05–00:50:15]. C1503/60 [2, 00:19:45–00:20:35]. C1503/148 [2, 00:04:25–00:05:55]. C1503/17 [01:22:50–01:24:00]. C1503/176 [4, 01:58:40–01:59:05]. C1503/163 [2, 01:11:25–01:12:50]. C1503/30 [00:45:15–00:45:40]. C1503/139 [4, 00:53:05–00:55:00]. C1503/71 [1, 00:29:45–00:32:20]. C1503/85 [2, 00:58:55–00:59:45]. C1503/148 [2, 00:02:45–00:04:15]. C1503/115 [2, 00:22:10–00:24:00]. C1503/14 [00:21:20–00:21:55]. C1503/27 [00:48:30–00:49:30]. C1503/32 [1, 00:42:30–00:43:15]. C1503/71 [2, 00:29:50–00:30:05]. C1503/139 [7, 00:04:25–00:04:40]. C1503/103 [1, 01:57:15–01:59:15]. C1503/81 [3, 00:40:00–00:42:30].

Notes 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

229

C1503/148 [2, 01:14:50–01:16:00]. C1503/93 [1, 01:12:30–01:14:25]. C1503/85 [2, 01:41:40–01:42:10]. C1503/172 [13, 00:06:35–00:09:20]. C1503/87 [1, 01:13:25–01:14:05]. C1503/32 [1, 01:18:30–01:18:45]. C1503/93 [2, 00:42:35–00:43:25]. C1503/160 [3, 00:47:35–00:48;15]; [3, 00:55:20–00:56:10]. C1503/103 [2, 00:53:50–00:54:20]. C1503/85 [2, 01:46:00–01:47:00].

Chapter 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

C1503/84 [2, 01:01:00–01:03:20]. C1503/32 [1, 01:38:50–01:39:05]. C1503/118 [00:40:45–00:41:25]. C1503/84 [2, 01:01:00–01:03:20]; C1503/60 [2, 00:23:00–00:27:05]; C1503/81 [4, 00:51:30–00:52:50]. C1503/18 [02:24:00–02:24:05]. C1503/160 [2, 00:47:25–00:49:45]. C1503/40 [3, 00:24:05–00:24:50]. C1503/39 [3, 00:10:25–00:13:45]. C1503/151 [3, 00:08:35–00:09:00]. C1503/64 [1, 00:54:00–00:57:35]. C1503/112 [00:38:15–00:39:25]. C1503/127 [2, 00:34:10–00:37:30]. C1503/118 [00:40:45–00:41:25]. C1503/106 [1, 01:17:35–01:19:10]. C1503/26 [2, 00:50:50–00:51:25]. The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) was a Private Member’s Bill resisted by the then Conservative government. Olga Maitland was asked to table amendments written by the government, but did so as a private Member, and so was rebuked by the Speaker for misleading the House. C1503/139 [4, 00:22:55–00:25:10]. C1503/60 [2, 00:23:00–00:27:05]. C1503/81 [3, 00:19:10–00:20:30]. C1503/120 [01:07:05–01:08:05]. C1503/134 [3, 00:25:00–00:26:35]. C1503/86 [2, 00:08:20–00:10:55]. C1503/2 [1, 01:14:05–01:15:35]. C1503/81 [4, 00:51:30–00:52:50]. C1503/121 [3, 00:38:35–00:39:50]. C1503/141 [1, 00:48:25–00:48:50]. C1503/29 [3, 00:25:05–00:26:30]. C1503/101 [5, 00:45:10–00:48:00]. C1503/67 [2, 01:03:25–01:04:05]. C1503/35 [2, 01:04:45–01:05:40].

230 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

60 61 62 63 64

Notes C1503/154 [3, 00:42:55–00:43:25]. C1503/153 [3, 00:00:35–00:02:20]. C1503/110 [3, 00:36:00–00:37:50]. C1503/119 [2, 00:00:55–00:03:10]. C1503/29 [3, 00:10:30–00:16:40]. C1503/62 [6, 00:12:05–00:19:05]. C1503/90 [00:28:05–00:30:30]. C1503/129 [13, 00:45:20–00:55:10]. C1503/12 [01:10:50–01:13:20]. C1503/26 [2, 01:03:10–01:06:10]. C1503/153 [4, 01:00:15–01:01:40]. C1503/33 [01:09:10–01:10:20]. C1503/52 [00:44:55–00:46:30]. C1503/65 [2, 00:30:10–00:31:10]. C1503/140 [5, 00:16:45–00:19:20]. C1503/166 [1, 00:12:50–00:13:55]. C1503/10 [01:19:25–01:20:30]. C1503/40 [3, 00:24:05–00:24:50]. C1503/39 [3, 00:10:25–00:13:45]. C1503/32 [1, 01:38:50–01:39:05]. C1503/70 [9, 00:04:30–00:05:40]. C1503/42 [2, 00:29:05–00:30:30]. C1503/87 [2, 00:07:40–00:09:20]. C1503/156 [3, 00:05:15–00:06:25]. C1503/43 [6, 00:00:50–00:02:05]. C1503/49 [3, 01:37:40–01:40:00]. C1503/52 [00:55:20–00:59:40]. C1503/18 [02:21:05–02:23:15]. The statement issued in January 1981 by Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams that signalled their intent to leave Labour and later became the basis for the SDP. C1503/152 [02:31:45–02:33:20]. C1503/94 [00:34:05–00:35:50]. C1503/106 [1, 02:12:35–02:13:05]. C1503/60 [2, 00:02:10–00:02:40]. C1503/160 [2, 00:47:25–00:49:45].

Chapter 10 1 2 3 4

C1503/14 [00:56:25–00:59:45]. C1503/93 [3, 00:51:40–00:52:25]. C1503/109 [1, 01:01:05–01:04:40]. At the start of each new parliamentary year, backbench MPs enter the Private Members’ Bill ballot, and the winners’ bills take priority when time is allocated for debates. For more on Private Members’ Bills, see Simon Patrick and Mark Sandford. ‘Public Bills in Parliament’. House of Commons Library Background Paper. SN/ PC/06507, 17 December 2012.

Notes 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

C1503/55 [00:28:10–00:31:30]. C1503/46 [2, 00:08:40–00:14:05]. C1503/109 [1, 01:01:05–01:04:40]. C1503/19 [1, 01:06:10–01:09:40]. C1503/93 [3, 00:51:40–00:52:25]. C1503/55 [00:28:10–00:31:30]. C1503/46 [2, 00:08:40–00:14:05]. C1503/115 [3, 00:18:30–00:20:30]. C1503/132 [01:26:15–01:28:55]. C1503/62 [6, 00:02:05–00:05:20]. C1503/178 [3, 00:35:30–00:38:05]. C1503/17 [00:58:50–01:02:45]. C1503/60 [2, 00:27:55–00:30:15]. C1503/30 [00:58:10–00:58:50]. C1503/109 [1, 01:01:05–01:04:40]. C1503/124 [2, 00:11:55–00:14:00]. C1503/85 [2, 00:53:00–00:54:10]. C1503/70 [9, 00:00:15–00:02:55]. C1503/112 [00:53:35–00:54:05]. C1503/19 [1, 01:06:10–01:09:40]. C1503/148 [1, 00:16:00–00:17:25]. C1503/14 [00:41:50–00:44:45]. C1503/154 [3, 01:27:30–01:29:35]. C1503/158 [3, 00:04:50–00:09:00]. C1503/13 [2, 00:22:55–00:27:15]. C1503/89 [4, 00:38:10–00:40:30]. C1503/110 [3, 00:22:10–00:24:50]. C1503/38 [2, 00:42:10–00:44:20]. C1503/110 [3, 00:48:30–00:53:40]. C1503/32 [2, 00:00:20–00:01:40]. C1503/147 [1, 00:54:50–00:58:10]. C1503/104 [01:48:35–01:50:45]. C1503/51 [01:20:45–01:21:45]. C1503/115 [4, 00:19:35–00:20:05]. C1503/141 [3, 00:07:55–00:09:35]. C1503/145 [4, 1:48:25–01:49:20]. C1503/61 [00:29:55–00:30:55]. C1503/71 [1, 02:56:10–03:00:10]. C1503/58 [00:48:50–00:54:40]. C1503/103 [2, 00:10:10–00:13:30].

Chapter 11 1 2 3 4

C1503/53 [3, 00:45:10–00:47:05]. C1503/30 [00:45:15–00:45:40]. See pp. 3–4. C1503/21 [3, 00:55:10–00:58:45].

231

232 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

Notes C1503/121 [3, 00:40:20–00:46:55; 4, 00:00:00–00:00:45]. C1503/147 [1, 00:42:50–00:44:55]. C1503/104 [02:02:05–02:04:00]. C1503/32 [1, 01:03:50–01:04:45]. C1503/103 [2, 01:00:20–01:10:15]. C1503/21 [3, 00:45:20–00:47:55]. C1503/92 [1, 01:20:55–01:21:20]. C1503/21 [3, 00:55:10–00:58:45]. C1503/21 [3, 00:37:05–00:41:40]. C1503/170 [3, 01:27:50–01:29:30]. C1503/121 [3, 00:40:20–00:46:55; 4, 00:00:15–00:00:45]. C1503/147 [1, 00:42:50–00:44:55]. C1503/83 [3, 00:48:20–00:50:20]. C1503/147 [1, 01:26:15–01:29:15]. C1503/160 [3, 00:20:15–00:22:20]. C1503/181 [2, 00:52:50–00:57:05]. C1503/15 [01:38:00–01:39:50]. C1503/52 [00:42:30–00:43:20]. C1503/135 [1, 00:53:40–00:56:10]. C1503/78 [4, 00:42:15–00:44:15]. C1503/68 [2, 01:08:45–01:09:35]. C1503/6 [00:41:05–00:42:55]. C1503/160 [3, 00:26:45–00:27:35]. C1503/109 [2, 00:41:20–00:41:50]. C1503/59 [3, 00:09:35–00:11:30]. C1503/67 [2, 01:07:10–01:11:15]. C1503/31 [02:31:55–02:32:40]. C1503/3 [4, 00:30:40–00:31:40]. C1503/145 [4, 01:07:35–01:11:10]. C1503/58 [01:09:05–01:10:40]. C1503/160 [3, 00:24:40–00:25:40]. C1503/96 [1, 00:17:55–00:18:20]. C1503/160 [1, 00:27:55–00:31:15]. C1503/104 [02:02:05–02:04:00]. C1503/77 [2, 01:14:20–01:16:50]. C1503/1 [3, 00:50:30–00:52:00]. C1503/159 [2, 01:26:30–01:31:50]. C1503/70 [12, 00:22:20–00:25:10]. C1503/51 [01:31:40–01:37:40]. NATO’s intervention in the 1998–9 war in Kosovo. The 2000 British armed intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War. The 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan following the 11 September attacks. C1503/127 [2, 01:20:35–01:25:10]. C1503/158 [5, 00:52:50–01:01:30]. C1503/93 [3, 01:23:40–01:28:00]. C1503/65 [2, 00:52:25–00:53:30]. C1503/103 [2, 01:00:20–01:03:50; 01:08:20–01:10:15]. C1503/156 [8, 00:45:45–00:47:40]. C1503/148 [2, 00:17:20–00:19:50].

Notes

Chapter 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

C1503/105 [2, 01:04:00–01:04:40]. C1503/54 [00:30:00–00:31:55]. C1503/96 [4, 00:28:35–00:29:40]. C1503/76 [01:22:00–01:23:10]. C1503/163 [2, 00:46:10–00:48:30]. C1503/153 [1, 01:05:40–01:07:00]. C1503/85 [2, 01:07:55–01:09:25]. C1503/103 [2, 01:15:10–01:16:00]. C1503/38 [2, 00:45:00–00:46:50]. C1503/93 [2, 00:07:00–00:10:05]; C1503/140 [4, 00:50:35–00:52:45]. C1503/62 [5, 00:53:55–00:59:20]. C1503/56 [2, 00:24:05–00:42:40]. C1503/54 [00:30:00–00:31:55]. C1503/96 [4, 00:28:35–00:29:40]. C1503/152 [02:02:30–02:03:25]. C1503/85 [2, 01:03:15–01:04:40]. C1503/94 [01:19:40–01:20:30]. C1503/10 [00:52:00–00:52:45]. C1503/132 [01:49:55–01:51:15]. C1503/91 [01:35:15–01:35:30]. C1503/93 [2, 00:29:05–00:32:35]. C1503/85 [01:05:45–01:07:00]. C1503/112 [00:57:50–00:59:00]. C1503/160 [2, 00:25:00–00:25:55]. C1503/127 [2, 01:38:25–01:39:05]. C1503/102 [00:45:15–00:51:40]. C1503/150 [3, 00:30:50–00:32:05]. C1503/112 [00:44:20–00:45:20]. C1503/109 [2, 00:25:05–00:28:40]. C1503/142 [01:06:30–01:06:50]. C1503/126 [2, 01:12:50–01:13:10]. C1503/76 [01:22:00–01:23:10]. C1503/93 [2, 00:07:00–00:10:00]. C1503/87 [3, 00:42:05–00:44:05]. C1503/46 [1, 00:43:10–00:43:55]. C1503/163 [2, 00:46:10–00:48:30]. C1503/159 [1, 01:41:05–01:42:35]. C1503/112 [01:02:20–01:04:05]. C1503/103 [2, 01:15:10–01:16:00]. C1503/153 [1, 01:05:40–01:07:00]. C1503/85 [2, 01:07:55–01:09:25]. C1503/71 [1, 02:06:15–02:07:10]. C1503/141 [3, 00:09:45–00:11:15]. C1503/38 [2, 00:45:00–00:46:50]. C1503/8 [1, 00:37:50–00:43:00]. C1503/140 [4, 00:50:35–00:52:45].

233

234 47 48 49 50 51 52

Notes C1503/87 [1, 01:16:50–01:19:15]. C1503/93 [3, 00:16:15–00:21:15]. C1503/56 [2, 00:24:05–00:42:40]. C1503/140 [5, 00:13:55–00:16:05]. C1503/60 [3, 00:02:50–00:04:35]. C1503/42 [2, 00:28:25–00:30:00].

Chapter 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

C1503/87 [3, 00:47:10–00:48:35]. Peplow and Pivatto, ‘Life stories from the House of Commons’, 100–1. C1503/49 [3, 01:22:45–01:23:35]. C1503/169 [2, 01:07:40–01:08:55]. C1503/71 [2, 00:16:50–00:17:30]. C1503/46 [2, 00:15:45–00:18:00]. C1503/120 [01:05:15–01:06:40]. C1503/110 [3, 01:22:45–01:23:20]. C1503/89 [6, 01:18:33–01:19:30]. C1503/40 [3, 00:24:05–00:24:50]. C1503/181 [2, 01:38:00–01:38:15]. C1503/127 [2, 01:20:35–01:25:10]. C1503/18 [02:56:55–02:57:10]. C1503/134 [3, 00:49:40–00:50:20]. C1503/11 [2, 00:27:45–00:28:55]. C1503/130 [3, 01:27:55–01:29:45]. C1503/167 [2, 00:49:40–00:50:50]. C1503/169 [2, 01:08:00–01:08:55]. David Trippier was parliamentary undersecretary of state for the environment (1987– 9) and then minister of state for the environment and countryside at the Department of the Environment (1989–92). C1503/69 [01:07:05–01:08:05]. C1503/39 [4, 00:07:00–00:08:10]. C1503/157 [6, 00:15:30–00:16:20]. C1502/162 [3, 00:16:50–00:17:40]. C1503/46 [2, 00:15:45–00:18:00]. C1503/158 [3, 02:04:00–02:09:00]. C1503/170 [3, 02:14:30–02:15:10]. C1503/112 [00:36:35–00:36:55]. C1503/154 [5, 01:59:30–02:01:20]. C1503/72 [1, 00:53:25–00:54:25]. The Offensive Weapons Act 1996, introduced as a Private Member’s Bill. C1503/139 [7, 01:16:10–01:17:20]. C1503/57 [1, 01:22:10–01:22:20]. C1503/89 [6, 01:23:55–01:27:05]. C1503/13 [2, 01:14:40–01:15:40]. C1503/17 [01:42:30–01:43:35]. C1503/10 [01:09:00–01:11:15].

Notes 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

60 61 62 63

235

C1503/54 [01:28:15–01:29:10]. C1503/52 [00:47:40–00:48:50]. C1503/82 [01:27:55–01:29:25]. C1503/165 [5, 00:00:05–00:00:50]. C1503/11 [2, 00:35:45–00:36:40]. C1503/110 [3, 01:22:45–01:23:20]. C1503/89 [6, 01:18:30–01:19:00]. C1503/10 [01:17:00–01:18:10]. C1503/3 [2, 00:30:35–00:31:35]. C1503/45 [2, 00:38:45–00:40:25]. C1503/28 [4, 00:14:10–00:15:10]. C1503/56 [3, 00:08:20–00:10:55; 00:24:30–00:25:05]. C1503/6 [00:29:40–00:30:10; 00:36:30–00:37:30]. C1503/146 [1, 01:15:50–01:17:00]. C1503/166 [1, 01:56:20–01:57:20]. C1503/135 [1, 01:16:55–01:18:00]. C1503/160 [3, 01:30:55–01:32:15]. C1503/151 [3, 00:48:10–00:48:45]. C1503/134 [3, 00:49:40–00:50:20]. C1503/18 [02:52:50–02:53:55]. C1503/15 [02:34:30–02:34:45]. C1503/28 [4, 00:32:30–00:34:35]. The Serpell report was commissioned by David Howell in 1982 when serving as secretary of state for transport. The report examined Great Britain’s railway system, but was unpopular with the public. As a result of the fallout Howell was dropped from the cabinet. C1503/156 [7, 00:00:30–00:01:35]. C1503/11 [2, 00:27:45–00:28:55]. C1503/141 [3, 00:47:50–00:48:50]. C1503/78 [4, 02:02:20–02:04:45].

Chapter 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12

C1503/6 [00:35:50–00:36:25]. C1503/49 [3, 01:17:40–01:18:15]. C1503/71 [1, 02:45:15–02:45:55]. C1503/115 [4, 00:14:20–00:15:45]. C1503/165 [4, 00:40:40–00:44:15]. C1503/40 [3, 00:09:30–00:10:30]. In 1990, Harriet Harman published ‘Time, Gentlemen, Please. The case for changing the times of sitting of the House of Commons’. She became one of the most important voices for the modernization of the Commons. C1503/142 [01:36:15–01:36:50]. C1503/12 [00:48:48–00:51:10]. Richard Kelly, ‘Members’ pay and allowances – a brief history’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper, SN/PC/05075, 21 May 2009.  C1503/24 [1, 01:17:30–01:26:00]. C1503/46 [1, 00:31:15– 00:32:25].

236 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

Notes C1503/93 [1, 00:23:30–00:23:40]. C1503/51 [00:53:30–00:54:45]. C1503/160 [1, 01:08:50–01:11:30]. C1503/42 [2, 00:25:10–00:28:00]. C1503/85 [2, 00:07:50–00:13:25]. C1503/21 [2, 00:27:15–00:28:15]. C1503/49 [3, 01:17:35–01:18:15]. C1503/40 [2, 00:27:40–00:29:40]. C1503/29 [3, 00:39:30–00:40:45]. C1503/71 [1, 02:45:15–02:45:55]. C1503/134 [1, 00:53:45–00:55:25]. C1503/171 [4, 00:27:15–00:28:35]. C1503/140 [5, 00:03:35–00:04:50]. C1503/13 [2, 01:38:20–01:39:15]. C1503/81 [2, 00:19:30–19:55:00]. C1503/157 [7, 00:07:10–00:08:50]. C1503/132 [01:11:25–01:11:40]. C1503/165 [4, 00:40:50–00:44:15]. C1503/115 [4, 00:14:30–00:15:45]. C1503/159 [1, 01:31:45–01:34:45]. C1503/40 [3, 00:12:15–00:13:05]. C15003/70 [9, 00:44:15–00:46:05]. C1503/40 [3, 00:09:40–00:10:30]. C1503/81 [4, 00:45:55–00:46:40]. C1503/148 [1, 01:16:40–01:17:05]. C1503/172 [14, 00:05:05–00:06:20]. C1503/165 [4, 00:50:35–00:52:20]. C1503/155 [01:25:50–01:26:10]. C1503/103 [1, 1:37:25–1:38:40]. C1503/148 [1, 01:47:35–01:49:00]. C1503/159 [1, 01:01:25–01:04:01]. C1503/26 [2, 00:37:25–00:40:00]. C1503/51 [00:40:45–00:41:05]. C1503/12 [00:48:45–00:51:10]. C1503/99 [3, 00:15:15–00:16:05]. C1503/171 [3, 00:20:50–00:23:10]. C1503/133 [2, 00:08:25–00:19:15]. C1503/90 [01:07:50–01:08:45]. C1503/88 [01:33:45–01:34:20]. C1503/64 [1, 00:17:15–00:18:20]. C1503/165 [5, 00:49:00–00:49:40]. C1503/153 [5, 00:10:20–00:12:05]. C1503/42 [2, 00:11:35–00:12:05]. C1503/24 [1, 01:17:30–01:24:45]. C1503/140 [5, 00:06:20–00:07:55]. C1503/172 [19, 00:57:40–01:00:50]. C1503/176 [4, 00:59:10–01:02:20]. C1503/35 [2, 01:28:45–01:30:18]. C1503/127 [2, 01:43:50–01:44:25].

Notes

Chapter 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

C1503/126 [2, 01:19:25–01:20:30]. C1503/167 [1, 01:02:55–01:04:05]. C1503/123 [01:55:25–01:55:30]. C1503/83 [4, 00:39:25–00:40:20]. C1503/115 [3, 01:02:10–01:03:40]; C15003/70 [9, 00:44:15–00:46:05]. C1503/21 [7, 00:32:25–00:34:00]. C1503/148 [00:18:40–00:19:45]. C1503/71 [2, 00:05:00–00:08:35]; C1503/111 [2, 00:22:45–00:26:35]. C1503/77 [2, 01:51:25–01:53:45]. C1503/85 [2, 01:29:55–01:31:50]. C1503/154 [5, 02:03:10–02:04:05]. C1503/139 [7, 01:35:10–01:38:50]. C1503/167 [1, 01:02:55–01:04:05; 2, 00:53:05–00:53:50]. C1503/172 [10, 01:44:05–01:46:20]. C1503/178 [5, 00:18:35–00:19:35]. C1503/132 [02:08:20–02:10:10]. C1503/92 [2, 00:27:20–00:29:35]. C1503/88 [01:52:40–01:53:45]. C1503/136 [6, 00:01:02–00:02:55]. C1503/142 [02:33:25–02:34:55]. C1503/153 [5, 00:33:10–00:38:20]. C1503/70 [12, 00:38:45–00:40:35]. C1503/115 [3, 01:02:10–01:03:40]. C1503/142 [02:26:20–02:27:25]. C1503/21 [7, 00:32:25–00:34:00]. C1503/127 [2, 01:26:35–01:28:35]. C1503/3 [4, 00:17:15–00:18:00]. C1503/40 [3, 00:13:35–00:14:10]. C1503/31 [02:37:55–02:39:00]. C1503/158 [5, 01:07:20–01:08:40]. C1503/24 [1, 03:13:05–03:13:30]. C1503/181 [3, 00:36:30–00:37:35]. C1503/124 [2, 01:08:55–01:09:55]. C1503/44 [01:32:55–01:34:15]. C1503/71 [2, 00:05:00–00:08:35]. C1503/112 [01:16:10–01:17:40]. C1503/61 [00:44:50–00:45:45]. C1503/14 [01:02:45–01:04:30]. C1503/5 [2, 00:07:20–00:09:10]. C1503/89 [1, 00:29:10–00:32:15]. C1503/24 [1, 02:58:15–02:59:10]. C1503/86 [3, 02:03:45–02:04:13; 4, 00:00:15–00:02:50]. C1503/11 [2, 01:33:40–01:36:20]. C1503/87 [3, 00:02:30–00:02:50]. C1503/77 [2, 01:51:25–01:53:45]. C1503/165 [7, 00:56:00–00:58:00].

237

238 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

Notes C1503/56 [2, 00:46:05–00:46:45]. C1503/65 [2, 01:01:30–01:02:45]. C1503/102 [01:52:35–01:54:25]. C1503/119 [2, 01:01:55–01:02:15; 01:27:50–01:28:05]. C1503/126 [2, 01:25:20–01:26:05]. C1503/94 [00:55:55–00:57:05]. C1503/85 [2, 01:29:55–01:31:50].

Glossary of MPs

This glossary lists all former MPs interviewed in our archive. Please note that some of these interviews are currently closed to the public. Aitken, Jonathan (b. 1942); Conservative; MP for Thanet East (February 1974–83) and Thanet South (1983–97). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2015, 2016 and 2017, BL C1503/129. Anderson, Donald, Lord Anderson of Swansea (b. 1939); Labour; MP for Monmouth (1966–70) and Swansea East (October 1974–2005). Interviewed by Jemima Warren in 2012, BL C1503/5. Archer, Jeffrey, Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare (b. 1940); Conservative; MP for Louth (1969–October 1974). Interviewed by Emma Peplow in 2017, BL C1503/161. Armstrong, Hilary, Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (b. 1945); Labour; MP for North West Durham (1987–2010). Interviewed by Emma Peplow in 2014, BL C1503/103. Ashton, Joe (1933–2020); Labour; MP for Bassetlaw (1968–2001). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2012, BL C1503/24. Atkins, Ronald (b. 1916); Labour; MP for Preston North (1966–70; February 1974–9). Interviewed by Mark Wilson in 2013, BL C1503/57. Baker, Kenneth, Lord Baker of Dorking (b. 1934); Conservative; MP for Acton (1968– 70), St Marylebone (October 1970–83) and Mole Valley (1983–97). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/13. Ballard, Jackie (b. 1953); LD; MP for Taunton (1997–2001). Interviewed by Eleanor O’Keeffe in 2014, BL C1503/85. Barnes, Michael (1932–2018); Labour; MP for Brentford and Chiswick (1966–February 1974). Interviewed by Philip Aylett in 2013, BL C1503/76. Barnes, Rosie (b. 1946); SDP; MP for Greenwich (February 1987–92). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2016, BL C1503/132. Bell, Martin (b. 1938); Independent; MP for Tatton (1997–2001). Interviewed by Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite in 2015, BL C1503/118. Bendall, Vivian (b. 1938); Conservative; MP for Ilford North (1978–97). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2016, BL C1503/133. Berry, Roger (b. 1948); Labour; MP for Kingswood (1992–2010). Interviewed by Helen Gibb in 2014, BL C1503/102.

240

Glossary of MPs

Best, Harold (b. 1937); Labour; MP for Leeds North West (1997–2005). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2012, BL C1503/41. Best, Keith (b. 1949); Conservative; MP for Ynys Môn (1979–87). Interviewed by Owain Wilkins in 2016, BL C1503/146. Body, Sir Richard (1927–2018); Conservative; MP for Billericay (1955–9), Holland with Boston (1966–97) and Boston and Skegness (1997–2001). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/31. Boothroyd, Betty, Baroness Boothroyd (b. 1929); Labour; MP for West Bromwich (1973– February 1974) and West Bromwich West (February 1974–2000). Interviewed by Michael Greenwood in 2013, BL C1503/50. Bossom, Sir Clive (1918–2017); Conservative; MP for Leominster (1959–February 1974). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2012, BL C1503/23. Bowis, John (b. 1945); Conservative; MP for Battersea (1987–97). Interviewed by Emma Peplow in 2017, BL C1503/154. Breed, Colin (b. 1947); LD; MP for South East Cornwall (1997–2010). Interviewed by Kevin Jefferys in 2012, BL C1503/35. Browning, Angela, Baroness Browning (b. 1946); Conservative; MP for Tiverton (1992–7) and Tiverton and Honiton (1997–2010). Interviewed by Kayleigh Milden in 2015, BL C1503/112. Butler, Christopher (b. 1950); Conservative; MP for Warrington South (1987–92). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2016, BL C1503/142. Campbell, Anne (b. 1940); Labour; MP for Cambridge (1992–2005). Interviewed by Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite in 2018 and 2019, BL C1503/177. Carlisle, Sir Kenneth (b. 1941); Conservative; MP for Lincoln (1979–97). Interviewed by John Barry in 2015, BL C1503/120. Carrington, Matthew, Lord Carrington of Fulham (b. 1947); Conservative; MP for Fulham (1987–97). Interviewed by Philip Aylett in 2016, BL C1503/136. Carter, Raymond (b. 1935); Labour; MP for Birmingham Northfield (1970–9). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2013, BL C1503/68. Cartwright, John (b. 1933); Labour, SDP; MP for Woolwich East (October 1974–83) and Woolwich (1983–92). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2014, BL C1503/94. Chichester-Clark, Sir Robin (1928–2016); Ulster Unionist; MP for Londonderry (1955– February 1974). Interviewed by Andrew Hyams in 2012 and Rosa Gilbert in 2014, BL C1503/21. Chidgey, David, Lord Chidgey (b. 1942); LD; MP for Eastleigh (1994–2005). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2017, BL C1503/164. Clark, David, Lord Clark of Windermere (b. 1939); Labour; MP for Colne Valley (1970– February 1974) and South Shields (1979–2001). Interviewed by Paul Seaward in 2018, BL C1503/170.

Glossary of MPs

241

Clark, Lynda, Baroness Clark of Calton (b. 1949); Labour; MP for Edinburgh Pentlands (1997–2005). Interviewed by Alison Chand in 2016 and 2017, BL C1503/138. Clarke, Eric (b. 1933); Labour; MP for Midlothian (1992–2001). Interviewed by Malcolm Petrie in 2014, BL C1503/98. Coe, Denis (1929–2015); Labour; MP for Middleton and Prestwich (1966–70). Interviewed by Simon Peplow in 2014, BL C1503/88. Coombs, Anthony (b. 1952); Conservative; MP for Wyre Forest (1987–97). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2016, BL C1503/134. Cope, John, Lord Cope of Berkeley (b. 1937); Conservative; MP for South Gloucestershire (February 1974–83) and Northavon (1983–97). Interviewed by Simon Peplow in 2016 and 2017, BL C1503/147. Cormack, Patrick, Lord Cormack (b. 1939); Conservative; MP for Cannock (1970– February 1974), South West Staffordshire (February 1974–83) and South Staffordshire (1983–2010). Interviewed by Paul Seaward in 2016, BL C1503/149. Corston, Jean, Baroness Corston (b. 1942); Labour; MP for Bristol East (1992–2005). Interviewed by Anne Gulland in 2015 and 2016, BL C1503/128. Couchman, James (b. 1942); Conservative; MP for Gillingham (1983–97). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2013, BL C1503/79. Cox, Thomas (1930–2018); Labour; MP for Wandsworth Central (1970–February 1974) and Tooting (February 1974–2005). Interviewed by Andrew Flinn in 2013, BL C1503/86. Cran, James (b. 1944); Conservative; MP for Beverley (1987–97) and Beverley and Holderness (1997–2005). Interviewed by Dean White in 2013, BL C1503/59. Cryer, Ann (b. 1939); Labour; MP for Keighley (1997–2010). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2014, BL C1503/93. Currie, Edwina (b. 1946); Conservative; MP for South Derbyshire (1983–97). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2017, BL C1503/163. Curry, David (b. 1944); Conservative; MP for Skipton and Ripon (1987–2010). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2018 and 2019, BL C1503/181. Dalyell, Sir Thomas (Tam) (1932–2017); Labour; MP for West Lothian (1962–83) and Linlithgow (1983–2005). Interviewed by Dean White in 2012, BL C1503/38. Dawson, Hilton (b. 1953); Labour; MP for Lancaster and Wyre (1997–2005). Interviewed by Martin Farr in 2015, BL C1503/127. Deakins, Eric (b. 1932); Labour; MP for Walthamstow West (1970–February 1974) and Walthamstow (February 1974–87). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2013, BL C1503/80. Du Cann, Sir Edward (1924–2017); Conservative; MP for Taunton (1956–87). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2013, BL C1503/64.

242

Glossary of MPs

Eden, John, Lord Eden of Winton (b. 1925); Conservative; MP for Bournemouth West (1954–83). Interviewed by Paul Seaward in 2014, BL C1503/96. English, Michael (1930–2019); Labour; MP for Nottingham West (1964–83). Interviewed by William Pollard in 2012, BL C1503/7. Evans, Roger (b. 1947); Conservative; MP for Monmouth (1992–7). Interviewed by Sam Blaxland in 2018, BL C1503/168. Eyre, Sir Reginald (b. 1924); Conservative; MP for Birmingham, Hall Green (1965–87). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2014, BL C1503/95. Flook, Adrian (b. 1963); Conservative; MP for Taunton (2001–5). Interviewed by Priscila Pivatto in 2019, BL C1503/185. Fookes, Janet, Baroness Fookes (b. 1936); Conservative; MP for Merton and Morden (1970–February 1974) and Plymouth Drake (February 1974–97). Interviewed by Emma Peplow in 2013, BL C1503/66. Ford, Ben (b. 1925); Labour; MP for Bradford North (1964–83). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2013, BL C1503/56. Foster, Derek, Lord Foster of Bishop Auckland (1937–2019); Labour; MP for Bishop Auckland (1979–2005). Interviewed by Mark Wilson in 2013, BL C1503/58. Foulkes, George, Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (b. 1951); Labour; MP for South Ayrshire (1979–83) and Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (1983–2005). Interviewed by Alison Chand in 2017, BL C1503/159. French, Douglas (b. 1944); Conservative; MP for Gloucester (1987–97). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2015, BL C1503/117. Fry, Sir Peter (1931–2015); Conservative; MP for Wellingborough (1969–97). Interviewed by Jessica Wilkins in 2012, BL C1503/1. Fyfe, Maria (b. 1938); Labour; MP for Glasgow Maryhill (1987–2001). Interviewed by Dean White in 2012, BL C1503/32. Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert, Marquess of Salisbury (b. 1946); Conservative; MP for South Dorset (1979–87). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2015 and 2016, BL C1503/131. Gilroy, Linda (b. 1949); Labour; MP for Plymouth Sutton (1997–2010). Interviewed by Alison Chand in 2018, BL C1503/169. Golding, Llin, Baroness Golding (b. 1933); Labour; MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme (1986–2001). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2013, BL C1503/60. Goodhart, Sir Philip (1925–2015); Conservative; MP for Beckenham (1957–92). Interviewed by Martin Farr in 2012, BL C1503/27. Goodson-Wickes, Charles (b. 1945); Conservative; MP for Wimbledon (1987–97). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2016, BL C1503/141.

Glossary of MPs

243

Gordon, Eileen (b. 1946); Labour; MP for Romford (1997–2001). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2018, BL C1503/167. Gordon, Mildred (1923–2016); Labour; MP for Bow and Poplar (1987–97). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2014, BL C1503/87. Graham, Edward, Lord Graham of Edmonton (1925–2020); Labour; MP for Edmonton (February 1974–83). Interviewed by Helen McCarthy in 2014, BL C1503/91. Grant, Sir Anthony (1925–2016); Conservative; MP for Harrow Central (1964–83) and Cambridgeshire South West (1983–97). Interviewed by Jemima Warren in 2012, BL C1503/2. Greenway, Harry (b. 1934); Conservative; MP for Ealing North (1979–97). Interviewed by Paul Seaward in 2014, BL C1503/105. Griffiths, Nigel (b. 1955); Labour; MP for Edinburgh South (1987–2010). Interviewed by Dean White in 2013, BL C1503/75. Griffiths, Win (b. 1943); Labour; MP for Bridgend (1987–2005). Interviewed by Simon Peplow in 2015, BL C1503/125. Grocott, Bruce, Lord Grocott (b. 1940); Labour; MP for Lichfield and Tamworth (October 1974–9), The Wrekin (1987–97) and Telford (1997–2001). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2014, BL C1503/107. Ground, Patrick (b. 1932); Conservative; MP for Feltham and Heston (1983–92). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2014, BL C1503/99. Hannam, Sir John (b. 1929); Conservative; MP for Exeter (1970–97). Interviewed by Philip Aylett in 2014, BL C1503/109. Hayman, Helene, Baroness Hayman (b. 1949); Labour; MP for Welwyn and Hatfield (October 1974–9). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2015, BL C1503/115. Heal, Sylvia (b. 1942); Labour; MP for Mid Staffordshire (1990–2) and Halesowen and Rowley Regis (1997–2010). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2018 and 2019, BL C1503/172. Healey, Denis, Lord Healey (1917–2015); Labour; MP for Leeds South East (1952–5) and Leeds East (1955–92). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/10. Heseltine, Michael, Lord Heseltine (b. 1933); Conservative; MP for Tavistock (1966– February 1974) and Henley (February 1974–2001). Interviewed by Michael Greenwood in 2013, BL C1503/54. Hinchliffe, David (b. 1948); Labour; MP for Wakefield (1987–2005). Interviewed by Christine Vergunson in 2013, BL C1503/65. Hicks, Sir Robert (b. 1938); Conservative; MP for Bodmin (1970–February 1974), Bodmin (October 1974–83) and South East Cornwall (1983–97). Interviewed by Kevin Jefferys in 2012, BL C1503/34.

244

Glossary of MPs

Higgins, Terence, Lord Higgins (b. 1928); Conservative; MP for Worthing (1964–97). Interviewed by Jemima Warren in 2012 and 2013, BL C1503/8. Howarth, Robert (b. 1927); Labour; MP for Bolton East (1964–70). Interviewed by Rachael Johnson in 2013, BL C1503/73. Howe, Geoffrey, Lord Howe of Aberavon (1926–2015); Conservative; MP for Bebington (1964–6), Reigate (1970–February 1974) and East Surrey (February 1974–92). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/12. Howell, David, Lord Howell of Guildford (b. 1936); Conservative; MP for Guildford (1966–97). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2017, BL C1503/156. Hughes, Robert, Lord Hughes of Woodside (b. 1932); Labour; MP for Aberdeen North (1970–97). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2016, BL C1503/140. Hurd, Douglas, Lord Hurd of Westwell (b. 1930); Conservative; MP for Mid Oxfordshire (February 1974–83) and Witney (1983–97). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2014, BL C1503/97. Iddon, Brian (b. 1940); Labour; MP for Bolton South East (1997–2010). Interviewed by David Govier in 2018, BL C1503/178. Irvine, Michael (b. 1939); Conservative; MP for Ipswich (1987–92). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2015, BL C1503/119. Jackson, Helen (b. 1939); Labour; MP for Sheffield Hillsborough (1992–2005). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2015, BL C1503/124. Jackson, Peter (1928–2020); Labour; MP for High Peak (1966–70). Interviewed by Sandy Ruxton in 2012, BL C1503/46. Jenkin, Patrick, Lord Jenkin of Roding (1926–2016); Conservative; MP for Wanstead and Woodford (1964–87). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/11. Jessel, Toby (b. 1934); Conservative; MP for Twickenham (1970–97). Interviewed by Anne Gulland in 2013, BL C1503/77. Jopling, Michael, Lord Jopling (b. 1930); Conservative; MP for Westmorland (1964–83) and Westmorland and Lonsdale (1983–97). Interviewed by Philip Aylett in 2013, BL C1503/63. Judd, Frank, Lord Judd (b. 1935); Labour; MP for Portsmouth West (1966–February 1974) and Portsmouth North (February 1974–9). Interviewed by Rosa Gilbert in 2012, BL C1503/4. Kirkhope, Timothy, Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (b. 1945); Conservative; MP for Leeds North East (1987–97). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2013 and 2014, BL C1503/84. Knapman, Roger (b. 1944); Conservative; MP for Stroud (1987–97). Interviewed by Kevin Jefferys in 2013, BL C1503/67. Knight, Jill, Baroness Knight of Collingtree (b. 1923); Conservative; MP for Birmingham Edgbaston (1966–97). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/14.

Glossary of MPs

245

Knowles, Michael (b. 1942); Conservative; MP for Nottingham East (1983–92). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2017, BL C1503/155. Latham, Arthur (1930-2016); Labour; MP for Paddington North (October 1969–February 1974) and Paddington (February 1974–9). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2014, BL C1503/106. Lawler, Geoffrey (b. 1954); Conservative; MP for Bradford North (1983–7). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2012, BL C1503/20. Lawrence, Sir Ivan (b. 1936); Conservative; MP for Burton (February 1974–7). Interviewed by Priscila Pivatto in 2018, BL C1503/171. Lee, John (b. 1927); Labour; MP for Reading (1966–70) and Birmingham Handsworth (February 1974–9). Interviewed by Jason Lower in 2013, BL C1503/44. Leonard, Richard (b. 1930); Labour; MP for Romford (1970–February 1974). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2015, BL C1503/116. Lubbock, Eric, Lord Avebury (1928–2016); Liberal; MP for Orpington (1962–70). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2015, BL C1503/122. Luce, Richard, Lord Luce (b. 1936); Conservative; MP for Arundel and Shoreham (1971– February 1974) and Shoreham (February 1974–92). Interviewed by Michael Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/51. Maclenann, Robert, Lord Maclennan of Rogart (1936–2020); Labour, SDP, LD; MP for Caithness and Sutherland (1966–97) and Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (1997–2001). Interviewed by Michael Greenwood in 2013, BL C1503/52. Maddock, Diana, Baroness Maddock (b. 1945); LD; MP for Christchurch (1993–7). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2017, BL C1503/157. Madel, Sir David (b. 1938); Conservative; MP for South Bedfordshire (1970–83) and South West Bedfordshire (1983–2001). Interviewed by John Barry in 2015, BL C1503/130. Magee, Bryan (1930–2019); Labour, SDP; MP for Leyton (February 1974–83). Interviewed by Sandy Ruxton in 2013, BL C1503/49. Mahon, Alice (b. 1937); Labour; MP for Halifax (1987–2005). Interviewed by Mark Wilson in 2012, BL C1503/30. Maitland, Lady Olga, (b. 1944); Conservative; MP for Sutton and Cheam (1992–7). Interviewed by Emma Peplow in 2016, BL C1503/139. Marshall, Edmund (b. 1940); Labour; MP for Goole (1971–83). Interviewed by Philip Aylett in 2013, BL C1503/83. Marshall, John (b. 1940); Conservative; MP for Hendon South (1987–97). Interviewed by Eleanor O’Keeffe in 2016, BL C1503/145. Martin, Michael, Lord Martin of Springburn (1945–2018); Labour; MP for Glasgow Springburn (1979–2005) and Glasgow North East (2005–9). Interviewed by Alison Chand in 2016, BL C1503/143.

246

Glossary of MPs

Meadowcroft, Michael (b. 1942); Liberal; MP for Leeds West (1983–7). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2012, BL C1503/43. Moonman, Eric (1929–2017); Labour; MP for Billericay (1966–70) and Basildon (February 1974–9). Interviewed by Rosa Gilbert in 2012, BL C1503/33. Morton, George (b. 1940); Labour; MP for Manchester Moss Side (1978–83). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2016, BL C1503/137. Mudd, David (b. 1933); Conservative; MP for Falmouth and Camborne (1970–92). Interviewed by Kevin Jefferys in 2012, BL C1503/26. Murray, Ronald, Lord Murray (1922–2016); Labour; MP for Edinburgh Leith (1970–9). Interviewed by Alison Chand in 2016, BL C1503/135. Myles, David (1925–2018); Conservative; MP for Banffshire (1979–83). Interviewed by Alison Chand in 2016 and 2017, BL C1503/150. Nicholson, David (b. 1944); Conservative; MP for Taunton (1987–97). Interviewed by Kevin Jefferys in 2012 and 2013, BL C1503/53. Nicholson, Emma, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (b. 1941); Conservative, LD; MP for Torridge and West Devon (1987–97). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2013, BL C1503/62. Osborn, Sir John (1922–2015); Conservative; MP for Sheffield Hallam (1959–87). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2012, BL C1503/45. Owen, David, Lord Owen (b. 1938); Labour, SDP; MP for Plymouth Sutton (1966–February 1974) and Plymouth Devonport (February 1974–92). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/15. Peacock, Elizabeth (b. 1937); Conservative; MP for Batley and Spen (1983–97). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2012, BL C1503/29. Pendry, Tom, Lord Pendry (b. 1934); Labour; MP for Stalybridge and Hyde (1970–2001). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2014, BL C1503/108. Pike, Peter (b. 1937); Labour; MP for Burnley (1983–2005). Interviewed by Mark Wilson in 2013, BL C1503/48. Pitt, William (Bill) (1937–2017); Liberal; MP for Croydon North West (1981–3). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2015, BL C1503/123. Pond, Chris (b. 1952); Labour; MP for Gravesham (1997–2005). Interviewed by Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite in 2015, BL C1503/126. Powley, John (b. 1936); Conservative; MP for Norwich South (1983–7). Interviewed by John Barry in 2013, BL C1503/82. Prentice, Bridget (b. 1952); Labour; MP for Lewisham East (1992–2010). Interviewed by Anne Gulland in 2018, BL C1503/173.

Glossary of MPs

247

Price, Christopher (1932–2015); Labour; MP for Birmingham Perry Barr (1966–70) and Lewisham West (February 1974–83). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2012, BL C1503/39. Price, Sir David (1924–2014); Conservative; MP for Eastleigh (1955–92). Interviewed by James Freeman in 2012, BL C1503/19. Prior, James, Lord Prior (1927–2016); Conservative; MP for Lowestoft (1959–83) and Waveney (1983–7). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/17. Quin, Joyce, Baroness Quin (b. 1944); Labour; MP for Gateshead East (1987–97) and Gateshead East and Washington West (1997–2005). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2014, BL C1503/61. Radice, Giles, Lord Radice (b. 1936); Labour; MP for Chester-le-Street (1973–83) and North Durham (1983–2001). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2017, BL C1503/160. Ramsden, James (1923–2020); Conservative; MP for Harrogate (1954–February 1974). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2012, BL C1503/36. Reed, Laurance (b. 1937); Conservative; MP for Bolton East (1970–February 1974). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2012, BL C1503/37. Richard, Ivor, Lord Richard (1932–2018); Labour; MP for Barons Court (1964–February 1974). Interviewed by Emma Peplow in 2015, BL C1503/114. Rodgers, William (Bill), Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank (b. 1928); Labour, SDP, LD; MP for Stockton-on-Tees (1962–February 1974) and Stockton (February 1974–83). Interviewed by Mike Greenwood in 2012, BL C1503/18. Roe, Dame Marion (b. 1936); Conservative; MP for Broxbourne (1983–2005). Interviewed by Eleanor O’Keeffe in 2013, BL C1503/71. Roebuck, Roy (b. 1929); Labour; MP for Harrow East (1966–70). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2012, BL C1503/9. Rogers, Allan (b. 1932); Labour; MP for Rhondda (1983–2001). Interviewed by Emma Peplow in 2014, BL C1503/89. Rowlands, Ted, Lord Rowlands (b. 1940); Labour; MP for Cardiff North (1966–70), Merthyr Tydfil (1972–83) and Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (1983–2001). Interviewed by Paul Seaward in 2012, BL C1503/25. Savidge, Malcolm (b. 1946); Labour; MP for Aberdeen North (1997–2005). Interviewed by Anne Gulland in 2013 and 2014, BL C1503/74. Shaw, Michael, Lord Shaw of Northstead (b. 1920); Conservative; MP for Brighouse and Spenborough (1960–4), Scarborough and Whitby (1966–February 1974) and Scarborough (February 1974–92). Interviewed by Paul Seaward in 2013, BL C1503/47. Shields, Elizabeth (b. 1928); Liberal; MP for Ryedale (1986–7). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2018, BL C1503/175.

248

Glossary of MPs

Sillars, Jim (b. 1937); Labour, SNP; MP for South Ayrshire (1970–9) and Glasgow Govan (1988–92). Interviewed by Malcolm Petrie in 2015, BL C1503/110. Silvester, Fred (b. 1933); Conservative; MP for Walthamstow West (1967–70) and Manchester Withington (February 1974–87). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2012, BL C1503/28. Sims, Sir Roger (b. 1930); Conservative; MP for Chislehurst (February 1974–97). Interviewed by Richard Turner in 2014, BL C1503/101. Smith, Chris, Lord Smith of Finsbury (b. 1951); Labour; MP for Islington South and Finsbury (1983–2005). Interviewed by Paul Seaward in 2017, BL C1503/158. Smith, Timothy (b. 1947); Conservative; MP for Ashfield (1977–9) and Beaconsfield (1982–97). Interviewed by Kevin Jefferys in 2012, BL C1503/22. Soley, Clive, Lord Soley (b. 1939); Labour; MP for Hammersmith North (1979–83), Hammersmith (1983–97) and Ealing, Acton and Shepherd’s Bush (1997–2005). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2016 and 2017, BL C1503/151. Steel, David, Lord Steel of Aikwood (b. 1938); Liberal, LD; MP for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (1965–83) and Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (1983–97). Interviewed by Michael Greenwood in 2013, BL C1503/55. Stern, Michael (b. 1942); Conservative; MP for Bristol North West (1983–97). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2017, BL C1503/162. Stewart, John Allan (1942–2016); Conservative; MP for East Renfrewshire (1979–83) and Eastwood (1983–97). Interviewed by Malcolm Petrie in 2013, BL C1503/72. Stoddart, David, Lord Stoddart of Swindon (b. 1926); Labour; MP for Swindon (1970– 83). Interviewed by Richard Stowell in 2013, BL C1503/78. Stuttaford, Thomas (b. 1931); Conservative; MP for Norwich South (1970–February 1974). Interviewed by John Barry in 2014, BL C1503/90. Summerson, Hugo (b. 1950); Conservative; MP for Walthamstow (1987–92). Interviewed by Anne Gulland in 2017, BL C1503/153. Sykes, John (b. 1956); Conservative; MP for Scarborough (1992–7). Interviewed by Rachael Johnson in 2014, BL C1503/92. Taverne, Dick, Lord Taverne (b. 1928); Labour, SDP; MP for Lincoln (1962–72) and Lincoln (1973–October 1974). Interviewed by Jason Lower in 2012, BL C1503/6. Taylor, Ann, Baroness Taylor of Bolton (b. 1947); Labour; MP for Bolton West (October 1974–83) and Dewsbury (1987–2005). Interviewed by Emmeline Ledgerwood in 2012 and 2013, BL C1503/81. Taylor, Sir Teddy (1937–2017); Conservative; MP for Glasgow Cathart (1964–79), Southend East (1980–97) and Rochford and Southend East (1997–2005). Interviewed by James Freeman in 2012, BL C1503/3.

Glossary of MPs

249

Tonge, Jenny, Baroness Tonge (b. 1941); LD; MP for Richmond Park (1997–2005). Interviewed by Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite in 2016 and 2017, BL C1503/148. Tope, Graham, Lord Tope (b. 1943); Liberal; MP for Sutton and Cheam (1972–February 1974). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2018, BL C1503/166. Trippier, Sir David (b. 1946); Conservative; MP for Rossendale (1979–83) and Rossendale and Darwen (1983–92). Interviewed by Mark Wilson in 2013, BL C1503/69. Turner, George (b. 1940); Labour; MP for North West Norfolk (1997–2001). Interviewed by John Barry in 2015, BL C1503/113. Twinn, Iann (b. 1950); Conservative; MP for Edmonton (1983–97). Interviewed by David Govier in 2017, BL C1503/165. Wakeham, John, Lord Wakeham (b. 1932); Conservative; MP for Maldon (February 1974– 83) and South Colchester and Maldon (1983–92). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2015, BL C1503/121. Wardle, Charles (b. 1939); Conservative; MP for Bexhill and Battle (1983–2001). Interviewed by Isobel White in 2015 and 2016, BL C1503/111. Warren, Sir Kenneth (1926–2019); Conservative; MP for Hastings (1970–83) and Hastings and Rye (1983–92). Interviewed by Helen Lowe in 2016, BL C1503/144. Watson, John (b. 1943); Conservative; MP for Skipton (1979–83) and Skipton and Ripon (1983–7). Interviewed by Henry Irving in 2012, BL C1503/40. Weetch, Kenneth (b. 1933); Labour; MP for Ipswich (October 1974–87). Interviewed by Alexander Lock in 2013, BL C1503/70. White, Frank (b. 1939); Labour; MP for Bury and Radcliffe (October 1974–83). Interviewed by Mark Wilson in 2014, BL C1503/104. Widdecombe, Ann (b. 1947); Conservative; MP for Maidstone (1987–97) and Maidstone and The Weald (1997–2010). Interviewed by Simon Peplow in 2018, BL C1503/176. Williams, Alan Lee (b. 1930); Labour; MP for Hornchurch (1966–70; February 1974–9). Interviewed by Jason Lower in 2012, BL C1503/42. Worthington, Tony (b. 1941); Labour; MP for Clydebank and Milngavie (1987–2005). Interviewed by Alison Chand in 2018, BL C1503/182. Wrigglesworth, Ian, Lord Wrigglesworth (b. 1939); Labour, SDP; MP for Thornaby (February 1974–83) and Stockton South (1983–7). Interviewed by Andrea Hertz in 2017, BL C1503/152.

Bibliography Oral histories Extracts in this book are taken from the History of Parliament’s Oral History project with kind permission of the History of Parliament Trust. The collection is archived in the British Library’s sound archive with the reference C1503 and some recordings are also available online: https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/The-Hi story-of-Parliament-Oral-History-Project Full information about each interview is listed in the glossary.

Bibliography and further reading Atkinson, Robert. ‘The life story interview’, in Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method, edited by Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein, 121–40. London: Sage, 2002. Audickas, Lukas, Cracknell, Richard and Loft, Philip. ‘UK election statistics: 1918–2019: A century of elections’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper, CBP7529, 18 July 2019. Baines, Priscilla. Colonel Josiah Wedgwood’s Questionnaires: Members of Parliament, 1885–1918. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Browning, Steve. ‘Ethnic diversity in politics and public life’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper, 1156, 30 May 2019. Charlton, Thomas L., Myers, Lois E. and Sharpless, Rebecca (eds). History of Oral History: Foundations and Methodology. New York: Altamira, 2007. Childs, Sarah. Gender and British Party Politics. London: Routledge, 2008. Crewe, E. The House of Commons: An Anthropology of MPs at Work. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015 Dawson, Graham. Making Peace with the Past: Memory, Trauma and the Irish Troubles. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007. Frisch, Michael. A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History. Albany : State University of New York Press, 1990. Graves, Pamela. Labour Women: Women in British Working-Class Politics, 1918–39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Grele, Ronald J. Envelopes of Sound: The Art of Oral History. New York: Praeger, 1991. Harrison, Brian. Finding a Role? The United Kingdom 1970–1990. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Harrison, Brian. ‘Oral history and recent political history’, Oral History, vol. 1, no. 3 (1972): 30–48. Harrison, Brian. Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951–1970. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Bibliography

251

History of Parliament Trust. Voice and Vote: Celebrating 100 Years of Votes for Women. London: St James’ House, 2018. Johnson, Alan. ‘Beyond the smallness of self: Oral history and British Trotskyism’, Oral History, vol. 24, no. 1 (1996): 39–44. Jones, Clyve (ed.). A Short History of Parliament: England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland. London: Boydell, 2009. Kelly, Richard. ‘Members’ pay and allowances – a brief history’, House of Commons Library Briefing Paper, SN/PC/05075, 21 May 2009. Morgan, Kevin, Cohen, Gidon and Flinn, Andrew. Communists and British society 1920–1991. London, Sidney and Chicago: Rivers Oram, 2007. Norris, Pippa and Lovenduski, Joni. Political Recruitment: Gender, Race and Class in the British Parliament. London: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Patrick, Simon and Sandford, Mark. ‘Public Bills in Parliament’, House of Commons Library Background Paper, SN/PC/06507, 17 December 2012. Peplow, Emma and Pivatto, Priscila. ‘Life stories from the House of Commons: the History of Parliament oral history project’, Oral History, vol. 47, no. 2 (2019): 95–105. Perks, Robert and Thompson, Alistair (eds). The Oral History Reader. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. Portelli, Alessandro. The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History. Albany : State University of New York Press, 1991. Portelli, Alessandro. ‘Trying to gather a little knowledge’, in The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997. Puwar, Nirmal. Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2004. Riley, Russel L. Inside the Clinton White House. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Ritchie, Donald A. Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Ritchie, Donald A. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Oral History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Ritchie, Donald A. ‘Top down/bottom up: Using oral history to re-examine government institutions’, Oral History, vol. 42, no. 1 (2014): 46–58. Rogers, Robert and Walters, Rhodri. How Parliament Works. 8th edn, updated and revised by Nicolas Besly and Tom Goldsmith. London: Routledge, 2018. Rush, Michael. The Role of the Member of Parliament Since 1868: From Gentlemen to Players. London: Oxford University Press, 2001. Saville, John. ‘Interviews in labour history’, Oral History, vol. 1, no. 4 (1972): 93–106. Searing, Donald. Westminster’s World: Understanding Political Roles. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994. Seldon, Anthony and Pappworth, Joanna. By Word of Mouth: Elite Oral History. London: Methuen, 1983. Sones, Boni. Women in Parliament: The New Suffragettes. London: Politico’s, 2005. Stanley, Jo. ‘Including the feelings: Personal political testimony and self-disclosure’, Oral History, vol. 24, no. 1 (1996): 60–7. Weinbren, Dan. Generating Socialism: Recollections of Life in the Labour Party. Thrupp: Sutton, 1997. White, Gemma. ‘Bullying and harassment of MPs’, Parliamentary Staff Independent Inquiry Report, HC 2206 2017–19, 11 July 2019. Williams, Philip. ‘Interviewing politicians: The life of Hugh Gaitskell’, Political Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 3 (1980): 303–16.

Index abortion 74, 103, 137, 138, 142, 165, 170–1, 182 Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) 138 abortion reform bill 138 Abse, Leo 74 achievements and regrets 179–89 Atkins, Ronald on 183 Baker, Kenneth on 183 Best, Keith on 187 Bowis, John on 182–3 Browning, Angela on 182 Carlisle, Kenneth on 180 Clark, David on 182 Coombs, Anthony on 188 Curry, David on 180 Ford, Ben on 186 Foster, Derek on 158 Gilroy, Linda on 179, 181 Golding, Llin on 140 Goodson-Wickes, Charles on 189 Gordon, Eileen on 180–1 Gordon, Mildred on 179 Healey, Denis on 184, 185 Heseltine, Michael on 184 Howell, David on 189 Jackson, Peter on 180, 182 Jenkin, Patrick on 180, 185, 189 Lee, John H. M. on 208 Maclennan, Robert on 184 Maddock, Diana on 181 Madel, David on 180 Magee, Bryan on 179 Maitland, Olga on 183 Murray, Ronald on 187 Osborn, John on 186 Owen, David on 188 Powley, John on 184 Price, Chris on 181 Prior, James on 184 Radice, Giles on 187–8 Rodgers, William on 180, 188

Roe, Marion on 180 Rogers, Allan on 180, 183, 185 Sillars, Jim on 180, 185 Silvester, Fred on 186, 188 Smith, Chris on 182 Soley, Clive on 188 Stern, Michael on 181 Stewart, John Allan on 183 Stoddart, David on 189 Taverne, Dick on 186–7 Taylor, Teddy on 185–6 Tope, Graham on 187 Trippier, David on 181 Twinn, Iann on 184–5 Watson, John on 180 Adolphus, Gustavus 29 advice surgery. See surgeries Afghanistan 161 Age Concern Scotland 34 Aitken, Jonathan 129–30, 217 n.8 alcohol 82, 90, 92. See also “drinking culture” All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) 137 breast cancer 114, 140, 208 disability 137, 141 water 141 Alton, David 103 Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) 57 Anderson, Donald 55, 104, 209 anti-apartheid movement 44, 174 Archer, Jeffrey 24, 25–6, 94, 95 archive. See sound archive arms control 133 Armstrong, Ernest 20, 53–4 Armstrong, Hilary 39, 197 on death of John Smith 148 on Iraq War 150, 161, 162 on local politics and constituencies 165, 171 on parents and family 15, 20

Index on personal life and politics 197 on political engagement/involvement 51 on selection process 51, 53–4, 63 on women 111, 116, 117 Arnold, Jacques 83 Ashdown, Paddy 97, 113 Ashley, Jack 141 Ashton, Joe on last days in the Commons 208, 209–10 on personal life and politics 191, 200 on political engagement/involvement 47–8 on selection process 57 Association of Liberal Councillors 48 Atkins, Humphrey 115 Atkins, Ronald 183 Attlee, Clement 17, 40, 44, 93 Autism Act 142 Baker, Kenneth 94 on achievements and regrets 183 on legislation/law making 143–4 on Palace of Westminster 90–1 on personal life and politics 194 on selection process 59, 62 on Thatcher, Margaret 90 Ballard, Jackie 97, 145 on election campaigns 75–6, 77–8 on last days in the Commons 203, 212 on legislation/law making 141 on local politics and constituencies 166, 167, 171–2 on Palace of Westminster 92 on parliamentary business/procedure 104 on personal life and politics 192 on school/school life 26–7 on women/women’s experience 110, 114, 116–17, 118 Barber, Anthony 58–9, 103–4 Barnes, Michael 52 on local politics and constituencies 169 on Palace of Westminster 86 on parents and family 13 on political engagement/involvement 42–3

253

Barnes, Rosie 40, 45 on last days in the Commons 204 on legislation/law making 139 on local politics and constituencies 166–7 on parents and family 23 on parliamentary business/procedure 96, 97 on personal life and politics 195 on selection process 60 on women/women’s experience 107 Barrington-Ward, Robert 19 BBC 55 Beckett, Leo 156 Beckett, Margaret 109, 133, 148 Beecham, Jeremy 29 Begg, Anne 86 Bell, Martin 55, 121, 123 Bendall, Vivian 84, 199, 217 n.8 Benn, Tony 57, 97, 99, 132, 133, 134 Berry, Roger on last days in the Commons 211 on local politics and constituencies 168 on Palace of Westminster 86 on parliamentary business/procedure 98 on political engagement/involvement 43, 50–1 Best, Harold 3, 84 Best, Keith 68–9, 187 Bevan, Aneurin 16, 90, 96, 198 Bevin, Ernest 44 Birt, John 55 Blair, Tony 72, 77, 122, 123, 173 Armstrong, Hilary on 150 Carrington, Matthew on 205 Cox, Tom on 210 death of John Smith and 147–8 Golding, Llin on 175 Hinchliffe, David on 131 Hughes, Robert on 131 Iraq War vote and 161–3 Rodgers, William on 188 Smith, Chris on 182, 207–8 Twinn, Ian on 197 women and 111, 117 Blunkett, David 86, 173 Body, Richard 21, 67, 125, 155, 157, 207

254 Bolton Evening News 18 Boothroyd, Betty 33, 53, 98 Bossom, Alfred 20 Bossom, Clive 20 Bow Group 40, 46, 62 Bowis, John on achievements and regrets 182–3 on election campaigns 71–2 on last days in the Commons 203 on legislation/law making 143 on parliamentary business/procedure 100, 102, 103 on university/university life 29–30 on whips 127–8 breast cancer APPG 114, 140, 208 Breed, Colin on personal life and politics 201 on selection process 60–1 on whips 127 Brexit debates 150, 154 Brighton bombing of 1984 150, 152–3. See also Northern Ireland, security crisis in British Caledonian Airways 131 British Library 1–3 British National Party 69, 76 British Railways 189, 235 n.59 British Telecom 143 Brooke, Henry 173 Broughton, Alfred 146 Brown, George 192 Brown, Gordon 148, 153, 194 Browning, Angela on achievements and regrets 182 on last days in the Commons 209 on legislation/law making 142 on local politics and constituencies 167–9, 171 on parliamentary business/procedure 96 on selection process 63 on whips 123 on women/women’s experience 110 Bruce-Gardyne, Jock 56 Burstow, Paul 77 Butler, Chris 25, 88, 169, 191 by-elections 42, 51, 60, 61, 66, 69, 73, 75, 95, 107, 195, 206, 210. See also election(s)

Index Callaghan, James 5, 188 Moonman, Eric on 130–1 no confidence vote motion 137, 145–6 Cambridge University 25, 27, 30, 31 Conservative Association 54 radicalism 32 Cameron, David 59, 206, 209 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) 191 campaigns/campaigning. See election campaigns Campbell, Anne on Palace of Westminster 89–90 on parents and family 17 on political engagement/involvement 45–6 on women/women’s experience 109, 112 capital punishment 142, 173, 180, 189 career. See parliamentary career Carlisle, Kenneth 75, 125, 180 Carrington, Matthew 73, 75, 205 Carrington, Peter 160–1 Carter, Raymond 155 Cartwright, John 65, 166, 204 on last days in the Commons 211–12 on party splits 135 on political engagement/involvement 42 cash for questions scandal 222 n.12 Castle, Barbara 57, 115 Catholic Church 74, 171. See also abortion CBI. See Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Chamber 94–104, 108, 110. See also parliamentary business/procedure Chetwynd, George 54 Chichester-Clark, Robin 150 on election campaigns 67 on last days in the Commons 203, 206 on personal life and politics 193 on political engagement/involvement 43–4 on security crisis in Northern Ireland 151, 152 Child and Family Protection 114, 142

Index childcare responsibilities 40, 111–12, 115 children 194–6 Chichester-Clark, Robin on 152 Cryer, Ann on 173–4 Dawson, Hilton on 34, 207 election campaigns and 14 Foulkes, George on 195 Golding, Llin on 140 Gordon, Eileen on 48 Gordon, Mildred on 170 Heal, Sylvia on 196–7 Knight, Jill on 115, 142 political career and 190–1 racism and 76 Radice, Giles on 192 rights of 140 Roe, Marion on 40, 47 school life (see school/school life) Taylor, Ann on 76, 111, 196 Watson, John on 196 Widdecombe, Ann on 75 child tax allowances 138 Churchill, Winston 15, 82, 158 Citizens Advice Bureau 140 Clark, David 76–7, 182 Clarke, Eric 72–3, 99–100 Cocks, Michael 115 Coe, Denis on last days in the Commons 205 on parents and family 18 on personal life and politics 199 committees 100, 102–4. See also parliamentary business/procedure select 94, 95, 98, 104, 114 standing 103–4 Common Market 48, 155, 172. See European Economic Community (EEC) Communist Party 28, 31, 32 communists 29–32, 48–9 Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) 32 Confait case 181 Confederation of British Industry (CBI) 32–3 Conservative Party 4, 14, 30, 46–7, 205, 206 Cambridge University Conservative Association 30, 54

255

Campbell, Ann on 45–6 employment within 50 entrepreneurism 17 fall of Thatcher government 146–7 internal divisions 122 Iraq War and 163 local government and 50 1922 Committee 90, 121, 122–3, 160 Oxford University Conservative Association 31, 61–2 privatization and 143–4 research department 133 selection process 53, 54, 55–6, 57–9, 61–3 Young Conservatives 24, 39, 40–2, 60, 61, 71 Conservative Political Centre (CPC) 133 constituencies, local politics in 164–75 Armstrong, Hilary on 165, 171 Ballard, Jackie on 166, 167, 171–2 Barnes, Michael on 169 Barnes, Rosie on 166–7 Berry, Roger on 168 Browning, Angela on 167–9, 171 Butler, Chris on 169 Cryer, Ann on 165, 167, 169–70, 173–4 Currie, Edwina on 164, 170 Dalyell, Thomas on 165, 172 Dawson, Hilton on 168 Eden, John on 166 Ford, Ben on 174 Foulkes, George on 170–1 Golding, Llin on 175 Goodson-Wickes, Charles on 172 Gordon, Mildred on 170, 173 Graham, Ted on 167 Hannam, John on 169 Heseltine, Michael on 165–6, 172 Higgins, Terence on 173 Hughes, Robert on 173, 174–5 Jackson, Peter on 170 Pond, Chris on 169 Radice, Giles on 168 Roe, Marion on 172 Summerson, Hugo on 165, 171 Williams, Alan Lee on 175 Wrigglesworth, Ian on 166

256

Index

Cook, Robin 31, 161–2, 208 Coombs, Anthony 125, 180, 188, 194 Cope, John 146, 152–3 corporal punishment 27, 137, 141 corruption 191, 200, 212 Couchman, James 58 councillors 34, 40, 43, 50, 187 Countryside Alliance 75 Cox, Jo 165, 171 Cox, Thomas on election campaigns 74 on last days in the Commons 210 on Palace of Westminster 86 on parents and family 20 on parliamentary business/procedure 96 on selection process 63 on whips 125–6 Cran, James 156 Cranbourne, Robert 132 Cripps, Stafford 17 crossbenchers 209 Cryer, Ann on election campaigns 69, 76 on Iraq War 162 on legislation/law making 136, 137–8 on local politics and constituencies 165, 167, 169–70, 173–4 on parents and family 14 on parliamentary business/procedure 99 on personal life and politics 191 on women/women’s experience 116, 117 Cryer, Bob 76, 97, 174, 191 Cunningham, George 145 Cunningham, Samuel Knox 151 Currie, Edwina 164, 170 on school/school life 27–8 on selection process 63 on Thatcher, Margaret 113 on women/women’s experience 108, 109, 113 Curry, David on achievements and regrets 180 on European Economic Community (EEC) 154 on last days in the Commons 208 on Palace of Westminster 83 on parents and family 22

Dalton, Hugh 52, 54 Dalyell, Thomas 3, 160 on legislation/law making 139, 144–5 on local politics and constituencies 165, 172 Dawson, Hilton on election campaigns 73 on Iraq War 161 on last days in the Commons 207 on local politics and constituencies 168 on Palace of Westminster 91 on parents and family 14, 20 on personal life and politics 201 on school/school life 29 on university/university life 32 on whips 123 on working life 34 Day, Robin 31, 111 Deakins, Eric 43 death of John Smith 147–8 Armstrong, Hilary on 148 Foster, Derek on 148 death penalty. See capital punishment death threats 165, 171–2 Dehn, Guy 139 denationalization. See privatization devolution 128, 144–5, 173 dining room 82, 89–90 disability 51, 100, 102, 124, 136–7, 141 Disability Discrimination Act 141 disarmament 133, 191. See also Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) Dobson, Frank 141 Douglas-Home, Alec 22 Dowd, Jim 162 “drinking culture” 5–6, 82, 90–1, 97, 110, 190, 215 du Cann, Edward on Palace of Westminster 93 on personal life and politics 199 on whips 122–3 on working life 35 Eden, Anthony 19, 20, 158, 218 n.5 Eden, John 218 n.5 on election campaigns 69 on local politics and constituencies 166

Index on parents and family 20 on Suez Crisis 158 Edinburgh University 29, 31 education reform bill 125 Edwards, Ness 19 election(s) 2, 65. See also election campaigns of 1945 14, 16–17, 18, 22, 24, 27, 40, 42 of 1950 54 of 1951 17, 18, 29, 40 of 1955 67 of 1959 40, 43, 50, 54 of 1964 20, 26, 46, 59, 67, 126 of 1966 67, 126 of 1970 66, 68, 69–70, 71, 74, 86, 155, 169, 170 of 1974 31, 74, 107, 144, 185, 206, 207 of 1979 33, 63, 68–9, 73, 75, 130, 134, 136, 137, 143, 146, 206 of 1983 70, 72, 111 of 1987 4, 67, 71–2, 73, 105, 115, 207 of 1992 71, 72, 76–7, 128, 149 of 1997 4, 7, 72, 73, 75, 77, 86, 97, 105–6, 115–18, 141, 204–5, 210 of 2001 75–6, 77–8, 117 of 2005 69 of 2010 94 of 2017 4 election campaigns 65–78 Ballard, Jackie on 75–6, 77–8 Best, Keith on 68–9 Body, Richard on 67 Bowis, John on 71–2 Carlisle, Kenneth on 75 Carrington, Matthew on 73, 75 Chichester-Clark, Robin on 67 Clark, David on 76–7 Clarke, Eric on 72–3 Cox, Thomas on 74 Cryer, Ann on 69, 76 Dawson, Hilton on 73 Eden, John on 69 Ford, Ben on 67 Foulkes, George on 66 Gordon, Eileen on 77 Hannam, John on 69–70, 74 Hayman, Helene on 66

257

Heal, Sylvia on 68 Hicks, Robert on 70 Hurd, Douglas on 68 Jackson, Helen on 71 Kirkhope, Timothy on 74 Knowles, Michael on 66 Latham, Arthur on 73 Lawrence, Ivan on 67 Luce, Richard on 71 Maitland, Olga on 69, 77 Meadowcroft, Michael on 73 Moonman, Eric on 74 Nicholson, Emma on 76 Prentice, Bridget on 67 Price, Christopher on 72 Savidge, Malcolm on 70, 72 Silvester, Fred on 76 Summerson, Hugo on 70 Sykes, John on 75, 77 Taylor, Ann on 76 telephone calling 68 Tope, Graham on 71 Twinn, Iann on 72 Wakeham, John on 68 Warren, Kenneth on 68 Widdecombe, Ann on 75 election caravan 69–70 Electrical Trade Union (ETU) 63 employment 49–50 Environmental Protection Act 181 Estimates Committees 104 ethnic minorities 4 Euro (currency) 156 European Economic Community (EEC) 134, 150, 153–6 Body, Richard on 157 Carter, Raymond on 155 Cran, James on 156 Curry, David on 154 Foster, Derek on 158 Hannam, John on 156 Knapman, Roger on 156–7 Maclennan, Robert on 155 Marshall, John on 157–8 Murray, Ronald on 155 Owen, David on 154 Radice, Giles on 153–4, 156, 158 Stoddart, David 155 Taverne, Dick on 155–6 Taylor, Teddy 157

258 Euroscepticism 154 Evans, Gwynfor 89 Ewing, Winnie 89 expenses scandal of 2009 201, 215

Index

191, 199–200,

Fabian Society 40, 42, 46, 50, 54 Fabricant, Michael 98 Fairbairn, Norman 29 Falklands War 75, 150 Foulkes, George on 160 Fry, Peter on 159 Jessel, Toby on 159 Luce, Richard on 160–1 Weetch, Kenneth on 160 White, Frank on 159 family. See parents and family family allowances 138–9 female genital mutilation bill 114, 180 financial difficulties 191, 199–200. See also salary financial independence and security 25, 35, 127, 188, 199 Financial Times 154 First Gulf War 150 Flook, Adrian 22 Fookes, Janet on parents and family 20–1 on selection process 63 on university/university life 30 on women/women’s experience 109, 111 Foot, Michael 85, 90–1, 152, 154 football spectators bill 147 Ford, Ben 165, 174 on achievements and regrets 186 on election campaigns 67 on last days in the Commons 211 on local politics and constituencies 174 on parents and family 17 Ford, Tim 60 Foreign Affairs Select Committee 114, 160 foreign policy 158–63 Foster, Derek on death of John Smith 148 on European Economic Community (EEC) 158

on political engagement/involvement 48 religious background 13 Foulkes, George 45, 81 on election campaigns 66 on Falklands War 160 on local politics and constituencies 170–1 on personal life and politics 195, 197 on working life 34 free admissions for national museums and galleries 182 Freedom of Information Act 182 Fry, Peter 159 Fyfe, Maria 25, 108, 150 on legislation/law making 145 on Palace of Westminster 83–4, 85 on party splits 132 on whips 121 on women/women’s experience 115, 117 on working life 34 Gaitskell, Hugh 44, 134, 158–9, 185 Galtieri, Leopoldo 159, 160. See also Falklands War Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert 47, 56, 82–3 gay rights (Section 28, age of consent, gay marriage) 142–3 gender. See women/women’s experience George, Lloyd 23 Gillan, Cheryl 142 Gilroy, Linda 45, 83, 179, 181 Glasgow University 29 Glover, Douglas 26 Golding, Llin on legislation/law making 135, 140 on local politics and constituencies 175 on parents and family 14, 19, 23 on party splits 135 on political engagement/involvement 44, 49–50 on selection process 59 on whips 122, 124 on women/women’s experience 112–13 Goldman, Peter 62 Goodhart, Philip 54, 115

Index Goodson-Wickes, Charles on achievements and regrets 189 on local politics and constituencies 172 on Palace of Westminster 87, 93 on Thatcher, Margaret 147 on whips 126 Gordon, Eileen 202 on achievements and regrets 180–1 on election campaigns 77 on last days in the Commons 202, 204 on Palace of Westminster 82, 92 on political engagement/involvement 48 Gordon, Mildred on achievements and regrets 179 on last days in the Commons 210 left-wing radicalism 13 on local politics and constituencies 170, 173 on parents and family 13, 18–19, 21–2 on party splits 133 on women/women’s experience 112, 117 Gove, Michael 97 Graham, Ted 167 “grammar schools” 24, 27, 81 Grant, Anthony 109, 126 Green, Edmonton 72, 167 green ink brigade 165, 171 Greenway, Harry 164 Griffin, Nick 69, 76 Griffiths, Nigel 31 Griffiths, Win 63–4, 92 Grimmond, Jo 131 Grocott, Bruce 107–8 Ground, Patrick 198 Grylls, Mickey 205–6 Hain, Peter 173 Hamilton, Neil 54–5 Hamilton, Willie 99 Hannam, John on election campaigns 69–70, 74 on European Economic Community (EEC) 156 on legislation/law making 141 on local politics and constituencies 169

259

Hansard 2, 6, 81, 102 Harman, Harriet 191, 197, 235 n.7 Harrison, Walter 146 Hattersley, Roy 131 Hatton, Derek 185 Hayman, Helene 43 on election campaigns 66 on last days in the Commons 202–3, 206 on legislation/law making 138–9 on parliamentary business/procedure 99 on personal life and politics 190, 195 on political engagement/involvement 43 on Thatcher, Margaret 112, 115, 146 on women/women’s experience 105, 107, 110, 112, 114–15 Heal, Sylvia 204, 223 n.2 on election campaigns 68 on parents and family 18 on parliamentary business/procedure 98–9 on personal life and politics 196–7, 200–1 on selection process 61 on women/women’s experience 117 Healey, Denis 4, 133, 154, 166 on achievements and regrets 184, 185 on Palace of Westminster 85 on party splits 132 on political engagement/involvement 42, 49 on whips 131 health 44, 45, 113, 114, 139, 142. See also National Health Service (NHS) Heath, Edward 62, 97, 111, 113, 122, 129, 132, 153, 154, 155, 172, 194, 206, 210 Heddle, John 61 Heffer, Eric 85, 132 Heneage, Arthur 19 Heseltine, Michael 3, 40, 52, 122, 128, 130 on achievements and regrets 184 on local politics and constituencies 165–6, 172 on Palace of Westminster 84 on parliamentary business/procedure 101

260 Hicks, Robert 70, 84 Higgins, Terence 173 High Commission staff 170 Hinchliffe, David on Iraq War 162 on last days in the Commons 211 on Palace of Westminster 85, 91 on parents and family 15–16, 22 on political engagement/involvement 42 on school/school life 27 on whips 131 on working life 33–4 History of Parliament Trust (HPT) 1, 2, 213. See also oral history interviews Hoey, Kate 55 Hogg, Douglas 132 Home Energy Conservation Act 181 home life. See parents and family Hooson, Emlyn 198 house-buyers’ bill 141 House of Commons 81–93 Chamber 83, 94–101 change of hours 191, 197–8 class division 85 clerks 88, 89 committee work and procedure 94, 95, 98, 100, 102–4 corruption 200 facilities 82, 87–92 family-friendly policies 191, 196–7 friendships 92–3 salaries and allowances 191, 199–201, 215 staff 88 televising 100 working hours 82, 191, 197–8 House of Lords 16, 203, 209 committee work 209 value of crossbenchers 209 housing policies 22, 34, 45, 47–8, 75, 140, 141 Howard, Michael 101 Howarth, Robert 92–3, 99 Howe, Geoffrey 26, 147 on personal life and politics 191, 198

Index on political engagement/involvement 46 on whips 130 Howell, David 235 n.59 on achievements and regrets 189 on Iraq War 163 on parliamentary business/procedure 104 on party splits 133 on political engagement/involvement 40–1, 46 on selection process 62 Hughes, Bob 124 Hughes, Robert 165 on local politics and constituencies 173, 174–5 on parliamentary business/procedure 102–3 on personal life and politics 194, 200 on political engagement/involvement 46 on selection process 57 on Thatcher, Margaret 200 on whips 131 Hunt, David 113 Hurd, Anthony 19 Hurd, Douglas 16, 19, 68, 172 Hussein, Saddam 161, 163. See also Iraq War, Britain’s involvement in Iddon, Brian 139–40, 204 immigration 69, 75, 96, 169–70, 173–4 Independent Labour Party (ILP) 14. See also Labour Party industrial relations 33 Inter-Parliamentary Union 20 interviews. See oral history interviews Iraq War, Britain’s involvement in 5, 207 Armstrong, Hilary on 162 Cryer, Ann on 162 Dawson, Hilton on 161 Hinchliffe, David on 162 Howell, David on 163 Smith, Chris on 161–2 Tonge, Jenny on 163 Irish Republican Army (IRA) 32, 151, 153, 206 Brighton bombing of 1984 150, 152–3

Index Irvine, Arthur 21 Irvine, Michael 14, 21, 128, 211 IVF treatment 171 Jackson, Helen 208 on election campaigns 71 on legislation/law making 141 on Palace of Westminster 88, 92 on political engagement/involvement 45, 49 on women/women’s experience 107 Jackson, Peter 106, 137 on achievements and regrets 180, 182 on legislation/law making 138 on local politics and constituencies 170 on parents and family 14, 15 on personal life and politics 191 Japhet, Tony 129 Jenkin, Patrick on achievements and regrets 180, 185, 189 on Thatcher, Margaret 210 on university/university life 30 Jenkins, Roy 66, 134, 138, 155 Jennings, Roland 60 Jessel, Toby 203, 210 on Falklands War 159 on parents and family 15 on selection process 61 Jones, Trevor 71 Joseph, Keith 143 Judd, Frank 13 Kennedy, Charles 163 Khama, Seretse 31 King, Martin Luther 44 Kinnock, Neil 101, 143 Kirkhope, Timothy 24 on election campaigns 74 on Palace of Westminster 85 on political engagement/involvement 41 on school/school life 28–9 on selection process 55–6 on whips 121, 122 Knapman, Roger 127, 157 Knight, Jill 25, 35, 136, 209 on legislation/law making 142–3

261

on parents and family 23 on women/women’s experience 107, 109, 115 Knowles, Michael on election campaigns 66 on Palace of Westminster 90 on personal life and politics 197 on political engagement/involvement 40, 50 on selection process 61 Korean War 28 Kosovo, NATO’s intervention in 161, 232 n.44 Labour Party 17–19, 21, 43–6, 166–7, 188, 189, 200 all-women shortlists 4, 105 death of John Smith 147–8 election of 1951 17 employment within 49–50 internal divisions 122 Iraq War and 161–3, 207 Keighley 116 Labour League of Youth 18 local government and 50–1 Manifesto Group 132 Militant Tendency 165, 174–5, 180, 185 New Labour 117, 131, 147–8 no confidence vote against Callaghan government 145–6 Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) 116, 121 Scottish devolution and 144–5, 185 Scottish Labour Party 180, 185 SDP and 6, 40, 122, 133, 134–5 selection process 53–4, 55, 56–7, 61, 62, 63–4 Tribune Group 132, 135 working-class MPs and 213 working hours and 191 Labour Weekly 200 last days in the Commons 202–12 Anderson, Donald on 209 Ashton, Joe on 208, 209–10 Ballard, Jackie on 203, 212 Barnes, Rosie on 204 Berry, Roger on 211 Body, Richard on 207

262 Bowis, John on 203 Browning, Angela on 209 Butler, Chris on 205, 206 Carrington, Matthew on 205 Cartwright, John on 211–12 Chichester-Clark, Robin on 203, 206 Coe, Denis on 205 Cox, Thomas on 210 Curry, David on 208 Dawson, Hilton on 207 Ford, Ben on 211 Gordon, Eileen on 202, 204 Gordon, Mildred on 210 Hayman, Helene on 202–3, 206 Heal, Sylvia on 204 Hinchliffe, David on 211 Iddon, Brian on 204 Irvine, Michael on 211 Jackson, Helen on 208 Jenkin, Patrick on 210 Jessel, Toby on 203, 210 Knight, Jill on 209 Lee, John H. M. on 208 Maitland, Olga on 203 Pond, Chris on 202, 211 Quin, Joyce on 209 Roe, Marion on 203, 208 Rogers, Allan on 209 Smith, Chris 207–8 Summerson, Hugo on 205–6 Sykes, John on 204–5 Taylor, Teddy on 207 Twinn, Ian on 210–11 Wardle, Charles 203 Watson, John on 207 Weetch, Kenneth on 206 Latham, Arthur 18, 73, 124, 135 Lawrence, Ivan on election campaigns 67 on parliamentary business/procedure 101 on personal life and politics 194, 198–9 leadership figures 129–31 Lee, John H. M. 88, 101, 208 legislation/law making 136–45 Baker, Kenneth on 143–4

Index Ballard, Jackie on 141 Barnes, Rosie on 139 Bowis, John on 143 Browning, Angela on 142 Cryer, Ann on 136, 137–8 Dalyell, Thomas on 139, 144–5 Fyfe, Maria on 145 Golding, Llin on 135, 140 Hannam, John on 141 Hayman, Helene on 138–9 Iddon, Brian on 139–40 Jackson, Helen on 141 Jackson, Peter on 138 Knight, Jill on 142–3 Mahon, Alice on 140 Nicholson, Emma on 139 Price, David on 142 Prior, James on 140 Rogers, Allan on 144 Sillars, Jim on 144, 145 Smith, Chris on 143 Steel, David on 138 Tonge, Jenny on 142 Weetch, Kenneth on 141 Leonard, Richard 50 Liberal Democrat 4, 17, 40, 53, 55, 60, 64, 86, 89, 97, 114, 117, 129, 140, 195 Liberals/Liberal Party 4, 17, 22, 29, 44–5, 48–9, 51, 53, 60, 66, 70, 71, 81, 92, 131, 133–4 life story interviews. See oral history interviews Lightbown, David 113, 127 Limehouse Declaration 135 Lindsay, James 19 Lloyd, Geoffrey 96 Lloyd, Selwyn 99 local parties, relationship with 165, 172–4. See also constituencies, local politics in Lubbock, Eric 31 Luce, Richard on election campaigns 71 on Falklands War 160–1 on parents and family 19 on personal life and politics 192, 198 on Thatcher, Margaret 146

Index Maastricht Treaty 137, 149, 150, 153, 156–8 McCartney, Hugh 57 McDonnell, John 117 Maclennan, Robert on achievements and regrets 184 on European Economic Community (EEC) 155 on party splits 134 on political engagement/involvement 42, 44 on whips 131 Macmillan, Harold 151 McNally, Tom 32 Maddock, Diana 40 on achievements and regrets 181 on parents and family 23 on parliamentary business/procedure 97–8, 100 on personal life and politics 195 on political engagement/involvement 48–9 on women/women’s experience 107 Madel, David 96, 97, 180 Magee, Bryan on achievements and regrets 179 on Palace of Westminster 91 on parents and family 15 on party splits 134 on personal life and politics 193 on selection process 58 on university/university life 29 Mahon, Alice 169 on legislation/law making 140 on Palace of Westminster 85, 89 on parents and family 16 on selection process 56–7 on women/women’s experience 106, 113–14 maiden speech 94, 95–6 Maitland, Olga 3, 203, 229 n.16 on achievements and regrets 183 on election campaigns 69, 77 on parents and family 13, 16, 21 on political engagement/involvement 46–7 on whips 124 on women/women’s experience 111, 114, 115

263

Major, John 132, 153, 156–8, 172, 184, 195 Manifesto Group 132 Manningham-Buller, Reggie 19 marriage 8, 190, 191–3, 214 Baker, Kenneth on 194 Ballard, Jackie on 192 Chichester-Clark, Robin on 193 forced 169–70 Radice, Giles on 192 Williams, Alan Lee on 192 Marsh, Richard 104 Marshall, Edmund 153, 202 Marshall, John 100, 147, 158 Martin, Michael 161 Maudling, Reggie 132 May, Philip 172 May, Theresa 172 Mclean, Bob 72 Meadowcroft, Michael on election campaigns 73 on party splits 133–4 on political engagement/involvement 44–5 on selection process 60 Mellish, Bob 125, 128 Mellor, David 103 Member of Parliament (MP) 1, 2, 13 accommodation 200–1 achievements and regrets 179–89 children 194–6 constituency and local politics 164–75 corruption 191, 200, 212 death threats 165, 171–2 financial difficulties 191, 199–200 maiden speech 94, 95–6 relationship with local parties 172–4 religious background 13 salaries and allowances 191, 199–201, 215 second job/outside activity or business 198–9 selection process 52–64 spouse/partner/relationships 191–4 surgeries 167, 168–9, 171–2, 192 trade union 86 values 13 women 105–18 working hours 82, 191, 197–8 Militant Tendency 165, 174–5, 180, 185

264 miners’ strike of 1984 144 Mitchell, Austin 141 Monday Club 19, 30 Moonman, Eric 74, 131 Morrison, Herbert 17 Morrison, John 90 Morrison, Peter 147 motions of confidence 165 Mudd, David 24 on Palace of Westminster 91 on personal life and politics 197–8 on Thatcher, Margaret 130 on whips 124, 130 Mullin, Chris 117 Murray, Ronald 29, 155, 187 Myles, David 168 Nasser, Gamal Abdel 158 National Health Service (NHS) 44, 113, 139 nationalisation 16, 132, 134 National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) 144 National Union of Students (NUS) 25, 31, 32 NATO 113, 232 n.44 Nazis 15 NHS. See National Health Service (NHS) Nicholson, David 89, 149 Nicholson, Emma 165 on election campaigns 76 on legislation/law making 139 on parents and family 14, 19 on whips 128–9 on women/women’s experience 107, 108 Nicholson, Godfrey 19, 192 1922 Committee 90, 121, 122–3, 160 1945 election 14, 16–17, 18, 22, 24, 27, 40, 42 1950 election 54 1951 election 17, 18, 29, 40 1955–9 Parliament 158–9 1955 election 67 1959–64 Parliament 85 1959 election 40, 43, 50, 54 1964 election 20, 26, 46, 59, 67, 126 1966–70 Parliament 86 1966 election 67, 126

Index 1970–4 Parliament 86, 150, 155–6 1970 election 66, 68, 69–70, 71, 74, 86, 155, 169, 170 1974–9 Parliament 112, 114–15, 124–5, 127, 146, 206, 208 1974 election 31, 74, 107, 144, 185, 206, 207 1979 election 33, 63, 68–9, 73, 75, 130, 134, 136, 137, 143, 146, 206 1983 election 70, 72, 111 1987–92 Parliament 108, 133, 146–7 1987 election 4, 67, 71–2, 73, 105, 115, 207 1992–7 Parliament 76–7, 86, 112, 124, 125, 126, 128–9, 149, 150, 156–8, 207 1992 election 71, 72, 76–7, 128, 149 1997–2001 Parliament 4, 7, 82, 86, 89–90, 97, 111, 117, 123, 126, 131, 191, 196–7, 207 1997 election 4, 7, 72, 73, 75, 77, 86, 97, 105–6, 115–18, 141, 204–5, 210 Northern Ireland, security crisis in 149–50 Chichester-Clark, Robin on 151, 152 Clark, David on 152 Cope, John on 150, 152–3 Good Friday Agreement 151 Marshall, Edmund on 153 Sykes, John on 151 Wakeham, John on 152 Nott, John 159 oral history interviews 2–3, 81 benefits 6–7 complications 4–6 factual errors 5 legacy building 5 memoir vs. 5 memories 4 practiced narratives 5 ordination of women priests 171 Osborn, John 60, 186 Osborne, George 59 Owen, David 58, 135, 230 n.59 on achievements and regrets 188 on European Economic Community (EEC) 154 on selection process 53 Oxford University 25, 27, 29–31 Conservative Association 31, 61–2

Index Pakistani Muslim community 69, 169–70 children 173–4 Palace of Westminster 2, 81–93 Baker, Kenneth on 90–1 Ballard, Jackie on 92 Barnes, Michael on 86 Bendall, Vivian on 84 Berry, Roger on 86 Best, Harold on 84 Butler, Chris on 88 Campbell, Anne on 89–90 class diversity in 81–2 cloakroom 83, 84 Cox, Thomas on 86 Curry, David on 83 Dawson, Hilton on 91 du Cann, Edward on 93 Fyfe, Maria on 83–4, 85 Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert on 82–3 Gilroy, Linda on 83 Goodson-Wickes, Charles on 87, 93 Gordon, Eileen on 82, 92 Griffiths, Win on 92 Healey, Denis on 85 Heseltine, Michael on 84 Hicks, Robert on 84 Hinchliffe, David on 85, 91 Jackson, Helen on 88, 92 Kirkhope, Timothy on 85 Knowles, Michael on 90 Lee, John H. M. on 88 Magee, Bryan on 91 Mahon, Alice on 85, 89 Mudd, David on 91 Nicholson, David on 89 Peacock, Elizabeth on 88, 91 Price, David on 87, 92 Prior, James on 85 Radice, Giles on 86 Ramsden, James on 90 relaxation spaces in 82 Roe, Marion on 91, 93 Sillars, Jim on 86–7 Soley, Clive on 88 Steel, David on 85 Stoddart, David on 88 Taylor, Teddy on 89 Tonge, Jenny on 84, 86, 90

265

Twinn, Iann on 87, 90 Weetch, Kenneth on 83 White, Frank on 92 Widdecombe, Ann on 83, 87 working hours in 82 parents and family 13–23 Armstrong, Hilary on 15, 20 Barnes, Rosie on 23 Body, Richard on 21 Bossom, Clive on 20 Campbell, Anne on 17 Clarke, Eric on 15 Coe, Denis on 18 Cox, Thomas on 20 Cryer, Ann on 14 Curry, David 22 Dawson, Hilton on 14, 20 Eden, John on 20 Flook, Adrian on 22 Fookes, Janet on 20–1 Ford, Ben on 17 Golding, Llin on 14, 19, 23 Gordon, Mildred on 13, 18–19, 21–2 Heal, Sylvia on 18 Hinchliffe, David on 15–16, 22 Hurd, Douglas on 16, 19 Irvine, Michael on 14, 21 Jackson, Peter on 14, 15 Jessel, Toby on 15 Knight, Jill on 23 Latham, Arthur on 18 Luce, Richard on 19 Maddock, Diana on 23 Magee, Bryan on 15 Mahon, Alice on 16 Maitland, Olga on 13, 16, 21 Nicholson, Emma on 14, 19 Peacock, Elizabeth on 14 Pendry, Tom on 22 Powley, John on 17 Radice, Giles on 19 Richard, Ivor on 23 Rowlands, Ted on 22 Sillars, Jim on 13–14, 16–17 Sims, Roger on 14 Tonge, Jenny on 14 Warren, Kenneth on 15 Watson, John on 17 White, Frank on 16, 18

266 Parliament. See Palace of Westminster parliamentary business/procedure 95–104 Anderson, Donald on 104 Archer, Jeffrey on 94, 95 Ballard, Jackie on 104 Barnes, Rosie on 96, 97 Berry, Roger on 98 Bowis, John on 100, 102, 103 Browning, Angela on 96 Clarke, Eric on 99–100 Cox, Thomas on 96 Cryer, Ann on 99 Hayman, Helene on 99 Heal, Sylvia on 98–9 Heseltine, Michael on 101 Howarth, Robert on 99 Howell, David on 104 Hughes, Robert on 102–3 Lawrence, Ivan on 101 Lee, John H. M. on 101 Maddock, Diana on 97–8, 100 Madel, David on 96, 97 Marshall, John on 100 Nicholson, Emma on 100 Peacock, Elizabeth on 100, 102 Richard, Ivor on 96 Roebuck, Roy on 100 Rowlands, Ted on 103–4 Summerson, Hugo on 97 Sykes, John on 98 Taylor, Ann on 101 Tope, Graham on 95 Weetch, Kenneth on 99 Widdecombe, Ann on 103 Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) 116, 121 parliamentary sessions 1955–9 Parliament 158–9 1959–64 Parliament 85 1966–70 Parliament 86 1970–4 Parliament 86, 150, 155–6 1974–9 Parliament 112, 114–15, 124–5, 127, 146, 206, 208 1987–92 Parliament 108, 133, 146–7 1992–7 Parliament 76–7, 86, 112, 124, 125, 126, 128–9, 149, 150, 156–8, 207

Index 1997–2001 Parliament 4, 7, 82, 86, 89–90, 97, 111, 117, 123, 126, 131, 191, 196–7, 207 2001–5 Parliament 117, 149, 150, 161–3 Parliamentary Wives’ Association 107 party splits 122 Cartwright, John on 135 formation of the SDP 134–5 Fyfe, Maria on 132 Golding, Llin on 135 Gordon, Mildred 133 Healey, Denis on 132 Howell, David 133 Latham, Arthur on 135 Maclennan, Robert 134 Magee, Brian on 134 Meadowcroft, Michael on 133–4 Price, Chris on 132 Radice, Giles on 135 Rodgers, William 134–5 Watson, John on 132 Weetch, Ken on 132 Williams, Alan Lee on 132–3 Wrigglesworth, Ian on 135 Peacock, Elizabeth 141 on Palace of Westminster 88, 91 on parents and family 14 on parliamentary business/procedure 100, 102 on personal life and politics 193 on whips 126–7, 128 on women/women’s experience 109, 110, 111 Pendry, Tom 22 personal life and politics 190–201 Armstrong, Hilary on 197 Ashton, Joe on 191, 200 Baker, Kenneth on 194 Ballard, Jackie on 192 Barnes, Rosie on 195 Bendall, Vivian on 199 Breed, Colin on 201 Butler, Chris on 191 Chichester-Clark, Robin on 193 Coe, Denis on 199 Coombs, Anthony on 194

Index Cryer, Ann on 191 Dawson, Hilton on 201 du Cann, Edward on 199 Foulkes, George on 195, 197 Ground, Patrick on 198 Hayman, Helene on 190, 195 Heal, Sylvia on 196–7, 200–1 Howe, Geoffrey on 191, 198 Hughes, Robert on 194, 200 Jackson, Peter on 191 Knowles, Michael on 197 Lawrence, Ivan on 194, 198–9 Luce, Richard on 192, 198 Maddock, Diana on 195 Magee, Bryan on 193 Mudd, David on 197–8 Peacock, Elizabeth on 193 Radice, Giles on 192 Roe, Marion on 193–4 Stuttaford, Thomas on 199 Summerson, Hugo on 199–200 Taylor, Ann on 194, 196 Tonge, Jenny on 196, 197 Twinn, Iann on 190, 195, 197, 199 Watson, John on 191, 193, 195, 196 Weetch, Kenneth on 196 Widdecombe, Ann on 201 Williams, Alan Lee on 192, 200 Petschi, Rudi 167 Pike, Mervyn 113 Pike, Peter 82 Pitt, William (Bill) 202 PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions) 98, 104, 136, 158, 211 political culture 6, 8, 81, 105, 215 political engagement/involvement 39–51 Armstrong, Hilary on 51 Ashton, Joe on 47–8 Barnes, Michael on 42–3 Berry, Roger on 43, 50–1 Campbell, Anne on 45–6 Cartwright, John on 42 Chichester-Clark, Robin on 43–4 Deakins, Eric on 43 Foster, Derek on 48 Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert on 47, 56 Gilroy, Linda on 45 Golding, Llin on 44, 49–50 Gordon, Eileen on 48

267

Hayman, Helene on 43 Healey, Denis on 42, 49 Hinchliffe, David on 42 Howe, Geoffrey on 46 Howell, David on 40–1, 46 Hughes, Robert on 46 Jackson, Helen on 45, 49 Kirkhope, Timothy on 41 Knowles, Michael on 40, 50 Leonard, Richard on 50 Maclennan, Robert on 42, 44 Maddock, Diana on 48–9 Maitland, Olga on 46–7 Meadowcroft, Michael on 44–5 Rodgers, William on 50 Roe, Marion on 40, 47 Savidge, Malcolm on 43 Shaw, Michael on 41–2 Silvester, Fred on 50 Smith, Chris on 44, 51 Soley, Clive on 43, 49 Stern, Michael on 46 Tonge, Jenny on 51 Tope, Graham on 44 Turner, George on 49 Wakeham, John on 42, 48 Watson, John on 41 Weetch, Kenneth on 44 political events 137, 145–8 death of John Smith 147–8 fall of Thatcher 146–7 no confidence vote faced by Callaghan government 137, 145–6 Poll Tax 128, 130, 146 Pond, Chris on last days in the Commons 202, 211 on local politics and constituencies 169 on selection process 62 on university/university life 32 Portcullis House 82 Portillo, Michael 113 Powell, Enoch 144–5, 155 Powley, John 17, 184 Prentice, Bridget 67 Pressure for Economic and Social Toryism (PEST) 30 Price, Chris 72, 122, 132, 181

268

Index

Price, David 87, 92, 137, 142 primary purpose rule 170 Prior, James 85, 113, 140, 184 private schools 24 privatization 45, 90, 133, 137, 141, 143–4 prohibition of female circumcision. See female genital mutilation bill protection of children bill 114 Pye, Reg 57 Question Time 98, 100, 104, 158 Quin, Joyce 108, 147, 209, 217 n.8 Quinn, Lawrie 77 racism 50–1, 76 radicalism 13, 25, 32 Radice, Giles on achievements and regrets 187–8 on European Economic Community (EEC) 153–4, 156, 158 on local politics and constituencies 168 on Palace of Westminster 86 on parents and family 19 on party splits 135 on personal life and politics 192 on Suez Crisis 158–9 on university/university life 31 on women/women’s experience 117 Ramsden, James 90 rebel/rebellions 122, 127–9 Reed, Laurance 59 Rees, Merlyn 153 Rees-Mogg, William 31 regrets. See achievements and regrets relationship with local parties 55, 155–6, 165, 172–4 religious background 13, 15–6 remuneration. See salary Renton, Tim 31 Rhodesia 173 Richard, Ivor 23, 30, 96 Richardson, Jo 114, 133 Rodgers, George 45 Rodgers, William 52, 82, 122, 230 n.59 on achievements and regrets 180, 188 on party splits 134–5 on political involvement 50 on school/school life 27

on selection process 54 on university/university life 31 Roe, Marion 140, 147, 203, 208 on achievements and regrets 180 on local politics and constituencies 172 on Palace of Westminster 91, 93 on personal life and politics 193–4 on political involvement 40, 47 on selection process 63 on Thatcher, Margaret 147 on women and women’s experience 108, 114, 115 Roebuck, Roy 100 on parliamentary business/procedure 100 Rogers, Allan 144, 180, 183, 185, 209 Ross, Willie 102–3, 144 Rowlands, Ted 22, 95, 103–4 Royal Navy 15 Ryder, Richard 124, 126, 127 St John-Stevas, Norman 104 salary 191, 199–201, 215 Savidge, Malcolm 43, 70, 72 Scargill, Arthur 144 school buses 139 school/school life Ballard, Jackie on 26–7 Currie, Edwina on 27–8 Dawson, Hilton on 29 Hinchliffe, David on 27 Kirkhope, Timothy on 28–9 Rodgers, William on 27 Section 28 142–3 Sillars, Jim on 28 Sykes, John on 26, 28 Taverne, Dick on 28 Taylor, Ann on 26 Taylor, Teddy on 27 Tonge, Jenny on 28 Turner, George on 26 Science Museum 182, 196 Scottish hospital endowments trust fund bill 102 Scottish Labour Party 180, 185 Second World War 15, 22, 39, 42, 43, 82, 154 Section 28 142–3

Index select committees 94, 95, 98, 104, 114 selection process 52–64 Anderson, Donald on 55 Armstrong, Hilary on 51, 53–4, 63 Ashton, Joe on 57 Baker, Kenneth on 59, 62 Barnes, Rosie on 60 Bell, Martin on 54–5 Breed, Colin on 60–1 Browning, Angela on 63 constituency associations and 61–4 Couchman, James on 57–8 Cox, Thomas on 63 Currie, Edwina on 63 Fookes, Janet on 63 Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert on 56 Golding, Llin on 59 Goodhart, Philip on 54 Griffiths, Win on 63–4 Heal, Sylvia on 61 Howell, David on 62 Hughes, Robert on 57 Jessel, Toby on 61 Kirkhope, Timothy on 55–6 Knowles, Michael on 61 Magee, Bryan on 58 Mahon, Alice on 56–7 Meadowcroft, Michael on 60 Osborn, John on 60 Owen, David on 53 Pond, Chris on 62 Reed, Laurance on 58–9 Rodgers, William on 54 Roe, Marion on 63 Stern, Michael on 62 Summerson, Hugo on 58, 59, 62 Sykes, John on 58 Taverne, Dick on 54 Taylor, Teddy on 55 Tonge, Jenny on 64 Twinn, Iann on 61 Watson, John on 62 Widdecombe, Ann on 58 Worthington, Tony on 57 Serpell, David 189, 235 n.59 Service, Alistair 138 sex discrimination 112 sexual harassment 106, 108, 110 Shaw, Michael 42, 127

269

Shields, Elizabeth 3–4, 110–11 Shipley, Debra 114 Shore, Peter 155 Short, Clare 108, 133 Sierra Leone 161 Sillars, Jim on achievements and regrets 180, 185 on legislation/law making 144, 145 on Palace of Westminster 86–7 on parents and family 13–14, 16–17 on school/school life 28 on whips 128 Silvester, Fred 50, 76, 186, 188 Sims, Roger 14, 127 Sinn Fein 67 Skinner, Dennis 95, 97, 100, 132 Smith, Chris 182, 208 on Iraq War 161–2 on legislation/law making 143 on political involvement 44, 51 on university/university life 32 Smith, Ian 173 Smith, Ian Duncan 158, 163 Smith, John 77, 144, 158 death of 137, 147–8 one man/one vote policy 85 on women 116 Smith, Trevor 95 smoking room 82, 90–1, 92, 109 Social Democrat Party (SDP) 6, 40 formation 122, 134–5 socialist views 133 social legislation 142. See also legislation/law making Soley, Clive 43, 49, 88, 122, 188 Somalia 170 sound archive 2, 3–4, 213, 215–16 Spearing, Nigel 155 spouse/partner 190, 191–4 standing committees 103–4 Steel, David 85, 137, 138 Stern, Michael 40, 121 on achievements and regrets 181 on political engagement/involvement 46 on selection process 62 on speech 94 Stewart, John Allan 1, 183 Stoddart, David 88, 155, 189

270 Stoneyholme 75 Straw, Jack 32 student politics 25, 31–2 Stuttaford, Thomas on personal life and politics 199 on whips 129 Suez Crisis Eden, John on 158 Radice, Giles on 158–9 Summerskill, Shirley 125 Summerson, Hugo 87–8, 97, 206 on election campaigns 70 on local politics and constituencies 165, 171 on parliamentary business/procedure 97 on personal life and politics 199–200 on selection process 58, 59, 62 on whips 128, 130 Sunday Times 101, 192 SureStart 207 surgeries 167, 168–9, 171–2, 192 Sykes, John 25, 205 on election campaigns 75, 77 on parliamentary business/procedure 98 on school/school life 26, 28 on security crisis in Northern Ireland 151 on selection process 58 on Thatcher, Margaret 33 on working life 33 Tatchell, Peter 62 Taverne, Dick 31, 52, 190 on achievements and regrets 186–7 on European Economic Community (EEC) 155–6 on school/school life 28 on selection process 54 tax policy 133 child allowances 138 Poll Tax 128, 130, 146 Taylor, A. J. P. 31 Taylor, Ann 95 on election campaigns 76 on parliamentary business/procedure 101 on personal life and politics 194, 196

Index on school/school life 26 on whips 122, 124–5, 126 on women/women’s experience 109, 111, 116 Taylor, Teddy 4, 145, 207 on achievements and regrets 185–6 on European Economic Community (EEC) 157 on Palace of Westminster 89 on school/school life 27 on selection process 55 on university/university life 29 teachers 25, 27–9 Tebbit, Norman 96 Ten Minute Rule Bill 95, 102, 137, 142, 226 n.6 terrorist attacks on World Trade Centre (2001) 161 Thatcher, Margaret 43, 45, 48, 122, 137, 154, 159, 191 Aitken, Jonathan on 129–30 Baker, Kenneth on 90 Cope, John on 153 Currie, Edwina on 113 Goodson-Wickes, Charles on 147 Hayman, Helene on 112, 115, 146 Hughes, Robert 200 Jenkin, Patrick on 210 leadership challenge 146–7 Luce, Richard on 146 Marshall, John on 100, 147 Mudd, David on 130 Prior, Jim on 112 Quin, Joyce on 147 Roe, Marion on 147 Sykes, John on 33 Thorpe, Jeremy 19, 95, 122, 131 Times 31 The Times Guide to the House of Commons 63 Tonge, Jenny 203, 227 n.2 on Iraq War 163 on Palace of Westminster 84, 86, 90 on parents and family 14 on personal life and politics 196, 197 on political engagement/involvement 51 on school/school life 28 on selection process 64

Index on social legislation 142 on women/women’s experience 106, 108–9, 113, 114, 116 Tope, Graham 82 on achievements and regrets 187 on election campaigns 71 on parliamentary business/procedure 95 on political engagement/involvement 44 on whips 131 Top Salaries Review Body 191 Townsend, Cyril 58 2001–5 Parliament 117, 149, 150, 161–3 2001 election 75–6, 77–8, 117 2005 election 69 2010–15 Parliament 181 2010 election 94 2017 election 4 trade union 17, 18, 43, 46, 56–7, 74, 85, 86, 133, 134, 138, 146 Trippier, David 181, 234 n.19 tuition fees 102, 141 Turner, George 26, 49 Twinn, Iann 211 on achievements and regrets 184–5 on election campaigns 72 on Palace of Westminster 87, 90 on personal life and politics 190, 195, 197, 199 on selection process 61 Ulster Unionist (UU) 4, 150, 151, 157 University of Sussex 32 university/university life 25 Bowis, John on 29–30 Butler, Chris on 30 Dawson, Hilton on 32 Fookes, Janet on 30 Griffiths, Nigel on 31 Jenkin, Patrick on 30 Lubbock, Erik on 31 Magee, Bryan on 29 Murray, Ron on 29 Pond, Chris on 32 Radice, Giles on 31 Richard, Ivor on 30 Rodgers, William on 31

271 Smith, Chris on 32 Taylor, Teddy on 29 Wardle, Charles on 31 Wrigglesworth, Ian on 31–2

Vaughan, Geoffrey 129 Waddington, David 127, 147 Wakeham, John 150 on election campaigns 68 on political engagement/involvement 42, 48 on security crisis in Northern Ireland 152 on whips 126 on working life 35 Wakeham, Roberta 153 Wardle, Charles 31, 33, 203 Warren, Kenneth 15, 68 Warwick University 32 water bill 101 Watson, John 122, 207 on achievements and regrets 180 on parents and family 17 on party splits 132 on personal life and politics 191, 193, 195, 196 on political engagement/involvement 41 on selection process 62 on working life 33 Weatherill, Jack 146 Wedgwood, Josiah 1 Weetch, Kenneth 206 on Falklands War 160 on legislation/law making 141 on Palace of Westminster 83 on parliamentary business/procedure 99 on party splits 132 on personal life and politics 196 on political engagement/involvement 44 Westminster 1. See also Palace of Westminster whips 121–2, 191 Bell, Martin on 121, 123 Bowis, John on 127–8 Breed, Colin on 127

272 Browning, Angela on 123 Carlisle, Kenneth on 125 Coombs, Anthony on 125 Cox, Thomas on 125–6 Dawson, Hilton on 123 du Cann, Edward on 122–3 Golding, Llin on 122, 124 Goodson-Wickes, Charles on 126 Grant, Anthony on 126 Hinchliffe, David on 131 Howe, Geoffrey on 130 Hughes, Robert on 131 Irvine, Michael on 128 Kirkhope, Timothy on 121, 122 Knapman, Roger on 127 Latham, Arthur on 123–4 Maclennan, Robert on 131 Maitland, Olga on 124 Moonman, Eric on 130–1 Nicholson, Emma on 128–9 notice board 124 Peacock, Elizabeth on 126–7, 128 power of 124 Rodgers, William on 134–5 Sillars, Jim on 128 Sims, Roger on 127 Soley, Clive on 122 Stuttaford, Thomas on 129 Summerson, Hugo on 128, 130 Taylor, Ann on 122, 124–5, 126 Tope, Graham on 131 Wakeham, John on 126 White, Frank 146, 150 on Falklands War 159 on Palace of Westminster 92 on parents and family 16, 18 Whitelaw, Willie 126, 129 Widdecombe, Ann 25, 47, 201 on election campaigns 75 on Palace of Westminster 83, 87 on parliamentary business/procedure 103 on personal life and politics 201 on selection process 58 on women/women’s experience 113 Williams, Alan Lee on local politics and constituencies 175 on party splits 132–3 on personal life and politics 192, 200

Index Williams, Shirley 31, 71, 117, 163, 230 n.59 Wilson, Harold 22, 40, 44, 45–6, 86, 89, 128, 130, 132, 153, 155, 188, 191, 200 Winter of Discontent 25, 145 Winterton, Nicholas 143 Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) 34–5 women/women’s experience 4, 71, 105–18 Armstrong, Hilary on 111, 116, 117 Ballard, Jackie on 110, 114, 116–17, 118 Barnes, Rosie on 107 Browning, Angela on 110 Campbell, Anne on 109, 112 childcare responsibilities 111–12 Cryer, Ann on 116, 117 Currie, Edwina on 108, 109, 113 Fookes, Janet on 109, 111 Fyfe, Maria on 115, 117 gender inequality and 106 Golding, Llin on 112–13 Goodhart, Philip on 115 Gordon, Mildred on 112, 117 Grant, Anthony on 109 Grocott, Bruce on 107–8 Hayman, Helene on 105, 107, 110, 112, 114–15 Heal, Sylvia on 117 Jackson, Helen on 107 Knight, Jill on 107, 109, 115 Maddock, Diana on 107 Mahon, Alice on 106, 113–14 Maitland, Olga on 111, 114, 115 Nicholson, Emma on 107, 108 ordination of 171 Peacock, Elizabeth on 109, 110, 111 political ambitions 106 presence in Parliament 4, 86, 89–90,105, 106 Prior, Jim on 113 Quin, Joyce on 108 Radice, Giles on 117 Roe, Marion on 108, 114, 115 selection process 63 Shields, Elizabeth on 110–11 Taylor, Ann on 109, 111, 116

Index Tonge, Jenny on 106, 108–9, 113, 114, 116 Widdecombe, Ann on 113 Williams, Shirley on 117 Woodward, Shaun 189 working hours 82, 191, 197–8 working life 25, 32–5 Dawson, Hilton on 34 du Cann, Edward on 35 Foulkes, George on 34 Fyfe, Maria on 34 Hinchliffe, David on 33–4 Knigh, Jill on 34–5 Sykes, John on 33

273

Wakeham, John on 35 Wardle, Charles on 32–3 Watson, John on 33 World Trade Centre, terrorist attacks of 2001 on 161. See also Iraq War, Britain’s involvement in Worthington, Tony 57 Wrigglesworth, Ian 32, 135, 166 Young, David 143 Young Conservatives 24, 39, 40–2, 60, 61, 71 “Young Liberals” 39, 42, 44, 71 “Young Socialists” 16, 39, 42