Chat Ed : Here he is, say hello and we'll get started!
Sticks! : Hiya Mr Hattersley! hope ur feeling good on this wonderful Tuesday evening!
bill : hi
Cyndi Lauper Tea Bag : Halo0o0o0o0o Mr Hattersley, thanks for joining us :)
Roy Hattersley : Hello - slightly late in arriving but here now with Buster under the table.
helen : *pats buster*
Chat Ed : OK first questions then...
Gavpowell : How easy was it to launch your literary career?
Soop : When starting out on your politcal career, was writing always important to you, and did you always aim to write full time someday?
Roy Hattersley : Soop: Really writing and politics started about the same time back in 1945. It was the Post-war General Election and as a boy of 11 I was taken with my mother to deliver leaflets for our local Labour candidate. Politics excited me then and has excited me ever since. That was also the year that I started at the Sheffield Grammar School and was given a book called More Essays by Modern Masters. It was made up of the writing of G.K.Chesterton, Robert Lind, J.B. Priestley and Hillaire Belloc. As soon as I read it I wanted to write like them and I've wanted it ever since.
Astrid : Is Buster going to write any more of his hilarious diaries?
helen : Any more stories on the way from Buster? Been up to any more royal goose attacking?
Roy Hattersley : Sorry Astrid. Sorry Helen. Buster's writing days are over. It's not just a matter of jealousy - though he is the only big bestseller in the family. To be honest I couldn't do it again. Correction. He couldn't do it again. He's very pleased with the first volume and wouldn't like to do another that wasn't so good.
labourite : Do you find it enjoyable to be on the 'other side' and 'get your own back' now that you are a columnist?
Roy Hattersley : Labourite: I like being a columnist very much. But I'd like to go back to writing the sort of column I wrote for The Listener and my first ten years on The Guardian. That was the English Light Essay - not about anything very important, intended to be amusing, and written for the enjoyment of people who were as interested in style as substance. Then New Labour came along and began to move the Labour Party to the right. I'm a Democratic Socialist and thought it necessary to use my column to argue for democratic socialism. One day the Labour Party will get back on course and I'll return to writing light essays.
helen : Do you still hold the view that Tony Blair 'neither knew nor cared about what Labour had once stood for.
bevan2 : When will Blair get thrown out by the Labour Party? After all, they elected him and they can get rid of him!
Roy Hattersley : Helen: I still take the view that Tony Blair neither understands nor cares about what Labour once stood for. To be fair if he was here tonight he would agree. Indeed, he would say that he intentionally created a new party and that the changes were necessary not just to get elected but to change British society. I simply think he is wrong. I still believe that the good society is the equal society and that's what I think we ought to be working towards. Bevan2: Tony Blair will stay leader of the Labour party for as long as he wants to and I don't think any of us should waste our time fantasising about a replacement. If, as I assume from your question, you share my view that the Labour party needs to be nudged to the Left then we ought to use our energies trying to bring about policy changes. And do not despair. Three days ago we more or less renationalised Railtrack.
Mags : How do you feel the current Labour government is handling the War and the situation in Afghanistan?
Soop : You have been quite critical of Tony Blair recently, do you not think he has performed well on the world stage recently?
Roy Hattersley : Mags: I I think the Prime Minister has dealt brilliantly with the crisis that followed September 11th. He has been determined to co-operate in the campaign against terrorism yet strong in his influence to prevent unnecessary death and destruction from an American response which was just meant to placate United States anger. I thought his speech to the Labour Party Conference was just right. I want to see him getting on with pressing for the new world order. It won't be easy and it won't come quickly. But it is important to start arguing for a different relationship between the developed and under developed world. Soop:I remain very critical about the Prime Minister's domestic programme. For example, I think he was quite wrong today to return to the theme of private management of public services. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the private sector would improve the performance of our schools and hospitals. However, as I just said to the previous chatter, I think he has done very well on what you call the world stage since September 11th.
Chat Ed : OK, there are a number of questions on this theme....
Rob A : Do you think that Peter Shreeves is doing a good job at Sheffield Wednesday?
freedom for the pike : Will Sheffield Wednesday ever get back into the Premiership? Or are they doomed to slow, inevitable decline, a la Stoke City, Accrington Stanley, etc.?
bevan2 : Will Wednesday ever get back in the top flight?
Roy Hattersley : Rob A: I think Peter Shreeves is doing as good a job as can be expected with his resources. I only wish he had been manager two years ago. He might have kept us in the Premiership. Freedom for the Pike: Is, as you know, death to the minnow. I've read Tawney as well. However, Wednesday are not going to descend into the minnow class. It may be a couple of years before we are back in the Premiership. If we can survive in the First Division this year - as I believe we will - then I think the slow improvement can begin. Bevan 2: Of course Wednesday will get back in the Premiership one day. It is too big a club to fade away. Do you realise Wednesday are at home to Preston Northend tonight, and, like an idiot, I'm at a Literary Festival!
bill : Which do you feel is your greatest passion: Politics, writing or...Sheffield Wednesday?
Roy Hattersley : There's no question about it - my great passion now is writing. I had to be dragged away from Derbyshire this morning because I was just making progress on the last chapter of my biography of John Wesley and we've just changed rooms in our hotel so there is somewhere that I can get back to it tomorrow. Writing comes first, politics second and Sheffield Wednesday third. Which isn't bad, it means they are in the play-offs.
Mags : o you feel that you should have given up politics years before you did and concentrated on writing, seeing as your writing is so good?
labourite : You write across many genres - humour, politics, autobiography/history, journalism - all equally impressively. Do you have a favourite, or one that you think you excel at?
Roy Hattersley : Mags: If I had my time over again I'd hope to be Labour MP for a mixed race inner city constituency and stay in the House of Commons as long as I did. I'm not a bit disenchanted with politics. It was just the time to move one. I'm very lucky that I had another job to go to and I propose to go on doing that for at least the 33 years I spent in the House of Commons. Labourite: I think I would most of all like to write what you call humour. The idea that I might make people laugh every Monday morning would give me very great pleasure. That's certainly the sort of journalism I am most proud of - partly because it is so difficult. In books I am now committed to years of biography.
I hope to finish my biography of John Wesley by Christmas and then I start on a biography of Elizabeth and Robert Browning which will take me on to 2003. After that who knows!
Chat Ed : We are running out of time now, so last few quick questions...
labourite : Did you know that an anagram of your name is 'The Tory Slayer' Know of any others?
Roy Hattersley : I did know about that anagram. I can't remember any more. There was one in Private Eye, but I think it was rather rude. Which is probably why I blocked it from my memory.
Rob A : Did you ever want to be Prime Minister?
Roy Hattersley : Since we are running out of time the quick answer is Yes. And the longer answer is that I never wanted it enough. These days to lead a party, which is the first step, you have to be willing to sacrifice everything else. You know, Milton, 'To scorn delights and live laborious days.' There were always other things I wanted to do as well as chase the Labour part leadership. But no regrets. I had a great time in politics.
Chat Ed : Thank you all very much for coming, and for a lot of excellent questions.... sorry not all could be used. Thank you Roy Hattersley!
david s : Thanks very much
JW : Thanks Roy. Keep the Red Flag flying for us!
helen : cheers roy - loved your puppet in Spiting Image
Roy Hattersley : Thank you all very much for your questions. Thank you even more for the kind things you have said. Hope the answers weren't a great disappointment. Goodbye.
Chat Ed : Give Buster a pat from us all!
Astrid : thanks Roy and bye
Roy Hattersley leaves the room
