Inside Story: Politics, Intrigue and Treachery from Thatcher to Brexit
With the wit and geniality that has made him so many friends in politics, Webster gives has written the verdict on the character of the senior politicians he has got to know over the decades, the much criticised Westminster Lobby system, revealing the secrets of the way political journalists operate, the future of print journalism, and the changes in politics in his marathon career.Illustrated with cartoons from the award-winning Peter Brookes, the book includes the dramatic background to Labour’s decision not to enter the Euro in 1997, the interview at Chequers in 2006 that led to the fall of Tony Blair, and the gobsmacking revelation in 2002 of John Major’s affair with Edwina Currie. Unearthed is new information about the defeat of Margaret Thatcher by her party in 1990, the campaign of Major to replace her, the mystery of Michael Portillo's failed attempts to become Tory leader, the election of David Cameron, and the way he played the Coalition with Nick Clegg to his benefit.He reveals more about Brexit, betrayals within Cameron’s government, the long running feud between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the reasons behind David Miliband's inability to beat his brother for the Labour leadership, the efforts to oust Brown and then Ed Miliband, the drama of Miliband's last day as Labour leader and the shock election of Jeremy Corbyn.It is the book that politicians and journalists have been waiting for. But it is one that will give readers explosive new insights on the way the stories they read at breakfast time emerge into the daylight.
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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016
Copyright © Philip Webster 2016
Peter Brookes cartoons © Peter Brookes
Photograph in Introduction © Dave Bebber/The Times
Cover photograph © David Bebber for The Times
While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein, the author and publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future editions.
Philip Webster asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780008201333
Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780008201340
Version: 2017-08-23
To my late sister, Kay, for encouraging me to become a journalist, and to Sally, for encouraging me to write this book.
Contents
A Nervous Breakdown as Britain Votes ‘Out’
John and Edwina: The Liverpool Novel
1970s: Scary Days in the Commons Gallery
The Iron Lady: Early Lobby Years
How I Upset the Commons by Doing My Job
The Foreign Secretary Who Never Was
Dangerous Travelling with Thatcher
Some Stories Are Just Too Good …
A Horse, A Horse – My Paper for a Horse
Madrid – and Dominic Lawson’s Star Turn
Thatcher’s Fall, Major’s Arrival – and How the Rugby Team Might Have Saved Her
Kinnock and the White House Stitch-Up
As Thatcher Rules, Labour Battles for Its Soul
Was She Crying? Oh Yes, She Was: Glenys on the West Bank
Held at Gunpoint in the African Bush
Jenkins, Owen, Steel: Third Party Hell
A Day in the Life of a Political Editor
My Part in Keeping Britain Out of the Euro
Taking a Punt on the 2001 Election
Tony and Gordon: Give Me the Euro, I’ll Give You Britain
Robin Cook Interrupted My Golf Swing
Our Small Part in Winning the Olympics
The Hand of History on a Snowy Good Friday
Why They Sack – and Why They Regret It
Blair and Iraq: A Legacy Damaged Beyond Repair
My Part in the Fall of Tony Blair
Gordon’s Three Missed Chances to Win
Mandelson Returns as the Wolves Gather
How James Purnell Took His Leave
The Mystery of Michael Portillo
How Michael Howard Handed It to David Cameron
David Miliband Blows It and Balls Falls Out with Brown
Cameron ‘Ate Us Up and Spat Us Out’
How the Grandees Tried to Enlist Alan Johnson
Could Miliband Have Stopped Corbyn?
Life is full of chances. A chance visit to The Times’s office at Westminster on a Tuesday in July 1972 led me to an adventure lasting more than four decades which finally ended in January 2015, after my 15,932nd day as an employee of the world’s greatest newspaper. I am lucky to have been part of a small chunk of its 230-year history.
In those days The Times had far more reporters in Parliament than any other paper and gave far more column inches to coverage of parliamentary affairs. Unlike many other papers, it had its own office, known as The Times Room. I walked into The Times Room on that July afternoon during a tour round the House of Commons. I was a subeditor on the Eastern Evening News in Norfolk, and Tuesdays happened to be my day off. I had been to the office of the Commons Official Report, known as Hansard, next door and the editor kindly took me to meet the head of The Times’s parliamentary staff, Alan Wood. It being a Tuesday, Prime Minister’s Questions were about to happen. In those days it was two fifteen-minute sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. Alan gave me a notebook and took me into the gallery, asking me to have a go at recording the exchanges between Edward Heath and Harold Wilson. I had good shorthand, which Alan could see, but my efforts at reading it back were patchy to say the least. In any case there were no jobs going.
Four months later I received a handwritten letter from Alan telling me a vacancy had arisen and asking if I would be interested. I went down to the Commons again in mid-January. It was again on a Tuesday and my left arm was in a sling after a football injury that Saturday. The cynics in the office smiled to themselves, thinking I had come up with the ultimate alibi for a failed test in the gallery. Fortunately, I’m right-handed.
