Episodes
Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
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01 | 01 | Baroness Williams of Crosby (Shirley Williams) | 20130711 | In this new series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their concerns for the future.
Peter Hennessy asks a senior politician to reflect on their life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
01 | 01 | Baroness Williams of Crosby (Shirley Williams) | 20130711 | 20131103 (R4) | In this new series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their concerns for the future.
Peter Hennessy asks a senior politician to reflect on their life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. |
01 | 02 | Jack Straw | 20130718 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their regrets and satisfactions.
Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
01 | 02 | Jack Straw | 20130718 | 20131110 (R4) | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their regrets and satisfactions.
Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. |
01 | 03 | Lord Tebbit | 20130725 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their concerns for the future.
Peter Hennessy talks to former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Tebbit (Norman Tebbit). Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
01 | 03 | Lord Tebbit | 20130725 | 20131117 (R4) | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their concerns for the future.
Peter Hennessy talks to former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Tebbit (Norman Tebbit). Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. |
01 | 04 | Lord Kinnock | 20130801 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the leading historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In each week's conversation, he invites his guest to explore what influenced their thinking and motivated them to enter politics, their experience of events and impressions of people they knew, and their concerns for the future.
Peter Hennessy's guest is Lord Kinnock (Neil Kinnock), former Labour Party Leader. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
02 | 01 | Sir John Major | 20140813 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known. In the first programme in this run, Sir John Major, the former Prime Minister, talks about his political journey from Brixton to Downing Street and the challenge of following Margaret Thatcher in Number 10. He discusses his difficult inheritance as Prime Minister in 1990 after the financial boom of the 1980s, the economic crisis of 'Black Wednesday' in September 1992, the divisions in his party, and how he took the first delicate steps in what became the Northern Ireland peace process. Peter's other guests in this run are Lord Hattersley (Roy Hattersley), the former Labour Deputy Leader and now a writer; Lord Steel of Aikwood (David Steel), the former Liberal Party Leader; and Dame Margaret Beckett MP, the only woman to have been Foreign Secretary and the first woman to lead the Labour Party (in 1994), and former Deputy Leader of her party. The producer is Rob Shepherd. Former prime minister John Major talks about his journey from Brixton to Downing Street. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
02 | 02 | Roy Hattersley | 20140820 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known.
Peter Hennessy asks Roy Hattersley to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
02 | 03 | David Steel | 20140827 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks a senior politician to reflect on his or her life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known.
David Steel reflects on his role in shifting Britain away from two-party politics. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
02 | 04 | Margaret Beckett | 20140903 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks a senior politician to reflect on his or her life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known.
Peter Hennessy asks Dame Margaret Beckett MP to reflect on her life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
03 | 01 | David Owen | 20150713 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known.
In the first episode of this series, David Owen, the former Foreign Secretary and SDP Leader, discusses the transition from his early days as the son of a Welsh doctor in Plymouth to his election as a Labour MP while still in his twenties, and his meteoric rise in politics. His appointment as Foreign Secretary in 1977, aged only 38, marked him out as a possible future Labour leader.
After Labour's defeat in 1979 Owen and other leading social democrats became increasingly frustrated by the party's left-wing stance. With other senior figures he broke from Labour and formed the Social Democratic Party (SDP). In alliance with the Liberals it took 25 per cent of the vote in the 1983 election, but only 23 seats.
After Owen succeeded Roy Jenkins as leader, he maintained its distinctive, radical stance. However, policy divisions between the SDP and the Liberals undermined the Alliance's credibility. It won 23 per cent of the vote at the 1987 election, but again failed to break through in seats. The tensions between Owen and his colleagues became evident. Owen stood aside from a merger of the SDP with the Liberals and soldiered on with a rump of social democrats until 1990. He stood down as an MP in 1992. Owen continues to speak on foreign affairs. He also writes on diplomacy and the relationship between illness and politics.
Peter's other guests in the series are Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor, and Clare Short, the former International Development Secretary.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy invites David Owen to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
03 | 01 | David Owen | 20150713 | 20160102 (R4) | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known.
In the first episode of this series, David Owen, the former Foreign Secretary and SDP Leader, discusses the transition from his early days as the son of a Welsh doctor in Plymouth to his election as a Labour MP while still in his twenties, and his meteoric rise in politics. His appointment as Foreign Secretary in 1977, aged only 38, marked him out as a possible future Labour leader.
After Labour's defeat in 1979 Owen and other leading social democrats became increasingly frustrated by the party's left-wing stance. With other senior figures he broke from Labour and formed the Social Democratic Party (SDP). In alliance with the Liberals it took 25 per cent of the vote in the 1983 election, but only 23 seats.
After Owen succeeded Roy Jenkins as leader, he maintained its distinctive, radical stance. However, policy divisions between the SDP and the Liberals undermined the Alliance's credibility. It won 23 per cent of the vote at the 1987 election, but again failed to break through in seats. The tensions between Owen and his colleagues became evident. Owen stood aside from a merger of the SDP with the Liberals and soldiered on with a rump of social democrats until 1990. He stood down as an MP in 1992. Owen continues to speak on foreign affairs. He also writes on diplomacy and the relationship between illness and politics.
Peter's other guests in the series are Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor, and Clare Short, the former International Development Secretary.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy invites David Owen to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. |
03 | 02 | Nigel Lawson | 20150720 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, Peter invites his guest to explore the impact of formative influences, experiences and people in his or her life.
In this programme, Nigel Lawson, a self-proclaimed Tory radical and a key ally of Margaret Thatcher in challenging and reforming the post-war economic consensus, discusses his transition from an enjoyable existence at Oxford to journalism and eventually to front-line politics.
Lawson joined the Financial Times in 1956 and five years later became City Editor of the new 'Sunday Telegraph'. His appetite for politics was whetted in 1963, when he was recruited to work in Number 10. After the Conservatives lost power, he returned to journalism and in 1966 became editor of 'The Spectator'. He narrowly failed to win election to parliament in 1970 and finally entered the Commons in 1974.
Lawson found that his radical economic ideas chimed with those of Margaret Thatcher, who won the Conservative leadership in 1975. He became a key architect of Tory economic policy and after the 1979 election was appointed to the Treasury. But it was as Chancellor in the 1980s that Lawson made his greatest impact by extending and entrenching Thatcher's reforms with dramatic cuts in income tax rates, an ambitious programme of privatisation and extensive de-regulation. However, he opposed the poll tax and then in 1989 resigned over the role of Thatcher's special adviser, Alan Walters.
Lawson now sits in the House of Lords. His radicalism on the economy and Europe extends to what he sees as a misguided consensus on global warming policy, of which he is a trenchant critic.
Peter Hennessy invites Nigel Lawson to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
03 | 03 | Clare Short | 20150727 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, Peter invites his guest to explore their formative influences and experiences, and the impact on their lives of people they have known.
In the final programme of this series, Clare Short, the former International Development Secretary, discusses how her values reflect her Catholic upbringing in Birmingham and her father's sense of injustice at Britain's treatment of Ireland. After university, she joined the civil service, but her policy work at the Home Office prompted her to enter politics instead of continuing to advise others.
She became MP for Birmingham Ladywood in 1983 and courted controversy by criticising Alan Clark, then an employment minister, for being incapable in the Commons, and also by calling for a ban on Page 3 pin-ups. After Labour's 1992 defeat, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Women by John Smith, the Labour Leader, and was instrumental in seeing that Labour adopted more women as parliamentary candidates.
After Tony Blair appointed her to the Cabinet in 1997 as International Development Secretary, she played an important role in establishing the UN's Millennium Development Goals on tackling extreme poverty and achieving basic human rights. However, she later disagreed with Blair over the Iraq war, and after resigning from the Cabinet in May 2003 she criticised the absence of proper debate and democratic process in Blair's government.
Clare Short resigned the Labour whip in 2006 and sat as an independent MP until 2010. She continues to work on global development, including the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, the urbanisation of the poor, and humanitarian issues.
Peter Hennessy invites Clare Short to reflect on her life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
04 | 01 | 20160802 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. In this first programme, Michael Heseltine, one of Britain's most charismatic, controversial and dynamic politicians, reveals the experiences and motivation that fuelled his life's journey from a comfortable childhood in Swansea and student days at Oxford, to his turbulent time at the top of politics.
Never one to shun the limelight, Heseltine recalls how, as a would-be MP in his native South Wales, he engineered a clash with Aneurin Bevan, the legendary Labour orator. He also tells why he was wary of revealing that his political hero is another great Welsh radical, Lloyd George. Heseltine's hero among Conservatives is Harold Macmillan, who inspired his beliefs in 'One Nation' Toryism and Britain's role in a united Europe. After becoming an MP in 1966, he served in Edward Heath's Government in the early 1970s. He sheds fresh light on Heath's defeat and tells why, despite agreeing with Heath's pro-Europeanism and moderate Toryism, he could no longer support him in 1975.
Although Heseltine will be remembered for his part in Thatcher's fall, he casts her premiership in fresh perspective by emphasising the continuity with earlier Tory efforts to reform Britain. He explains how she was persuaded to accept his plans to regenerate London docklands and inner-city Liverpool. However, he remains convinced that he had no alternative but to resign as Defence Secretary in 1986 over Westland's future, because the Cabinet meeting had been a 'set up'.
His commitment to 'the forgotten people' in deprived areas remains undimmed, but he suspects that his legacy will be the arboretum that he and his wife, Anne, have worked on for 40 years.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy invites Michael Heseltine to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
04 | 02 | Vince Cable | 20160809 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early, formative influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known.
In this programme, Peter Hennessy's guest is Sir Vince Cable, the former Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman, who became Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when the Coalition Government was formed in 2010. He talks movingly of his early years, and although his own views have remained consistently on the centre-left of British politics, he emerges as something of a political nomad, having belonged to the Labour Party and the SDP before joining the Liberal Democrats. After finally being elected to Parliament in his fifties, he first captured public attention with his warnings about the financial crash in 2008 and won widespread respect as a sage voice in the ensuing economic storm.
Although Vince Cable would have preferred to serve in a centre-left government, he worked with Conservative ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and tried to make a success of the coalition by focussing on the practical work of government. However, his department was responsible for higher education and he was involved in the controversial decision to abandon his party's 'pledge' to phase out university tuition fees.
Vince Cable won a place in people's hearts by demonstrating his skill as a ballroom dancer on 'Strictly Come Dancing'. He retains his passion for ballroom dancing and is also trying his hand as a writer.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy invites Vince Cable to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
04 | 03 | Margaret Hodge | 20160816 | In this series, Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early, formative influences, their experiences of events and their impressions of people they've known.
In this programme, Peter Hennessy's guest is Dame Margaret Hodge, Labour MP for Barking since 1994. Their conversation covers her controversial time as Leader of Islington Council (1982-92), her role as a minister in the Blair and Brown governments, and her performance as chair of the powerful Commons Public Accounts Committee during 2010-15, when she earned a reputation as the scourge of top bosses and Whitehall mandarins.
Margaret Hodge reflects on the impact of her childhood experience as an immigrant and how this shaped her political views. She recalls how she first became involved in politics and became a councillor in Islington in the 1980s, where she was soon embroiled in tough battles with both the far left and the Conservative Government, and how she backed Neil Kinnock's fight to reform the Labour Party. Having been a close neighbour and friend of Tony Blair's in Islington, she backed him as Labour Leader in 1994. In the same year, she entered the Commons by winning the Barking by-election. She reveals how her experience in fighting the BNP's strong challenge in Barking changed her whole approach to politics and also influenced her work on the Commons Public Accounts Committee. Reflecting on her own career, she hopes people will come to appreciate that life is a marathon, not a short sprint, and that they can take on new challenges and contribute much throughout their lives.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy talks to Margaret Hodge, ex-chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
04 | 04 | Kenneth Baker | 20160823 | Peter Hennessy, the historian of modern Britain, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early, formative influences, their experience of events and their impressions of the people they've known.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Former cabinet minister Kenneth Baker discusses his background and career. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |
05 | Harriet Harman | 20170824 | The historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known. In this programme, Peter Hennessy's guest is Harriet Harman, the former Deputy Labour Leader, member of Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's Cabinets, and determined champion of women's rights and their role in public life.
Harriet Harman reflects on her upbringing in London, where her father was a doctor while her mother was expected to be the housewife despite having qualified as a lawyer and standing as a Liberal candidate in the 1964 election. Recalling her rebellious streak at school and unhappy time at university, Harriet Harman tells how she finally found her 'spiritual home' in Law Centres and the women's movement in the 1970s.
She never intended to enter politics, confessing that she was 'lacking in plans but very full of causes.' However, her outrage that the House of Commons was 97 per cent male prompted her to stand for election. She recalls winning the Peckham by-election in 1982 while expecting her first child and her early days in a male-dominated Parliament.
She recalls that after promotion to Labour's front-bench, she was unable to stop taking on even more work than the men, because she felt that she always had to prove herself. She discusses her time in the Blair and Brown Cabinets and her election as Labour's Deputy Leader in 2007. She also tells why, despite having twice been Labour's Acting Leader, she decided not to stand for the leadership after Brown resigned in 2010. In conclusion, she reflects on the position of women in politics today compared with when she began.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy asks Harriet Harman to reflect on her life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
05 | Michael Howard | 20170831 | In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known.
In this programme, Peter Hennessy's guest is Michael Howard, former Leader of the Conservative Party and before that a combative and controversial Home Secretary. Michael Howard reflects on his family background and upbringing in South Wales, and tells of his love of soccer, despite living in a stronghold of Welsh rugby. Howard was a contemporary at Cambridge of other future Conservative politicians, including Kenneth Clarke, Norman Fowler and Norman Lamont. In 1966, Howard, fought a safe Labour seat on Merseyside and took the opportunity when visiting the constituency to watch Liverpool 's home games.
After finally being elected as an MP for Folkestone and Hythe in 1983, Howard rose swiftly through the ranks. He discusses his image and the difficult challenges he faced as a minister - he took the legislation for the 'poll tax' (community charge') through the House of Commons, and later, as Home Secretary, sought to reverse a seemingly inexorable rise in the level of crime by taking a tougher line than his predecessors - an approach epitomised by his comment that 'prison works.'
Although he failed in his to become Tory leader in 1997, Howard subsequently became leader in 2003 after Iain Duncan Smith's resignation. However, the Tory defeat in 2005 prompted him to stand down - his successor was David Cameron, his former Special Adviser at the Home Office. Today, Howard sits in the House of Lords and is chairman of Hospice UK, the national charity for hospice care.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy asks Michael Howard to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
05 | Tony Blair | 20170810 | In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known.
In the first programme of this run, Peter Hennessy's guest is Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, who gave his name to an era following a rapid rise to power and his energetic leadership at home and abroad during ten years in Downing Street. Like other leaders whose personality creates an aura and whose name creates an 'ism', few people are neutral about Tony Blair and his legacy.
In the interview Blair reflects on his early enthusiasm for acting, 'the performance element' in his character, and the experiences that shaped his political and religious beliefs. Recalling his journey from youthful far-left politics to mainstream Labour and his dramatic path to power, he tells of his dealings with Gordon Brown.
On his premiership, Blair recalls battles against Whitehall's resistance to reform and reflects ruefully on his relations with the media. The conversation explores two of the most momentous issues during his premiership - negotiating the Northern Ireland peace agreement and the controversial decision to go to war in Iraq. On politics today, Blair re-affirms his interest in re-making the centre-left in British politics and shaping a policy agenda to address the challenge of globalisation.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy asks former prime minister Tony Blair to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
05 | William Hague | 20170817 | The historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known.
In this programme, Peter Hennessy's guest is William Hague, the former Conservative Leader who served as Foreign Secretary in the Coalition Government. Hague recalls how he first captured the headlines in 1977 as a sixteen year-old schoolboy from a Yorkshire comprehensive, when he told the Conservative Party Conference, 'it's all right for some of you, half of you won't be here in thirty to forty years time.'
Hague reflects on his family background and upbringing in a staunchly Labour-supporting part of Yorkshire. He was an MP by the age of 28 and only six years later John Major appointed him to the Cabinet as Welsh Secretary. Recalling his time as Conservative Leader after the Tories' 1997 election debacle, he discusses his decision to stand for the leadership against more experienced candidates and his failure to dent Tony Blair's political dominance.
Hague turned to writing after the Tories' heavy election defeat in 2001, and he talks about his biographies of Pitt the Younger, Britain's youngest prime Minister, and William Wilberforce, campaigner against the slave trade. He explains why he returned to frontline politics in 2005 as Shadow Foreign Secretary, talks about his role in forming the Coalition Government in 2010, and discusses his time as Foreign Secretary, including the crises in Libya and Syria. On the future, Hague is concerned about Brexit's impact on Britain's role in the world and discusses his support for the campaign to end the use of sexual violence in conflicts.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
The former Conservative leader William Hague reflects on his career with Peter Hennessy. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
06 | David Blunkett | 20180814 | In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy asks David Blunkett to reflect on his political life. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
06 | Iain Duncan Smith | 20180821 | In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known.
Peter Hennessy invites Iain Duncan Smith to reflect on his political life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
06 | Paddy Ashdown | 20180731 | Peter Hennessy, the historian, asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, experiences and impressions of people they've known. In the first programme of this run, his guest is Paddy Ashdown, who was Leader of Liberal Democrats from 1988 until 1999, and international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2002 -2006).
Paddy Ashdown's background was unusual for a politician of his generation - commando, diplomat, spy and unemployed youth worker. He discusses his formative experiences and tells how soldiering influenced his politics. He stood for the Liberals at Yeovil in 1979 and four years later won the seat, but confesses that he never much liked Westminster and it never much liked him.
Ashdown discusses his attempts to strengthen the centre ground of British politics. He recalls working with former Labour ministers in the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but admits to having found it difficult working with David Owen. Recalling his leadership of the Liberal Democrats, he tells how he and Tony Blair planned to work together in government and explains why his hopes for a coalition with Labour were dashed. Although the Liberal Democrats played a role in constitutional reform after 1997, notably devolution, Ashdown regrets Blair's failure to change the 'first-past-the-post' voting system at general elections. He tells why he stood down as Leader of the Liberal Democrats and later declined Gordon Brown's offer to become Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy invites Paddy Ashdown to reflect on his political life. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
06 | Sayeeda Warsi | 20180807 | In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known.
In this programme, Peter Hennessy's guest is Sayeeda Warsi (Baroness Warsi), a lawyer, politician and the first Muslim to sit in the Cabinet. She was born and grew up in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. After studying at Leeds University, she trained as a lawyer and became a solicitor in Dewsbury.
She discusses how her life was changed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. She sold her legal practice and went to Pakistan, but after nine months decided that she should return to Britain and face the challenges in her life. Her politics had been influenced by her parents, especially her father's work ethic although he voted Labour. She stood for the Conservatives in Dewsbury in 2005. Although she didn't win, she was appointed vice-chairman of the Conservative Party. Two years later, David Cameron, the then Conservative Leader, appointed her Shadow Minister for Social Cohesion and she became a member of the House of Lords. In 2009, she came to national prominence by appearing on BBC One's Question Time, when Nick Griffin, the BNP Leader took part.
After the 2010 election, David Cameron appointed her to the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio and also made her Conservative Party co-chairman. Two years later, she was appointed Senior Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and also Minister of State for Faith and Communities. However, she resigned in 2014 over the Government's policy on the Israel-Gaza conflict. She is the author of 'The Enemy Within: a Tale of Muslim Britain'.
Producer: Rob Shepherd.
Peter Hennessy interviews Baroness Sayeeda Warsi about her political life. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | ||
07 | 20190729 | In this series the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences of the challenges they faced, and their impressions of the people they knew. In this, the first programme of a new series, Chris Patten discusses his upbringing in suburban London, his time in politics and public life - beginning as a back-room adviser and becoming a Cabinet minister, EU Commissioner, the last Governor of Hong Kong, and Chairman of the BBC Trust.
Producer: Rob Shepherd
Peter Hennessy invites Chris Patten to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |||
07 | 20190805 | In this series the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences of the challenges they faced and their impressions of the people they knew. In this programme Alan Johnson discusses his extraordinary life lived within the Labour movement, that took him from delivering mail in south-west London, to leading the postal workers' union, and eventually to the House of Commons, a seat at the Cabinet table and the Home Secretary's desk in SW1.
Yet despite the width of his political experience in the Blair and Brown governments, which embraced the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department of Health and the Department for Education, as well as the Home Office, he is perhaps just as well known for his acclaimed series of memoirs - especially the first volume dealing with his childhood in a poor part of west London and the story of how his remarkable elder sister took responsibility for his upbringing after the early death of their mother.
Peter Hennessy's other guests in this run are Chris Patten, Norman Lamont and Peter Hain.
Producer: Rob Shepherd
Peter Hennessy invites Alan Johnson to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |||
07 | 20190812 | In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known. In this programme Peter Hennessy's guest is Norman Lamont, Lord Lamont of Lerwick, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and supporter of Britain's departure from the European Union. Norman Lamont was born and brought up in the Shetland Islands, the son of a language teacher and a surgeon, and still regards Shetland as home. After attending school in Edinburgh, he read English and Economics at Cambridge, He was first elected to Parliament in 1972, and recalls having supported British entry into the European Economic Community. However, he became increasingly sceptical about British membership and recalls his insistence as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1990 that Britain should opt out of the proposed European single currency. His time as Chancellor is probably best remembered for one of the most vivid and debated moments in British political and economic history since the Second World War, when a serious sterling crisis produced 'Black Wednesday', 16th September 1992, and the pound was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. Norman Lamont has since been brutally honest about the collapse of government policy and the humiliation at the time for the government, for its Prime Minister, John Major, and for himself as Chancellor. Yet, for some, the enforced change in economic policy laid the foundations for a period of sustained recovery and economic growth. In the 2016 referendum Norman Lamont campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union. Producer: Rob Shepherd Historian Peter Hennessy invites Norman Lamont to reflect on his life and times. Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. | |||
07 | 20190819 | In this series, the historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their life and times. Each week, he invites his guest to explore their early formative influences, their experiences and their impressions of people they've known. His guest in this final programme in this run is Peter Hain, who recalls growing up in the intense crucible of South African apartheid and reflects on the dramatic events and impressive people that shaped his radical beliefs. After his family took exile in Britain in 1966, Hain came to national prominence as a Young Liberal activist and leader of the campaign to stop the planned South African cricket tour of England in 1970. His readiness to disrupt sports events through peaceful protests and his role in stopping the 1970 tour has given him a vivid place in the national collective memory.
Producer: Rob Shepherd
Peter Hennessy invites Peter Hain to reflect on his life and times Historian Peter Hennessy asks senior politicians to reflect on their lives and times. |