It’s probably a personality defect, but I love elections. There’s nothing quite like a decent dose of electionitis as the image-makers groom their candidates. The spin doctors and the PR people are in overdrive, as the various parties fine tune their policies to ensure maximum appeal. Opinion polls with their proverbial 3% margin of error pronounce daily, swingometers vacillate, political pundits pontificate, whereas mere mortals walk up and down the street in the forlorn hope that one day MORI or Gallup might actually ask them what they think. Photo opportunities and sound bites rule the day, babies careless enough to be born at that time get kissed by passing politicians, letter boxes get jammed up, TV screens get filled up, but I don’t get fed up. And on the day, we tootle along to the polling stations, avoid all the good people lurking outside with their rosettes, and cast our vote, participating in our democracy. So this book featuring interviews with leading figures from UK governing parties is ideal for me.
These ‘Conversations with Politicians’ are extended BBC interviews with the political giants of our democracy from the Thatcher era to the coalition government of the 2010s. They reveal Hennessy’s outstanding talent as an interviewer, quietly and respectfully engaging with his prey, gaining ever new insights. The book is just under 800 pages. The beauty is that you choose which of these heavyweights your read about. I was disappointed that nobody from the SNP is included (with the ‘Scottish flag’ being waved by David Steel and Norman Lamont). For me the interviews with Shirley Williams, Jack Straw, Margaret Hodge and Peter Hain were particularly fascinating, as they came alive under Hennessy’s ever-probing questioning.
There are 19 interviews to choose from in this volume. Opt for your familiar names by all means but choose one or two you don’t know anything about. I chose Baroness Warsi. Her interview was one of many unexpected gems in this important collection.
