Chapter 27 of my book (My Political Race) Bonfire Night 2002 and the Tory Party was almost ablaze. Iain Duncan Smith (IDS), their leader (yes, he really was, you didn’t imagine it), announced that his party must ‘unite or die’. The latest split was over gay adoption. IDS was trying[…]
When you need an AHP, not a GP
Returning to the running machine at the gym after the excesses of Christmas was a bigger challenge than usual for me this year. I had mistakenly assumed that with a few days break that nagging pain in my right knee would just disappear, and I’d be able to get back[…]
Politicians Need to be Braver on National Infrastructure
I have a confession to make. I was the planning minister that helped take the 2008 Planning Act through parliament – an Act that was designed to speed up development of national infrastructure projects. As you can see, it has had only limited success. We haven’t built a new runway[…]
The AHP Voice must be heard around the Boardroom Table
The NHS has benefitted from having a diverse workforce over the past 70 years. That’s something for is all to be proud of. But diversity isn’t just about race, faith, gender or sexuality. There are many types of diversity that help to make our public services better. The importance of[…]
Tackling Antisemitism – Face to Face and Side by Side
I’ve had many roles in my life. One of my favourite was as Minister for Faith Communities in 2008, a role I held as a Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government. It wasn’t the title I fell in love with, but the role, including the challenges. I[…]
Green Milestones for Future Airports to Follow
In June 2018 the proposed new runway project at Heathrow achieved outline planning consent, through its Parliamentary majority of 296 in a vote of MPs. It is set to be the biggest privately funded infrastructure project in the world. However, there are still many hoops it must jump through before[…]
A New Dawn
From feedback, this is one of the most popular chapters of my recent book (My Political Race). I hope you enjoy Chapter 8, about Steve Pound MP’s count in Ealing North, 1997. *** Chapter 8 1 May 1997 – A New Dawn I rang Terry Ashton. He was my big[…]
The Unrepresentative House
I recently asked Insight Public Affairs to work with me to compile some data about political parties, their MPs and the racial make-up of the constituencies they represent. The research has just been published by the Guardian and I can only assume, and hope, that the main political parties are[…]
Alan Johnson’s Master Class
Some politicians love doing TV interviews, some hate them and you can tell. I must confess due to it being late/a long day at work/the World Cup/the dog ate my homework, I didn’t see that much of BBC Question Time this week. But what I saw was a delight. I[…]
The Pig’s Head, and all that…
I do still get quite a lot of questions about the incident mentioned in this article. This blog tries to answer those questions here in my own words. I gave evidence in person to the All-Party Inquiry in to Electoral Conduct, which looked in to abusive behaviour in election campaigns.[…]