'John Major should never have been prime minister' | Exit Interviews

left to his own devices which used to not come with us the next election unfortunately he's not being left his own devices we have got some parliamentary colleagues and others who are just messing it up for us if they continue like that then you know it might not be such a great outcome if they can be persuaded to just go quietly into that still night then um yeah all bets are off we could easily come home ahead [Music] thank you [Music] this is the exit interviews there's dozens of MPS announced their quitting I asked them why they're leaving us this week it's sir Gary Streeter the conservative MP born in 1955 grew up in Devon training as a solicitor before being elected to Plymouth city council for the sdp he later defected to the conservatives in 1988 she was elected his MP in Southwest Devon in 1992 served as a junior Minister and PPS to John Major he was one of just 165 toy MPS to survive the 1997 new labor Landslide served in the shadow cabinet of William Hague was sent to the back benches by Ian Duncan Smith where he's toiled quietly for the past two decades so sagari Streeter welcome to your exit interview thank you very much um it's a chance for both of us to learn what you could have done better during your time with us I was supposed to start with the obvious question why are you leaving well as you can probably see I am of a certain age so I'll be 69 at the next election unless you've just so eloquently told your viewers I was elected first in 1992 so it'll be 32 years at Westminster I think that's a good shift and it's ready to I'm ready to make way for a younger person there'll be lots of ways that people get into this job how how did you get into politics yeah it's an unusual story in the sense that I wasn't interested in politics at all at University or as a younger man um but I think you probably know I'm a committed Christian and then at the age of 30 I just had this sense of a calling to public service and the way that I sort of pursued that it developed into an opportunity to take part in politics and so I actually did get involved and did join the sdp again as you've pointed out thanks for that um because I I didn't know anything about politics I knew Mrs Thatcher was the Prime Minister David own was a good local member upon I joined his party and that's how it started so it was a calling from God yeah yeah and how did that because you when you were younger you weren't even that religious you sort of went through as you got a bit older so you've got into religion to see your wife well I mean you obviously not so well up on theological jargon Matt but um yeah I as a young man I was brought up in a non-Christian household yeah but at the age of 23 24 when I married Jan she was a Christian I was not and during that process of the first six 12 months of married life yeah I started to explore Christianity for myself and came to the conclusion that the evidence for the the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is overwhelming so I made my decision so it wasn't a gradual thing yeah there comes a day when you have to look at the evidence and make up your mind and and neither you or I expected me to be telling this story on this program nobody but it's an interesting question we'll talk about your your career in a moment in terms of being a Christian in politics yeah has it affected your work and how because we've seen it even quite recently with the Decay cake Forbes in in Scotland her faith sort of became a very big part of it have you felt it's been able to inform you'll shake your politics you had to play it down in your in your politics no I think the key thing about modern day politics is authenticity and it's just telling people this is who I am if you like it vote for it if you don't you know don't vote for it vote for somebody else so I'm only involved in politics because I do have the sense of calling if I wasn't a Christian I wouldn't be involved in politics I can assure you I stayed as a lawyer yeah made an awful lot more money and probably had a much quieter life do you think because because it was through your wife Jan that you've found gods and that led into politics that meant that she's never been able to complain about your work because well it's your fault if it wasn't for for her and and your Christianity you'd never have got into it I've never used that line because I I don't know if you're a married man but that I am well that might not work so you can feel it might not work the reality is of course especially when you represent a seat four hours from London there's an enormous sacrifice involved in so suddenly one of you got jetting off to London particularly in the early days before the internet and smartphones being away all week off on a Sunday night often come back on the Friday two young children so there's a real sacrifice involved and in fact to be fair to my wife she would constantly tell me that she was prepared to make that sacrifice if she felt I was you know doing the right thing and serving the country and I hope that I have done that has there been a moment where your faith and your politics or your commitment to your your commitment as a concern you've been intentioned that you've had sort of Pick Party Loyalty you know Towing the party line in your face yeah I would say they've been several times along the journey when that has been the reality it's just reality for most people whether they have a faith or not you know agency versus parties conscience versus parties of course there are a lot of things which are free votes yeah and so that's a sort of get out of jail card but we made we made the decision my wife and I in the early days I would pit my conscience first my constituency second and party third and the upshot of that after 32 years believe it or not is that I have only voted against my own party nine times in 32 years and as I was sharing this in the Tea Room one day David Davis said yo that that just shows what a supine character he of course does that a week does it yeah exactly yeah there was nothing to apart from of course when he was a whip oh yes different story then on that sort of thing all right let's go you've had several bosses you've got 30 odd years in policies you've had several bosses but we go through them argue the name of one of your your bosses in politics and you you just saw them up in a word or two so let's start with David Owen a good Worthy good man and you say you started out in the STP you decided you wanted to get into politics uh he was obviously local MP there as well yeah um what was it that made you turn your back on the STP in the in the 80s well because I came to politics in this very unusual way with no sort of Hinterland and no thinking about it at University I bet I bet you were reading hand side at the age of 14 when you're under your blankets I bet you were but I I started thinking about politics almost the day I joined the sdp and I started thinking about what do I really think about Enterprise and business and Europe and grammar schools and all that so I am just a natural Tory and so after 12 months or so of grappling with all this I made that decision across the floor of the chamber that was a difficult time and Plymouth city council yeah and because you know you let down all these people been campaigning for you against the conservative party of course and that was a tough old gig but it had to be done I was I was simply on the wrong vehicle and I had to change course did it make any difference the the toys of riding higher to Margaret Thatcher the sdp appeared to be going in the opposite direction well when I made the switch I'm not sure that was the case actually 1988 I don't think the toys were riding right I suppose we just won the 87 election yeah yeah so good and worthy for David Owen so then you you jump to the conservatives you become uh an MP in 1992. I hope you sum up John Major I liked John Major very much but I don't think he should ever been prime minister or the leader of our party I don't you know there are there are three people probably finally include Tony Blair four people I've encountered in my 32 years at Westminster who I think are absolutely outstanding and they should have been leader and should have been prime minister um it's a very difficult job and I'm not quite sure that John bless his heart and you know he should certainly have been in the high ranking cabinet positions but he didn't quite have that personal security I didn't feel or Vision yeah to take the party forward what should we put down for him what word sums up John Mayer um agreeable that's very good and you were his PPS explain to people who right who don't know what that means and what the job involved it was obviously quite a difficult time for it well I was a minister in his government and in the whips office then when we lost in 97 as you write this over you know it was a bit of a landslide I was asked by the then Chief whip to become John Major's PPS a parliamentary private secretary bag carrier uh personal assistant really to look after him and he and he did need looking after because you know he was badly beaten up by his own back benches uh well cabinet ministers actually and one of the funny things was I would so I sit in this office first of all I had to find the most great office in the Western Center he had a wonderful office overlooking the terms and so on and then all these people who'd spent 12 months two years stabbing him in the back would come in and say oh John I do feel and he's lost their seats yeah I can serve the party in a wider capacity which is code for saying please put me in the House of Lords and you'd be pleasant and so on and they would walk out and I show them out the door and I'd come back to assess and you say the same thing every time Over My Dead Body so it was just a period when he was uh when the party was choosing a new lead yes it was about three four months yeah yeah um did you because so he has this I suppose for a lot of people he has this sort of coward Couture the sort of the betting image tucking his pants into his uh his shirt into his pants and all of that don't do that was a ball to him of course there was I mean it was a very wise man very clever man very deep man in many ways a very strong man um but you know as I say leading your nation it it's it's a tough gig but was it was it it was an impossible job by that point you know to have won in 92. uh against lots of people's expectations and given everything that unfolded um you know the party got hammered then in 1997 but do you think it's just that actually parties after about a decade in power that's probably what happens regardless things leader I can see where you might be taking me with this question I think there is a shelf life and there should be a mature democracy you've got to have a change of party from time to time um I you know 18 years was too long um the current situation is we've had so many different Prime Ministers that actually we can go to the country and say no we've already changed yeah and actually I I think most people by the time we get to the election we'll realize that Rishi sunak is very special and you know might well deserve a longer run at it we'll come to him in a moment let's carry on let's go on working them too uh so William Hague then also becomes leading opposition uh you became his shadow International Development secretary yes William How You Gonna word brilliant I'm very good um you know he's one of my three people on our side who I think is absolutely outstanding his intellect his ability to communicate is a vision his strength quite fantastic but an impossible job in the late 90s early naughties yeah because Tony Blair was reign supreme yeah and he's sort of it was no one would the Archangel Gabriel wouldn't have beaten Tony Blair how about you saying that yeah um your labor opponents the Labor's International Development section Claire short said you were a strange man what did you think of her um I I'd like to Claire very much she was very genuine yeah she we came from a different sort of ideological Viewpoint yeah she got very angry at this Matchbox when any Challenge and the job as you know the shadow is to ask questions and probe and why do we do this and just the most gentle of questioning and she suddenly become this raging tornado at the dispatch it was quite quite good fun to provoke her actually but I I always knew that her heart was in the right place and she did her absolute best for the most vulnerable people in the world okay so William Hague was brilliant uh then after the 2001 election he's replaced by Ian Duncan Smith yeah who dispatches you to the back benches yes and the reason why he did that was because when Ian rang round and the shadow cabinets at the time said will you support me and I was supporting Michael Portillo I made the probably the rookie error Matt of saying to him no Ian I won't support you because I believe you're unelectable my words to him and as a result of that what's the reason he didn't give you a job quite and that's fine that's fine because it was an absolute disaster of two years and actually he did give me some kind of job as a vice chairman in charge of diversity or something like that and I went around the country and I met group fabulous groups of people doing all sorts of wonderful work so that was okay um do you have any regrets about that no well it didn't last long and here's a little story for you I'm one of the few conservative MPS who've been to North Korea and it was in North Korea in 2003 I was in Pyongyang when the leadership election took place for Ian Duncan Smith and I was wrong by one of Ian's acolytes saying please please will you at least abstain and not vote against them in the leadership contest I said absolutely no I'm voting against him I've given my proxy to a colleague a friend and I've instruct him to vote against him and so I'm probably the only person in 50 years to vote in Pyongyang wow but it didn't work and he got elected no no this is this is in 2003 when you've been there two years oh yes it did work so you did it you you ousted you you ousted a leader from North Korea very good uh to be replaced by so it's unelectable your word for Michael for yeah uh uh Michael Howard and it was terrifying terrifying I was his shadow when he was Shadow foreign Secretary of Shadow Minister for Europe yeah never really understood any of the treaties we were negotiating absolutely no impossible to get to Fathom even as a lawyer anyway um a very tough cookie to work for but a brilliant mind so when was it um and Whitaker said there was something of the night about him was she onto something no I think that suggests Sinister and I don't I don't see that he's just he absolutely speaks his mind if he thinks you've done a bad job he will tell you I quite like that um at least you know where you are but you know you you know that when you walk into shouting and throwing things not really shouting and throwing things it is much more um sort of what's the word you know it was forensic yeah it wasn't shouting it wasn't Gordon Brown the hairdryers or whatever it was yeah he was forensic yeah and he just pulled you apart and think oh yeah you're right I've cocked that up completely going through that whole period and we'll come on to the recent shopping and change material leaders but John Major in Duncan Smith he goes out with Michael as well there's a point where you might have thought the toy party just is never going to get his act together no not really because I think there's a lot of talent in the wings look you know in a democracy you're in for a period you're out for a period there's always going to be a strong center-right party in the UK we were it um and I I always felt we would recover just needed the right leadership and you know while I was back in Michael Portillo when uh Duncan Smith got it was he was going to Rebrand the party he was a prototype David Cameron yeah it needed to be done unfortunately too many of the older members didn't recognize that yeah I know the toy party members going for the wrong person there's a recurring thing really yeah let's move on David Cameron uh obviously then became leader in 2005 beating David Davis David Cameron in a word well I'm gonna have to use three go on a Class Act I suppose I could say classy we'll do that yeah yeah um what is it that he had he had everything yeah he had the brain he had the confidence had the vision and had the ability to communicate I suppose you could say he's a bit posh I don't actually think that British people care about that if you're good enough I just think he had everything and he should have been a great prime minister for a very long time until he made that interesting decision to resign after the brexit result was the mistake residing at that point it was a mistake promising the referendum in the first place not knowing what he was doing I don't think we had any choice okay I think the pressure from within the party and from to the right of the party was such that I don't think we could have governed if we hadn't given that how could he have been do you think he'd have done a better job at putting the I think what he thinks about together again in 2016 rather than handing over to Theresa May certainly I think what he should have said was during the referendum debate look George Osmond was leading the debate for the you know for the pros staying in remain that's the word yeah thank you it seemed a long time ago now oh it was um I'm gonna stand behind it all I'm not going to express an opinion whatever you choose I will Implement yeah if I wish he'd said that because I think history would be very different it's very interesting that and then you've had Michael over one side George I was on the other side and he could have yeah risen above him yeah instead he did resign in 2016 to be replaced by Theresa May yeah so he's made in a word um I think she is very laudable I think she she's I don't want to use the word worthy twice and that's a bit cheap for her because I think she's very good indeed that's not one word um but it she had impossible circumstances I think she is all right here we go high quality high quality that's two words well hyphenate well hyphenate you've got yourself yeah exactly yeah um during all those brexit Shenanigans you you you took a proper one party this civilized purists amongst your colleagues who said that you did well I was misquoted Were You by you probably no um yes I did say that because I have you know recognize for well the day I walked into the House of Commons chain for the first time we were starting to discuss the Maastricht treaty yes and the reality was that those people who felt so passionately about the European issue more important than anything else in not just in politics but in the world uh you think I'm sorry that can't be right you're just over focused you know swivelied just obsessed and I'm afraid that these are the people who have taken us to the point of where we are today and yeah I think that they haven't done us a great service do you think both that's how we ended up with the referendum but also what unfolded since was that it was just a it was a world view which just couldn't match reality yeah I think it's a worldview that doesn't match reality and it's not that everyone who voted to leave is like that at all no not at all but they were the kind of the colonel or the driving force behind it all and without that Obsession I think we probably wouldn't have ended up where we are uh well let's move on to obviously Theresa May didn't get about lost a majority and then uh two years later but don't forget when she started off as prime minister she was incredibly popular yeah and it was only the party Manifesto halfway through the election campaign we were ringing each other in the first half of the election campaign saying this is unbelievable it's never been this good yeah and then the manifesto came out and then sort of this is unbelievable it's never been this bad yeah was it all just because of the social care the nothing has changed two or three things was there um was there a granny tax no it was um dementia attacks yeah it was that the same yeah yeah um so she eventually weren't in 2019 having not been able to get anything through uh the House of Commons on on breaks to be replaced by Boris Johnson yes I've heard of him Boris Johnson in a broadcastable word I'm gonna have to use a couple of words I'm afraid I'll put it in on my clipboard uh okay well it's a phrase I've used several times yeah capable of greatness but deeply flawed let's let's be positive to start with yeah see done that's been great well I suppose he delivered first of all he engineered an election he won an election with a 18 majority is pretty good isn't it and then he delivered a brexit which so that's all good because that's what the British people had asked him to do so that's impressive um well that's the positive bit yeah uh his flaws well obviously his uh lack of attention to detail and I would say a recklessness as to the truth that sort of using a bit of legal speak I think that's where he is it's I may be telling the truth I may not be I just don't really care you talk about John Major being unsuited to the job is there anyone as unsuited to the job as Boris Johnson well he's unsuited in a different way because he had the intellectual capacity and I think in this personal security to do the job well if he'd been able to conquer his flaws and um but that but he couldn't yeah you um in your as we're preparing for the exit if you look back you submitted an HR complaint against Boris Johnson right to the 1922 committee saying you cannot reconcile the pain and the sacrifice of the vast majority of the British public during lockdown with the attitude and activity of those working in Downing Street what did you think when you first heard about what had been going on in number 10 while the rest of the country was a lot there I think if I'm honest with you given what we were going through at the time sick to my stomach because that three to four months of the first part of lockdown I mean I don't think any of us MPS have ever been busier and it was just you were constantly Fielding questions from constituents can I do this can I do that you know can I go to Bristol to pick up my daughter from University I've got you know and we were just making all these decisions and people were taking it so seriously and it was it was like nothing would anyone had ever experienced and then when there's some of the stories started to emerge oh hang on down the street has been been a bit more relaxed and these are the rule makers I just felt it was absolutely unacceptable um it took a while for him to go though it was actually you know the route over Chris pension again his recklessness with the truth which meant he finally went um what does it tell you then that by the time you get to the post list will come on to this trust but a hundred of your colleagues wanted him to come back last year yeah what did you make of that I found that astonishing um but you know we're all elected to exercise our own judgment and that's what they were doing I didn't agree with them if you ever prayed that he doesn't come back I don't think that's the sort of thing that I I would ever pray about yeah um because it's so much personal choice involved you can't expect the creator of the universe to intervene in individual decisions of people who don't believe in him do you think he will come back absolutely not I think I think it's only spent for us now it's an absolute nonsense I mean it's never he was never going to come back um and there's there's no appetite when we come back I should think the vast majority of the parliamentary party you know are glad he's gone and we just want to move on we we think Rishi is very special let's give him 12 months of sort of noises off being silenced and let him show people what he can do okay we'll come on to a minute let's let's uh deal with the the short interlude that's known as Liz truss uh Liz trust in a word disastrous I mean that is that is a word um were you surprised I mean you should you you know you were there when she arrived in the House of Commons she was a tipped as a star Junior Minister and so on were you surprised that she got the job and then that she was so disastrous in your work um I I didn't think she was a star I think I think she was a very lovely person and very capable person and certainly should have been in someone's cabinet I I couldn't I was I was surprised when she ran for leader and I couldn't really believe it when the party selected her but on the other hand Rishi didn't campaign terribly well at the start of the leadership camp at the first leadership campaign was there was only one um and I think it goes through a bit of a poor start but um it just wasn't a good moment I mean given that you've been I mean what 35 40 years almost you've been in and around the conservative party is it a problem that the conservative party members are therefore the pressure the exit on MPS seemed to be so far from where the public are in term you know the leadership election the public clearly preferred which is soon after leads to us the policies that they pursued the public are clearly there um the you know the a romp of members seem to want Boris Johnson back that's about the public were very pleased when he he quit as an MP last but is it a problem for the conservative party it doesn't help but it's a problem that has been and can be contained because I mean many of my associations are sort of Fairly elderly and so on and they have their certain views but they will by and large listen to the elected member and we'll take a lead from me so it is a problem that the selectorate in many conservative held seats are not necessarily representative of their own Community but it's something we can overcome with skillful measurement and we have been overcoming it do you think it was a mistake and obviously you sort of understood why back in uh when William Howe was legal and he changed the rules to give the members a say in the future with that mistake should the leader be because there's a risk you end up with a leader imposed by the members who the M doesn't have the support of that I think I would want to tweak it a bit and say that when it's a sitting prime minister that stood down and you're electing a new prime minister that's something that should be conducted by the members of parliament themselves even it then has to be ratified at the next lecture or something like that I think that's important because you you can't have what we did have someone being elected by the members in the in the country over the heads of the MPS who thought no this is the wrong person well let's turn then to wish you you thought was the right person we wish you soon act in a word I'm going to use another phrase sorry that's okay I'll let you artist man in the room that's interesting what do you mean by that I think in any situation very intelligent yeah great life experience both in terms of you know is is upbringing but also his commercial and business experience great interpersonal skills uh brilliant ability to do detail and big picture that's unusual and um to focus on the key issues so he's just the guy is just smart can he win yes you actually think he could win you can win I'm not saying we are going to win but you most certainly can win and the reason we can win is because two things will the uppermost in most people's mind most people out there are not look thinking about the election right now it will be the economy and Leadership and they call me I hope by the Autumn of next year we'll be doing quite well and people will forget some of the problems we've had I hope inflation will be well under control and the interest rates and mortgage rates I hope will get dipped a little and Leadership and I you know I'm sorry but most people who have any idea how life works if you have a choice but if you had to recruit Rishi sunak or Kirsten I think he is a lovely man I do you know come on there isn't much of a contest in my opinion Rishi is outstanding how much of a problem will it be that while he's trying to fight kierstama he's also tried to fight Boris Johnson and Nadine Lois and what I say to people is that I think left to his own devices we should not come with us the next election unfortunately he's not being left his own devices we have got some parliamentary colleagues and others who are just messing it up for us if they continue like that then you know it might not be such a great outcome if they can be persuaded to just go quietly into that still night then um yeah all bets are off we could easily come home and in ahead so your message to Boris Johnson and the dean hey you know you've had a good run uh we appreciate your talents but please now go and do something else very good very good right I want to do some uh some exit interviews sort of quick fire questions uh do you think you're equipped uh do you think we equipped you properly to handle your job it's such a weird thing being an MP do you think you you had the right skills to do it well that's a slightly different question did did you equip me to do it absolutely not and there's no training whatsoever yeah did I have the right skill to do I think my legal background helps And the fact I was a counselor for five or six years that that helps too because politics is unlike anything else and takes a lot of learning and I think local government experience quite quite handy but even today I would say that uh you know incoming members of parliament or potential members upon are not receiving any kind of on-the-job training and maybe that needs to change but the the way that I think we've always looked at this is when you are elected Department you're almost like a small business you know you're a standalone person you make your own decisions you employ your own staff and so on and it would be quite I think it would be counterproductive if if you like the state took over and talked and led and you know put you in a straight jacket so maybe it's never going to change I think the system we have in our party for selecting people generally speaking Works quite well and you do get people who've got something about them obviously my I am an exception who get elected to Parliament and make a contribution um your best moment or proudest moments in the job I mean the thing I enjoy most is helping people in the constituency as you might expect me to say that but actually ironically for a committed Christian the the most important thing I've ever done for the constituency and thing I am very proud of is that when I was first elected the Trident refit work yeah it's refitting the Trident submarine was destined for rossyth and I can remember many tussles with Gordon Brown before he was terribly famous um over that and his number was his that was his partner was his and they'd actually dug the hole in the ground where this thing was going to be maintained and in came Davenport uh with uh a better offer and I lobbied every member of the cabinet made speeches with just Relentless campaigning and in the end the government said okay it can go to devonport to try something and it's worth millions and millions of pounds of local economy for 20 odd years this was 1993. so I mean it's 30 30 years ago and thousands and thousands of jobs so great and unfortunately that was my first year and I've done nothing since just be beating golden band to that make it all the sweeter that was nice and in fact I went to one of his press conferences in the my first sort of six months or so Westminster didn't quite know what the form was and I was asking him questions so there's another MP artistic information and he said so he said well hang on who are you which paper are you with I know I am the member for Plymouth as I was then and you know it's got to come to blame get out the Bible press conference excellent so that's your proudest moment your biggest regret or your worst moment I I haven't enjoyed being away from my family uh and that's even after 30 odd years you know when you marry someone because you're in love with them then you say well see you on Friday so that's that's been a tough gig um but we've got into a rhythm now and we're looking forward to retirement together hopefully um you know there's been some very difficult decisions to make over the years I suppose I didn't enjoy being sacked by Duncan Smith even though I knew it was coming you know and you I think I think it's true that to say no I'll put this to you in friendly phrasing that we've used throughout this interview I handled it like a man of God and I soaked for about two years so that was a difficult time um did the soul King Outlast Ian ducketts with his leader do you know they got a lot better when he did it when everybody was removed was that funny and I don't care grudges honestly yeah what about the biggest the the toughest decision you've had to make is that where your your conscience has clashed up against party I was about to resign as a PPS in the first Parliament because we cut education spending in what is this 1992 four or five I can't remember the details now and then John Major called all those ministers together and all those ppss together that night and I had I had my resignation letter in my pocket oops sorry there's a nation is in my pocket and and he said there's been something going down in Northern Ireland tomorrow's going to be a really tough day for us so I want this all to be on the side a lot I just went out the room tore it up put it in the bin thought I can't do that now and I didn't resign over it though I don't know if I made the right decision or not but you know my schools had less money so I wasn't that was yeah there are difficult decisions but then Any teacher out there any librarian anyone even journalists have to make difficult decisions Matt yeah we do often ours are the toughest I always think I think that too should be paid an awful lot more um would you recommend this to someone else I most certainly would and the job has changed dramatically the better I wouldn't say for the better but that's because of my generation I think I'm marrying on when I was first elected no internet no emails no smartphones no technology no social media you know newspapers lovely turn the pages over in the sake um but I have recommended because the person who's been selected to succeed me as a Conservative candidate in Southwest Durban is a very good friend of mine I've known this since she was born actually and she's a lovely local counselor she's going to do a great job and she's absolutely champing at the bit and she she loves all that sort of Social Media stuff which I hate so I think there is there is a place for granddads like me to to get quit the stage um because the job has changed the essence of the job has not changed you represent your constituents you hold the government to account um but the mechanics of it are unrecognizable from the day I was first elected to Parliament and it's fine but I'm just not a digital native and I'd be very happy to hand it over is yours your son standing as well it's understanding in a seat which we probably won't win but he's very passionate about politics I don't know where he's got that from probably for his mother and I you know but yeah I can't stop him from doing it did you try I I just pushed it pushed back slightly to say you know do you are you really sure about this because it's a tough okay it's a tough gig yeah but someone's got to do it you can't have democracy without people being elected yeah well since it's what advice have you given him well um I think I think time management is an issue not not I mean it's not what I'm saying is have a life don't just fight like mad for two or three years and and do nothing else but politics have a problem and he has got proper like he's got a partner and he's got a great job and so on so he's got a proper life no he's doing really well I'm very proud of him I hope that if he doesn't make it this time then in the indefinite Cornwall there will be a lot more retirement seats the time after probably and he's got plenty of opportunity and I'll be very proud to see him up there is there anything that we could do to make your job better when you say we do you mean the media well the media well maybe the media maybe as a country something that we could do to make being an MP a more enjoyable appealing customer I I don't even think we should try I don't because um you know I think I'd be pretty tough to be a member and that's fine yeah um the media job is not to stroke us but to probe Us and how can you probe people gently and kindly you can't you have to be ruthless and recognize that and when I when the things go wrong and I say to people you know constituency come in and say oh your politics are right checks and balances we have got checks and balances in this country coming out of our ears it was great we've got I mean quite often I've said the media is so irresponsible but I'm glad you're there because you know we we need checks and balances and one of the things we haven't talked about I chaired something called Westminster foundation for democracy for about five years uh back along and going around the country around the world talking to people about what is the essence of democracy you know there are very few things that you could say You must have these things but an independent Judiciary and a robust free media are absolutely essential and now we mustn't make it cushy for MPS if you could look back at the old early punch cartoons in the 19th 18th 17th century we've always been lampooned it's not going to change it's still a fantastic job it's a noble calling it's a great opportunity to serve your country so last question then it's a Gary Streeter what will you do next well I'll be 69 at the next election I have five grandchildren living locally I do quite a lot of preaching in local churches I probably will find one thing to do to carry on sort of public service but I'm going to retire Matt I'm going to retire retire why wouldn't I go what will that look like gardening tennis rock climbing what does Gary say what do you mean desperate to do but you haven't been able to spend more time my wife yeah do a bit of pottering around together we have a few Acres which we'll I like strangely I'm a farmer son so I like doing things like fencing building up a fence to keep the horses in and that sort of stuff um yeah I'm just going to enjoy being out in the land I might even put my shorts on just relax I've been working pretty flat out since I was what 21 yeah uh 60 b69 when I retire I think you know it's been nice to have a few years not doing too much House of Lords definitely not defeats the object I'm retiring so my wife and I can have some golden years together if I had to get in my car and go to Tilton Parkway station every week what's the point of that well uh Gary Streeter we met a long long time ago when I first joined the West Water use and you were always very hard and helpful then so I wish you the very best in your retirement so Gary's Twitter thank you thank you for joining us on your exit interview thank you Matt

Channel: Times Radio

Views: 47,840

Keywords: timesradio, tories, boris johnson, boris, christmas party tories, young tories, boris johnson song, boris johnson speech, tories out of touch, tories losing voters, nadine dorries, boris johnson covid parties, boris johnson lockdown parties, how to stop boris johnson, boris partygate, partygate boris, boris johnson resignation, how to deal with boris johnson, boris johnson news, boris johnson party, boris johnson covid, john major, tony blair, gary streeter, exit interviews

Id: 1iszBZVX0jU

Length: 37min 55sec (2275 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 19 2023