'Clockwinder who couldn't say no.'
A blissful day of cleansing sunshine. A trip to rural Leicestershire to meet Labour Party idealists was the perfect way to rinse the poison of Blair's treachery out of my mind. In his interview with Andrew Marr, he revelled in boasting that he abused his office to sabotage Labour Party achievements.
It should be no surprise. I got my retaliation in before he was PM. His choice of privilege education in 1996 proved that he was a political charlatan with wafer thin loyalty to Labour. I wrote my book 'Dragons led by Poodles' to nail down Blair's foul betrayal of the devolution deal. His brazen admission confirms my worst charges. Those Welsh politicians who collaborated with him betrayed Wales. History will brand them as collaborators.
But today was an inspiration. I visited five idealistsic stalwarts of the essence of the Labour Party. All were close friends of the late David Taylor MP. I visited them in Ashby-de-la Zouch, Hinckley, Heather and Leicester. I heard some wonderful fresh anecdotes about the backbenchers' backbencher.
I have also been ploughing through encyclopaedic files of his newspaper columns and press cuttings. A figure of extraordinary energy and dedication emerges. After each working week of award-winning work in the Commons, he packed his weekends with an extraordinary workload. 'He could not refuse an invitation,' I was told today. One of his weekend chores was to act as Church Warden in his home village of Heather. This was a heavy burden of work on top of his self imposed MP's work. One of his duties was to wind the clock in the Church Tower.
The working title for the biography is now
'Clockwinder who couldn't say no.'
It is intended to puzzle and arouse the interest of readers. It also describes the work of this worthy politician. His brilliant example should eclipse the megalomanic self-serving ramblings of former party leaders into a murky shade.