On 1st May 1997, Paddy Ashdown knew that any hope of a formal alliance with the Labour Party had been buried in Tony Blair's landslide election victory. This second volume of his Diaries reveals in detail the edgy cooperation that Ashdown and Blair maintained in the first two years of Labour's administration, Ashdown's continued involvement in the Balkan wars and the last days of his leadership.
In the second volume of his diaries, Paddy Ashdown, the most successful leader of the Liberal Democrat party for two generations, provides fascinating insight into his uneasy relationship with Tony Blair, the last years of his leadership and his continuing involvement with the Balkans. In an exclusive interview, we asked Paddy his thoughts on moving from the House of Commons to the House of Lords, his views on leadership and the pros and cons of keeping a diary.How do you feel about your move from the House of Commons to the House of Lords?
I promised my Yeovil constituents when they elected me in 1983 that I would stand down after I was 60. I believe in keeping my promises, so I did. I think this is right, since doing the job of an MP as it ought to be done requires a lot of energy and is best done when young(ish). Besides, I wanted to leave time for other things in my life. Politics is the biggest thing I have done, but it's not the only thing I want to do. So I have prepared myself for long time for standing down. To be frank, I don't miss the House of Commons at all, I hated the atmosphere there, but I do sometimes miss being the MP for the place I live in and love. But other things now beckon.
As for the Lords, provided no one ever uses the title (which I regard as a job decryption and the place I work), I am rather looking forward to it. I accepted this with some misgivings, I believe that no one should hold power except through the ballot box. But I will be able to use my vote there to help bring about democratic reform in the place and to keep raising the things I think are important and prodding the Government to do something about them.
How has your close contact with Tony Blair, recounted in detail in your diaries, affected your views on effective leadership?
No, not really. I leave it others to decide when they have read Vol 2 what the diaries reveal on leadership and the different styles of Blair and I. For me leadership means deciding what you think is right and then managing events and people in the way best calculated to achieve your aim.
In returning to your diaries to prepare them for publication, have you found surprises? Welcome or unwelcome?
Yes, quite a few actually. My mind had led me to believe that the chronology of events for the fateful night of May 1/2 1997 was quite different. Also, I surprised myself just how clear I was even from the very earliest days of my leadership about the need to re-align the left in politics, and how far back (i.e. before the 1992 election) I had decided not to fight another election.
Do you still keep a diary? Has the experience of having your diaries published changed how you keep your diary now?
Every night, and I strongly advise everyone else to do so, too. No matter how ordinary you think your life is, they are still fascinating for you and yours to read later (I originally started mine for my grandchildren). Read Kilvert's diaries if you want an example of this.
Does writing a diary make you feel more in control of events, or does it illuminate how uncontrollable events can be?
Neither really. What I find it does is correct your memory and act as a kind of summing up of each day, which helps you to plan the next. Here is the point. We have all been given this wonderful gift of life, is it not worth just a few minutes every day to record what you made of it ?
You've recorded both volumes of your diaries for Penguin Audiobooks. Did the act of reading your diaries in the studio alter your perspective of them, considering that the diary is essentially a written (and very personal) medium?
No. It gave me a different perspective on them, though. Remember that my diaries were first spoken (into a dictating machine) so I suspect the translation back into audio was less difficult than it would have been for written diaries.
Did you enjoy the recording process? Tell us how you coped with being holed up in a studio for two days!
Actually, I loved it. I have just finished a day and a half recording Vol. 2, and thanks to Penguin's highly professional staff it went well. I am quite pleased with the outcome.
If you were to read any other book as an audiobook, what would it be? Or do you have a favourite already recorded by someone else?
[My favourite is] Kim by Rudyard Kipling, I think. It contains such wonderful descriptions. I love anything read by Ralph Richardson and Bernard Cribbins.
Do you have any further ambitions as a writer? Have you ever considered attempting fiction?
Yes. I am thinking of doing another book (fiction probably). But life looks as though it will be rather busy in the next year or so, so when I get down to it will be the question.
What are you reading at the moment?The life of Wellington by Maxwell. It's a first edition of his life, written in his life-time, which was presented to me by my highly talented successor, David Laws MP (watch this space), who took over Yeovil from me and gave me this on the occasion.
my cart |
