Airbrushed from history!

I’m currently reading Iain Dale’s very enjoyable memoir, Have I Said Too Much? My Life in Politics and the Media.

Today Iain is arguably best known as a political commentator and the presenter of a long-running show on LBC, but his career has taken numerous twists and turns, and there have been so many ups and downs (and tears!) it’s hard to know where to start.

He’s not a friend – a friendly acquaintance is a more accurate description – but 24 years ago we collaborated on a magazine that, curiously, isn’t mentioned at all in the book (not even in passing) which I’m a bit surprised about because, not only did he subsequently express fond memories of it, it arguably inspired his interest in magazine publishing that led, in 2007, to the launch of another magazine, Total Politics, which he does mention, at length.

Anyway, I’ve read that Iain dislikes ‘book reviewers who lazily review the author of the book rather than the book itself’ so, to be clear, this not a book review. Instead it’s my account of what I admit was a relatively brief episode in the early Noughties when Iain was the owner of Politicos Bookshop in Westminster. In those days Forest’s office was a ten-minute walk from the bookshop and I would pop in occasionally to browse. Sometimes I would buy a book or a magazine before enjoying a cup of coffee and a slice of cake in the tiny cafe on the balcony that overlooked the shop.

I liked the coffee house atmosphere but what prompted me to approach Iain with an idea for a magazine was the fact that he had praised the changes we had made to Freedom Today, The Freedom Association magazine that I was editing and producing with my colleague Jo Gaffikin, so I thought he might be interested.

The idea I pitched was a magazine that featured interviews with authors of new political books (including politicians), articles by the writers of new titles, and book reviews. Initially Iain was extremely sceptical (and he certainly didn’t want to spend money on it!) so the project went nowhere for several weeks until I got fed up waiting and unilaterally decided to press on and design nine or ten pages. Thereafter I remember marching into the shop unannounced and showing them to Iain so he could see exactly what I had in mind. I also explained that the cost of the magazine would be covered by advertising, which Jo and I would be responsible for, so there was no financial risk to Politicos.

We agreed that Iain would be the ‘editor-in-chief’ (he came up with the title, The Politico) and I would be the executive editor responsible for editing and producing the magazine with the aid of his impressive list of contacts that included writers, journalists, politicians, and many more. The plan was to distribute copies to customers and other interested parties.

The Politico was launched in April 2002 with a drinks reception in the bookshop where guests included MPs, journalists and writers. Iain addressed them from the stairs that led up to the balcony and the response to the new magazine was very encouraging. Contributors to that first issue - which featured former Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam on the cover - included Labour MP Chris Mullen, Conservative MPs John Redwood and Julian Lewis, Claire Fox (Academy of Ideas), John Blundell (director-general of the IEA), Lauren Booth (half sister of Cherie Blair and a columnist for the New Statesman), Katy Guest (deputy diary editor of the Independent and, much later, deputy opinion editor at the Guardian), and Paul Routledge, political editor of the Daily Mirror. There was also an interview with Gyles Brandreth, which I posted here a few years ago.

We decided The Politico would be published quarterly so the second issue - with Jeremy Paxman on the cover - was published in the autumn of 2002, just in time for the party conference season. If I remember, Politicos had a stand at each of the three main conferences (Lib Dem, Labour, and Conservative) and thousands of copies were distributed to delegates. A third issue, featuring Tony Benn and David Davis on the cover, was published early the following year.

We were very proud of the magazine but it was essentially a labour of love because no-one, bar the printers, made any money from it. Advertising revenue meant we were able to pay the printers but that was it, and after the third issue Jo and I discussed its viability and concluded that it was difficult to justify the work if there was no clear benefit, financial or otherwise.

I told Iain we couldn’t continue working for nothing, and that was that. As it happens, faced with a substantial increase in rent and rates, Politicos was soon forced to leave their Westminster premises and become an online only business, but I was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t build on the goodwill and positive reaction the magazine had generated over those first few issues. Three years later, in 2007, Iain launched a new political magazine, Total Politics. Would I like to have been involved? Yes, but the invitation never came (he says with no bitterness whatsoever!).

Since then Iain and I have crossed paths only occasionally. He’s interviewed me several times on LBC but, funnily enough, I’ve never felt very comfortable, partly because we know each other, and partly because we share very similar political views and I find it easier being interviewed by someone who doesn’t share my opinions. (For the record, Iain doesn’t like smoking but his husband is a smoker and Iain is generally liberal on issues like that so we end up agreeing with one another and I find that more difficult than having a difference of opinion!)

Ten years ago I invited him to speak at a fringe meeting hosted by Forest at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham and, by his own admission, he was “terrified“! Then again, the event was in a nightclub and there were almost 500 guests, most of whom were drinking and talking to one another, so the speakers had an almost impossible task to make themselves heard.

However, my favourite Iain Dale-related moment took place on 18 Doughty Street, the internet TV channel on which he cut his broadcasting teeth. Launched in 2007, it’s fair to say that 18 Doughty Street was way ahead of its time and arguably paved the way for subsequent channels such as Talk and GB News.

Iain was one of the founders and presenters, and I was invited to appear four or five times. One evening I was asked to stay on and review the next day’s papers with another guest who looked utterly bewildered when Iain and I both got a fit of the giggles after I read out a blog post by Dizzy Thinks who liked to refer to transport minister Stephen Ladyman as Stephen Ladyboy. Needless to say I didn’t spot the deliberate ‘error’ until it was too late. I have described our corpsing as similar to the famous ‘legover’ incident involving Jonathan Agnew and the late Brian Johnson on Test Match Special, and it’s a huge regret to me that the clip didn’t survive the closure of 18 Doughty Street the following year because I would love to have it played at my funeral (or the after party).

I should add that this blog might not exist without Iain Dale’s Diary, which was one of the most successful political blogs in the Noughties. What I liked about it is that it went beyond politics and included posts about Iain’s personal life. Therefore, when I launched Taking Liberties in 2007, I attempted something similar, combining work-related posts with more personal stuff. I’ve stuck to that formula for almost 20 years, albeit without the success (or career!) that Iain has enjoyed. Truth is, he’s a much better writer and has many more stories to tell, as his book demonstrates.

Unfortunately Iain Dale’s Diary was a victim of its own success because at one point he was publishing five to ten posts a day, which set a bar that was impossible to maintain. Eventually, following an ill-fated attempt to recruit a team of writers to contribute to a new multi-author blog called Iain Dale & Co, he pulled the plug in order to concentrate on his broadcasting and publishing career (not to mention the 50+ books he has subsequently written or edited).

As I say, I don’t know Iain well but it’s worth noting that, apart from influencing this blog, he also changed my mind about gay marriage because, while I supported civil partnerships for gay couples, I didn’t see the need to legalise gay marriage. My view changed when I read Iain’s heart-warming account of his wedding to his long-term partner John because it begged the question: if two people love one another, how can we deny marriage to any couple, regardless of their sex.

Finally, it’s a sad irony that Iain’s memoir was published just a week after the gruesome murder of Ann Widdecombe with whom he enjoyed a long friendship, despite her faith-led opposition to gay marriage. I believe she swithered over attending Iain’s wedding and eventually decided it would be hypocritical to attend something she didn’t approve of. Nevertheless they remained good friends and following her murder Iain accepted multiple invitations to defend her reputation on television and radio. His loyalty to friends such as Ann Widdecombe (and Christine and Neil Hamilton) is something I greatly admire.

Anyway, if you are interested in politics or the media, do read Have I Said Too Much?. By his own admission Iain loves to gossip and some anecdotes are very funny. Occasionally, he oversteps the mark (do we really need to know that on one occasion Tony Blair had ‘stinkingly awful bad breath’?), but there are several laugh out loud moments including the comment by a taxi driver who turned round and told him, in no uncertain terms, ‘Don’t you tell me how to drive my car, you motherfucking cunt’.

It says a lot about the author’s remarkably full life that the famous incident with anti-nuclear protestor Stuart Holmes in Brighton in 2013 (the one that led to a police caution), was not the defining or career-ending catastrophe it might have been for someone with fewer credits to their name. Thankfully he survived that little brush with the law (and subsequent incidents such as falling into the orchestra pit from the stage at Buxton Opera House) and the result is this entertaining book.

Update: I don’t want to labour this, but in chapter 22 Iain quotes from an article he wrote in 2003 in which he predicted ‘who would be the political stars’ ten years hence (ie 2013). Curiously, he doesn’t mention who published it. Have a guess. That’s right, The Politico. Talk about being airbrushed from history!!

See: Iain Dale on tomorrow’s leaders (Taking Liberties, February 2010)

Have I Said Too Much? My Life in Politics and the Media by Iain Dale, published by BiteBack, £22

See also: RIP Iain Dale’s Diary (Taking Liberties, December 2010)