Iain Dale is publisher of Total Politics and blogs at Iain Dale's Diary.

Why did you get involved in the political world?

Because I believed in what Margaret Thatcher was doing, and wanted to help her in my own small way.


When did you join your political party?

I joined the Conservative Party in 1978 during the Winter of Discontent. Prior to that I had been (whisper it) a member of the Liberal Party, albeit at the tender age of 15 – and only for 6 months. Honest!


What is your earliest political memory?

Walking into my parents’ bedroom during the 1974 general election campaign and explaining to them why they should vote Labour. They told me to go back into my own room and go to sleep.


Which one law would you repeal?

I wish we had never passed the European Communities Act 1973 but I am not yet – and I emphasise the word yet – an advocate of its total repeal. I would, however, definitely repeal the ID Cards legislation.


Which one law would you introduce?

I would introduce a law which would make sunset clauses mandatory on any new regulation.


What’s your favourite view in the world?

Looking out from the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC- at night.


What’s your favourite political quotation?

"Man tue was man will" Goethe


What music gets you up to dance?

Abba!


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?

The Norway debate, May 1940


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

Richard Nixon, Margaret Thatcher, Charles de Gaulle, Konrad Adenauer, Benito Mussolini and Ronald Reagan


What’s your favourite form of transport?

Any car called an Audi


What’s your favourite dish?

Yorkshire Pudding, Mexican casserole and baked raspberry cheesecake.


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

A Duchamp tie!


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

Bizarrely I always remember a speech made by David Hunt, who was then a junior energy minister I think, at a Conservative conference in Ely of all places in about 1985. It was about the miners’ strike. I always used to enjoy Rhodes Boyson’s tour de forces at Selsdon Group fringes at Tory conferences in the 1980s. The best speech I have ever heard and been present at was by Franz Josef Strauss near where I lived in Stuttgart in 1984.


Who’s your favourite comedian?

I have a very silly and very smutty sense of humour, so I like the Fast Show and Little Britain. I loved Frankie Howerd and saw him live once.


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

It’s easier to name a film I haven’t cried at. My tears ducts open far too often.


When was the last time you used public transport?

This morning, on the 7.51 from Tonbridge to Charing Cross.


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

I went to Mamma Mia with Nadine Dorries!


Which newspapers do you read regularly?

Every morning I get The Telegraph and Sun to read on the train. Love the Sunday Times.


Which websites do you visit regularly?

Spiegel Online, Knees Up Mother Brown, Alphaville.de.


Which blogs do you love or hate?

Love Guido, Dizzy, ConHome, Speccie Coffee House. Hate all those sites which seem to think I am the evilest thing on the internet.


Which magazines do you subscribe to?

Spectator, New Statesman, Stuff, FourFourTwo, GQ, What Car.


Which five words would your friends use about you?

Funny, Loyal, Hardworking, Obsessive, Generous.


Which five words would your enemies use about you?

Rude, Arrogant, Superficial, Shallow, Egotistical.


Are you into sport? If so, which ones?

Play golf, love watching football, tennis and cricket.


Who is your favourite football team and player?

West Ham and Paolo di Canio.


Who is your political hero?

Margaret Thatcher.


Who is your political hate figure?

This month I am mostly hating Mugabe.


What’s your most memorable time in politics?

The 1983 election campaign.


What’s your most embarrassing moment in politics?

Sitting next to Cecil Parkinson’s special adviser at the 1990 party conference and leading the standing ovation, only to find we were the only two people standing.


What’s your prediction for the next general election?

Conservatives to win by 40.


Who is your favourite and least favourite political interviewer?

He’s not political really, but my favourite interviewer is Simon Mayo. I also like being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman. He’s the only interviewer ever to walk me to my car after an interview! I’m also a big fan of Andrew Neil. In terms of listening to interviews I find John Humphrys far too aggressive. I just don’t think you anything out of people by attacking them.


What do you never miss on TV?

Desperate Housewives.


Which current foreign politician do you most admire?

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.


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

I listen to Today when I am in the bathroom, but only because 5 Live isn’t obtainable on my bathroom radio! When I drive to the station I listen to 5 Live Breakfast, partly because Shelagh Fogarty is a mate.


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

The people who look over your shoulder when speaking to you at a party, in the hope that they will alight on someone more interesting.


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

Its unpredictability. The words David and Davis come to mind.


What would you like your political epitaph to be?

He made a difference.