Andrew Hilland edited this draft and, as he has done with recent books on Scotland and Europe, advised on the whole manuscript from start to finish – and did so while at the same time distinguishing himself as a Labour candidate for Lanark and Hamilton East in the 2017 general election.
Bob Shrum is a long-time friend, himself the author of a highly readable and eloquent memoir of his life, and sacrificed some of his well-earned holidays to mentor me.
For nearly half a century – on numerous projects and now on this project too – I have been fortunate to draw on Dr Colin Currie’s wise and measured advice.
As I have written this book, Kirsty McNeill has shared with me her love of Scotland and her passion for international development, and she did so while, as always, working night and day for the causes she believes in.
I have benefited hugely from Bruce Waddell’s broad knowledge of the ups and downs of Scottish life and politics gained over many years as a highly successful editor of the Daily Record.
I have also been grateful for suggestions from Michael Wills, now Lord Wills, with whom I served in government and whose contribution I mention earlier in this book; from David Muir whose strategic advice I have always valued; from Professor Craig Calhoun who understands globalisation in all its different manifestations better than anyone I know; and from Cormac Hollingsworth who combines an intellectual acumen with his active campaigning for social justice.
This draft has also been read and commented on by Alistair Moffat, whom I have known and worked with for forty years as a writer, broadcaster and family friend, and by two long-time friends, Murray Elder, mentioned earlier, and Wilf Stevenson, whom I first met at Edinburgh University and who has, in turn, run the BFI and the (John) Smith Institute, been a senior adviser in No. 10, and a valued member of the House of Lords. All have helped me recall and write of events that, in some cases, I might have preferred to forget.
I am grateful also to Gavyn Davies, Shriti Vadera, Ed Balls, Sue Nye, Nick Butler, Matt Cavanagh, Nick Catsaras, Tom Fletcher, Robert Skidelsky and Des Browne for sharing with me their thoughts on individual chapters. I thank them all for their great generosity in terms of time and expertise. Nick Vaughan and Phil Wales have helped me greatly by checking important statistics.
I have written a lot about my home county of Fife which I represented in Parliament for thirty-two years, and to which, no matter where I travel and how far, I always return. In my account, I have drawn on help from friends from schooldays onwards: Peter and Marilyn Livingstone, Alex Rowley (now Scottish Labour Party deputy leader), David Ross, Neil Crooks, Judy Hamilton, Lesley Laird, Jayne Baxter and Bill Taylor. In my work in Fife I have also drawn on help from Henry McLeish, Lindsay Roy, Lesley Hamilton, Angus Hogg, Bill Livingstone, Helen Martin, Rhona White, Margo Doig, Chloe Hill, Jyoti Bhojani, Rachael Thomas – and from Jim Stark and Allan Crowe, two great local-newspaper editors whose friendship I valued and still do. So much of what I have written is based on memories of Fife friends whose guidance and support over many years helped me but who are no longer now with us: David Stoddart, Jim McIntyre, Alex Falconer, Tom Donald, Bert Gough, Helen Dowie and Jimmy Dyce are all remembered and here in spirit in this book.
Nick Brown first showed me how Parliament works: a welcome, indeed crucial, gift. And I’m grateful for those who helped me by serving successively as my parliamentary private secretary: Don Touhig, John Healey MP, Ian Austin MP, Ann Keen, Anne Snelgrove, Angela Smith, Jon Trickett MP and, most recently, Alison McGovern MP, in whom so many hopes for Labour’s future rest. For generous assistance and support over my years in Parliament I’m grateful to Sandy Hunt, Carol Bird, Janet Crook, Angie Forrester, Cathy Koester, Lizzie Sowells, Jane Ashley and John Smythe.
For my time at the Treasury I’ve drawn on accounts – some private, some public – from Ed Miliband MP, Spencer Livermore, Charlie Whelan, Geoffrey Robinson MP, Damian McBride and Michael Ellam.
For help in my time at No. 10, I’m grateful to all political advisers whose individual contributions cannot be properly reflected simply by naming them, but to whom I am nonetheless forever indebted: Greg Beales, Theo Bertram, Iain Bundred, Nicola Burdett, Konrad Caulkett, Dan Corry, Brendan Cox, Patrick Diamond, Jo Dipple, Michael Dugher, Beth Dupuy, Justin Forsyth, Stuart Hudson, Michael Jacobs, Gavin Kelly, Richard Lloyd, Patrick Loughran, Jennifer Moses, David Muir, Nicola Murphy, Geoffrey Norris, Kristy O’Brien, Will Paxton, Nick Pearce, Lisa Perrin, Kath Raymond, Gila Sacks, Anthony Vigour, Chris Wales, Stewart Wood and John Woodcock. I am also grateful for advice I have received over the years from David Cannadine, Linda Colley, Iain McLean, Colin Kidd, Vernon Bogdanor, Rosaleen Hughes, Roger Harding, Alex Evans, Andrew Balls, Gene Frieda, Michael Klein and Nick Lowles. At the Treasury and Downing Street, there is an unsung army of public servants, for whose hard work and consistent presence I am endlessly grateful, and whom I cannot name: from the most senior civil servants to the vital back room who cover cleaning, catering, secretarial and security duties for service often far beyond the call of duty. Now that they are no longer in Whitehall I have permission to thank by name Leeanne Johnston, Helen Etheridge, Barbara Burke, Lucy Parker, Jonathan Portes and Simon Lewis. I am grateful for the continuing support of the Metropolitan Police and the Fife officers of Police Scotland.
The political support I received at No. 10 was led by Fiona Gordon, Rachel Kinnock, Anna Yearley, Joe Irvin, Clare Moody, Lisa Forsyth, Rachel Maycock, Jonathan Ashworth MP, Balshen Izzet, Oona King and Tom Watson MP. I am grateful to all the many ministers and Labour MPs I served alongside, and to the Labour Party general secretaries during and after my time as PM: Peter Watt, Ray Collins, and now Iain McNicol, and the unstintingly hard-working Labour Party staff and volunteers. I am grateful too for the strong relationship I enjoyed – even when sometimes we disagreed – with my trade union friends. I worked closely with Tony Woodley, Bill Morris, John Hannett, Dave Prentis, Rodney Bickerstaffe, Michael Leahy, Billy Hayes, Frances O’Grady, Derek Simpson, Ken Cameron and many others across the country.
In my work with the United Nations, I’ve had the support of three UN secretary generals whom I admire greatly: Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon and António Guterres; and in my education work I have had the privilege of working with committed philanthropists who have become great friends – Asad Jamal of the Pakistan Children’s Foundation, John Sexton, president emeritus New York University, Jim Wolfensohn and Stuart Roden – as well as drawing upon the outstanding leadership in their own areas of expertise of Shaheed Fatima QC, Dr Justin van Fleet, Liesbet Steer, Kevin Watkins, Glenys Kinnock, Marylouise Oates, Professor Iain Begg and Reid Lidow and the great heart surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub who leads the charity Chain of Hope.
To this day Sarah and I share a phenomenal office team in London who have helped steer this book to completion, and I am grateful to Gil McNeil who leads and coordinates our office, Mary B. Bailey, Alexander Fincham, Erin Mulhatton and Ross Fulton – with additional thanks to David Boutcher and Michael Skrein for legal support, and to Jamie Carroll. I have been fortunate to draw on the expertise of David Robson, Rick Gold, Graeme Milligan, Jane Zuckerman, Brenda Price, Stuart Beveridge and Ronald Stevenson. Jony Ive, now president of the Royal College of Art, and Steve Kelly, have both helped make me a little more technologically literate than I once was.
A book is compiled in stages, and none of it could have been completed without the expertise, patience and friendship of Jonny Geller and Catherine Cho at Curtis Brown, Richard Cable, Stuart Williams, Will Hammond and David Milner at The Bodley Head, and their media team led by Joe Pickering and Christian Lewis.
Ours is a close family who have always been there for each other and over our lives my brothers have sacrificed hugely to support me, as have their families, so I owe a huge debt of gratitude to John, his wife Angela and their children Karen and Jonathan with their young families; and to Andrew, Clare and their now grown-up sons Alexander and Patrick.
Sarah’s parents Pauline and Pat
rick and her many brothers with their families have always been supportive of me beyond any call of family duty. Our children have grown up with Melanie Darby and now Vicky Taylor caring expertly for them when Sarah and I have been busy in our public duties, and we really could not have done anything without them.
Sarah has always supported me and I can never thank her enough for her love and enduring friendship. Over several months our children, John and Fraser, would have preferred me to be playing football or computer games with them. By way of an apology, I am dedicating to them – with deep love – a book which took me away from them for a whole precious summer.
Next year, boys, no book, and much more time with the two of you.
INDEX
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
A
ABBA, 204
Abdullah, King of Saudi Arabia, 243, 244, 303
Abdullah Abdullah, 282
Abe, Shinzo, 328
Aberdeen, Scotland, 94, 100
ABN Amro, 309
abortion, 425–6
Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal (2003–4), 184
academy schools, 15, 48
Adam Smith College, Fife, 390
Adam Smith Global Foundation, 390
Adam Smith Halls, Kirkcaldy, 33
Adam, Robert, 43
Addison, Paul, 47, 51
Adidas, 38
Adlington, Rebecca 421
Admiralty Board, 52
Adonis, Andrew, 374, 376, 378, 382
advisers, 224, 227
Aeroflot, 137
‘Af-Pak’ strategy, 279, 283
Afghan National Security Forces, 279, 283, 284, 285, 286
‘Afghanisation’, 275, 280, 282, 285
Afghanistan, 8, 9, 10–12, 190, 192, 199, 224, 246, 248, 267–93, 410
2001 NATO invasion, 248, 269
2002 Loya Jirga, 270
2005 UK takes responsibility for Helmand, 269–72
2006 London conference, 272; adoption of ‘platoon house’ strategy, 273
2007 Treasury agrees additional £284 million for campaign, 274; launch of ‘Afghanisation’, 275; capture of Musa Qala, 275; informal talks with Taliban begin, 286
2008 UK troop increase, 278; US troop increase, 279
2009 Riedel Review launched, 279; UK troop increase, 280–81; deaths of UK soldiers in Helmand, 10–11, 14, 17, 267; Operation Panther’s Claw, 281, 285, 287; presidential election, 280, 282; McChrystal submits report, 282; UK troop increase, 283–4; US surge and drawdown announced, 12, 285, 286
African debt, 8, 124, 137–8, 190–91, 367, 390, 393
African National Congress, 1–2
African Union, 324, 326
Age of Instability, 443
Ahern, Patrick Bartholomew ‘Bertie’, 199, 212
AIG, 299, 307
Aim Higher programme, 237
Ainsworth, Robert ‘Bob’, 284, 287, 288
air passenger duty, 152
air traffic control, 185, 440
alcohol, 44, 207
Alexander the Great, 291
Alexander, Daniel ‘Danny’, 376, 381
Alexander, Douglas, 201, 399
and Afghanistan, 274
election campaigns, 220, 222, 369, 370
and international development, 244, 274
Paisley South by-election (1997), 111
Scottish independence referendum (2014), 403, 404
Third Way Conference (2009), 327
and US relations, 213
Alexander, Wendy, 399
Allende, Salvador, 327
Alliance Party, 16
Alternative Vote referendum (2011), 378, 380
Alzheimer’s, 230
Amalgamated Engineering Union, 91
American Civil War (1861–1865), 4
American European Community Association, 176
Amis, Kingsley, 234
Amos, Valerie, 244
d’Ancona, Matthew, 396
Ancram, Michael, 58
Anglicanism, 33
Anglo-Afghan wars, 269
Anglo-American, 48
Anguilla, 15
Annan, Kofi, 252, 390
apartheid, 1, 44, 47–8, 51, 53, 391
Apple, 26, 153
apprenticeships, 235–6
L’Aquila G8 summit (2009), 19, 281
Archbishop of Canterbury, 206
Arctic Monkeys, 21
Arculus, David, 188
Argentina, 328, 333, 393
Ashdown, Jeremy ‘Paddy’, 204, 376, 381
Ashworth, Jonathan, 200
Asian financial crisis (1997), 124, 297
Asquith, Herbert Henry, 20, 196
asset prices, 123
assisted suicide, 427
Association of Commonwealth Universities, 53
Attenborough, Richard, 421
Attlee, Clement, 7, 21, 34, 197, 201, 414, 439
Attlee, Violet, 197
Audacity of Hope, The (Obama), 2, 328
Aughton Early Years Centre, Sheffield, 15
Aung San Suu Kyi, 242
Auschwitz concentration camp, 243
Austen, Jane, 20
austerity, 24, 34, 304, 348–59, 365, 375, 377, 378–80, 385, 407
Austin, Ian, 220
Australia, 67, 81, 123, 199, 236, 242, 324, 326, 327, 333, 337
Austria, 321, 437
Autumn Statement, 79
avian flu, 211
B
Ba’ath Party, 259
Bachelet, Michelle, 327
‘Back to School’ campaign, 235
Badger, Anthony, 354
Bagehot, Walter, 208
Baldwin, Stanley, 51, 427–8
Balkenende, Jan Pieter, 324
Balls, Edward ‘Ed’, 15, 91, 100, 103–4, 104, 108, 113
1994 joins shadow Treasury team, 91; works on New Deal, 128; Granita deal, 100; Blair’s pledge on tax, 101; international conference on new economics, 103–4
1995 speeches on economic policy, 104; develops plan for Bank of England independence, 116
1996 Project Autumn, 106
1997 New York visit, 176; election campaign, 108; Bank of England independence, 113–14, 118; Brown’s Times interview on euro, 178, 180
1999 discussions on NHS begin, 163
2001 assessment of five tests begins, 174; September 11 attacks, 247, 248
2002 engine blowout on Concorde flight, 125
2003 rejection of euro, 174, 183
2006 bank failure simulation exercise launched, 296–7
2007 becomes Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, 201–2, 233; asked to be minister for No. 10 and Cabinet Office, 227; meeting on early election prospects, 220; trip to Yorkshire, 222
2009 opening of school and children’s centre in Sheffield, 15; declaration on failing schools, 234; Cabinet reshuffle, 352
2010 general election, 382
2016 EU membership referendum, 413
2017 Adam Smith lecture, 390
Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, 217
Ban Ki-moon, 19, 199, 282, 286, 332, 392
Bank of England
appointments, 206
bank failure simulation exercise (2006–2007), 296
bankers’ bonuses, 339
and deficit, 352–4, 379, 385
financial crisis (2007–2009), 298, 302, 304, 306, 310, 315, 316, 340, 352–3
independence (1997), 4, 78, 104, 112, 113–24, 177, 351, 439
nationalisation (1946), 34, 119
Northern Rock rescue plan (2007), 295
printing of notes, 251
bankers’ bonuses, 310, 339–40, 342–3
banking levy, 340–43
Barbican, London, 93
Barclay, Aidan, 368
Barclays, 301, 304, 306, 307, 316–17
Baring, Rowland, 3rd Earl of Cromer, 352
Barings Bank, 120
Barroso, José Manuel, 199, 242, 300, 314, 318, 324, 341
Barry, Ostlere and Shepherd, Kirkcaldy, 37
Basil Brush, 421
Basildon, Essex, 84, 93, 222
Basra, Iraq, 221, 259, 260, 261, 263
Battle of Bannockburn (1314), 405
Baxter, Sarah, 95
BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International), 120
Beadle, Nick, 271
Bear Stearns, 301, 305
Beatles, The, 26, 41, 186
Bechhofer, Frank, 402
Beckett, Margaret, 82, 86, 94, 95, 96, 97, 133, 201, 412
Begala, Paul, 92
Being British (d’Ancona), 396, 425
Beith, Alan, 84
Belgium, 314
Benedict XVI, Pope, 243
Benn, Anthony ‘Tony’, 60–61, 65, 68, 77, 87
Benn, Hilary, 215, 218
Berlin, Isaiah, 450
Berlin Wall, 247
Berlusconi, Silvio, 242, 314, 316, 330, 332
Bernanke, Ben, 123, 297, 301, 304, 314, 320, 353
Berners-Lee, Tim, 26
Berwick Rangers F.C., 216
Beshenivsky, Sharon, 14
Better Regulation, 188
Better Together, 400–408
Bevan, Aneurin, 66, 162, 166, 436
Bevin, Ernest, 424
Bevin Boys, 15
Bhutto, Benazir 12, 224
Bickerstaffe, Rodney, 110
Biden, Joseph, 279, 327
Big Results Now, 245
Big Society, 25
Bill of Rights (1689), 141
Binnie, Sean, 10
Birkhall, Aberdeenshire, 217
Birmingham University, 371, 414
Birmingham, West Midlands, 373
Birt, John, 186, 188
Black Watch, 10
Black Wednesday (1992), 91
Blair, Anthony ‘Tony’, 8, 16, 65–7, 111–12, 438, 440, 441–2, 450
1983 elected MP for Sedgefield, 66; leadership election, 69
1987 general election, 75
1991 trip to Australia, 81
1992 leadership election, 85
1993 trip to Washington DC, 92; launch of crime policy, 89
1994 death of Smith, 94–9; Granita deal, 100–101, 125; leadership election, 101; pledge on taxation, 101–2; announces intent to repeal Clause IV, 102