In 1992 I worked in the office of The Prime Minister in the General Election Correspondence Unit responsible for drafting reply letters from John Major on the subjects of Defence & Northern Ireland. John gave a party at No. 10 just before he relinquished office in 1997 and invited anyone who had ever served him in any capacity during his Premiership to toast ourselves into political oblivion for a decade! He approached me and enquired "Hullo Martin. What are you going to do now? I replied "But Prime Minister, I thought all our futures were in your gift?". He replied "Oh yes ... (staring at the ceiling disbelievingly). He then asked "Tell me, Martin, did you always want to become a politician?". I replied "No Prime Minister, I grew up with the idea of becoming a Roman Catholic priest!". PM responded "Oh, I see - the road to Damascus in reverse in your case??". It struck me then and there that John's quip represented a jolly good title for an autobiography. He really was quite witty, John Major. Pity that side of him didn't come over all that often in the media. I believe history will be kinder to John Major than the Tory Party was and he is likely to be judged as having considerably more integrity than the present incumbent of Number Ten. But then - who hasn't?
1 comment:
I've never been a tory but several things always impressed me about JM. He could use litotes well. He took great risks to begin solving the Northern Irish situation. He sent the Key Stone of Bethel back to its rightful home. but most of all he appeared on the balcony at the oval within an hour of resigning as party leader, sans jacket and tie, with pint of ale in hand.
he knew when it was over - perhaps they should have called him over as negotiator yeasterday -he was in the crowd after all.
incidentally as you probably know i live in the road where he grew up.
good luck with the blog
andrew mishmash
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