Why did you get involved in the political world?

When I was around 13 — for some reason the late Gwynfor Evans seized my imagination — and Plaid Cymru sent a poster to my boarding school, depicting Evans sweeping [Harold] Wilson, [Ted] Heath and [Jeremy] Thorpe into the bin. Odd really since I’m not Welsh and all of my family were Conservatives — some of whom were paid up members.

When did you join your political party?

As soon as I was allowed, at the age of 15, after I had written to James Callaghan at Number 10. A letter a year earlier said that ‘I was too young’. So clearly I was presumptuous as well as bumptious.

What is your earliest political memory?

Being sent out as part of a class to ask how people in Crowthorne, Surrey would be voting in the 1974 General Election. A lot said ‘Enoch Powell’.

Which one law would you repeal?

The anti trade unions laws.

Which one law would you introduce?

One that paved the way for a written constitution.

What’s your favourite view in the world?

From my old apartment; the panoramic view of Manhattan.

What’s your favourite political quotation?

‘The capitalist will buy the rope that hangs himself, providing it is at the right price’. VI Lenin. Or something along those lines, because that often seems to be the case.

What music gets you up to dance?

Almost anything.

If you could have been present at any debate in the House of Commons over the last three hundred years, which would it have been , and why?

Debate over the great Reform Acts.

Imagine you are planning a dinner party, pick six people (living or dead) to invite

William Franklin, Michael Foot, Aung San Suu Kyi, Chou En Lai, General Nasser and Tom Driberg (as the waiter).

What’s your favourite form of transport?

My old Mark 2 Jaguar, when it is on the road.

What’s your favourite dish?

Roast Duck, potatoes and red cabbage at the Gay Hussar restaurant in Soho.

What’s the last thing you bought in a shop?

Some delphiniums for the border.

What’s the funniest You Tube video you’ve recently seen?

Obama Girl.

What is the best speech you have ever heard (and been present at)?

Tyrone O’Sullivan, leader of the Tower Colliery miners, south Wales, after he had driven to Blackpool to a Tribune rally to call on Labour to back his men’s buy-out bid. The Tower Colliery is one of the great inspirations of our time.

Who’s your favourite comedian?

Spike Milligan.

Have you ever cried at a film? Which one(s)?

Cried laughing, maybe, but can’t remember.

When was the last time you used public transport?

Last week; last time I was in London.

When was the last time you went to the theatre and what did you see?

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on Broadway. Two years ago I guess.

Which newspapers do you read regularly?

The Guardian, Indie, New York Times (online) but I read newspapers far less than once upon a time. The UK press is too parochial, there’s a crisis around every corner and it’s often petty and spiteful. No wonder it’s in decline — and that a very great shame.

Which websites do you visit regularly?

BBC, The Guardian. Can’t say I spend a great deal of time with favourites, but certainly the United Nations and other related sites, and yes, media connected with the USA.

Which blogs do you love or hate?

Ian Williams, my old mate in New York State, who does indeed have more columns than the Parthenon, as it says on the packet. Ian is real journalist from the old school, and since most of the real journos can’t cope with technology, he is probably one of the few bloggers worth reading. To be honest, most bloggers are self-indulgent.

Which magazines do you subscribe to?

Tribune, which I used to edit. I buy Private Eye, The Spectator — sometimes, New Statesman — sometimes, The Economist and New Yorker.

Which five words would your friends use about you?

That’s a hard one. Sometimes disorganised, bit of a romantic. Underneath the friendly exterior, steel.

Which five words would your enemies use about you?

Hypocrite — left wingers always are, aren’t they?

Are you into sport? If so, which ones?

Gardening. Best sport there is. If I lived near the coast, I would be into punt gunning.

Who is your favourite football team and player?

No interest in them whatsoever.

Who is your political hero?

I have lots of heroes, but for the most part they are not well known. Taff King, striking miner from Ollerton, now retired in Blackpool. Paul Whetton, also from Notts, now longer with us. Phil Reid, ex GMB union official in Norwich. Bryan Rostron, ex Mirror journalist, anti apartheid activist and campaigner, now in Hout Bay, South Africa. Bogden Dennitich, former Yugoslav Partisan, academic and one time United Auto Workers organiser, now in New York and Croatia.

Who is your political hate figure?

Thatcher. And now history is once again being re-written. Victorian values? My arse! Britain is a meaner spirited, more divided and selfish place as a result of her. Worst of all, she ended up taking the Labour Party as well.

What’s your most memorable time in politics?

Doing battle with Blair and the serried ranks of New Labour in the run up to the war in Iraq.

What’s your most embarrassing moment in politics?

Standing up at a meeting in Norwich to speak, but no words emanated. I had to sit down.

What’s your prediction for the next general election?

Tory win, New Labour melt-down. James Purnell crosses the benches shortly afterwards.

Which football team do you support and how often do you get to see them play?

Why yet another question on bloody football?

Who is your favourite and least favourite political interviewer?

Jeremy Paxman is my favourite. Andrew Marr is my least favourite, since he has always reminded me of Uriah Heep.

What do you never miss on TV?

The bloody football.

Which current foreign politician do you most admire?

Can’t say that I do.

What do you listen to / watch when you get up in the morning?

It used to be the Today Programme.

Complete this sentence: The thing I hate about politics is...

How parochial, empty and unimaginative it has become, with too many colourless, bores.

What would you like your political epitaph to be?

I’m not interested in a political epitaph. But it could be ‘The colour, the shape, the beauty of things. These he saw. Look ye also while life lasts’.