What is the biggest problem of all?
Right now, what worries me most is the rise of populism, nationalism and extremism in countries around Europe and the wider world. It’s certainly not what we need to tackle the big threats posed by climate change or the aggression of Putin, let alone challenges such as AI or China as a new superpower.
If you could spend a day in one city or place at one moment in history, what would that be?
I would love to go back and stand amongst those crowds outside Buckingham Palace on 8th May 1945, celebrating victory in Europe and the defeat of the Nazis. After so many dark, painful years of death and destruction, the sheer relief that it was finally over must have been incredible.
What is your favourite quotation?
There’s a powerful quote by the great Liberal John Stuart Mill (sadly often misattributed to the Conservative philosopher Edmund Burke): “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”
Which of your ancestors or relatives are you most proud of?
My mother, and how she kept smiling and kept her kindness, despite being widowed young with three sons under 10, and then being struck down herself with a most painful form of cancer. Her resilient warmth and determination have been my inspiration.
What have you changed your mind about?
I used to think social, economic and political progress was inevitable—and the battle was over the pace and precise nature of improvement. The last 15 or so years have shown me how wrong I was.
Care policy is important to you. What is the one change you’d implement tomorrow if you could?
A massive step change in the way we support family carers. They are too often forgotten and ignored by people in power, but without them our whole NHS and care system would collapse. People looking after their loved ones deserve far more support, with their finances, with respite breaks and with juggling work with their caring responsibilities.
With the Bath Philharmonia Young Carers’ Choir, you tried for a number one single at Christmas. What was that experience like?
It was truly magical. First to hear “Love Is Enough”, our fantastic song written by a group of young carers and former young carers, and then to get the chance to record it with them and perform together on the brilliant TV programme Loose Women and even on Downing Street outside Number 10. To see what that meant to these young people and witness their incredible talents and enthusiasm. And then to see the wonderfully warm response we got, the chord it struck with people and the recognition it generated about the amazing job young carers do and the challenges they face.
As well as being a really humbling experience, it was fun as well, especially our whacky marketing push for the Number 1 slot. Although that ultimately failed—Wham! and a few other artists somehow beat us—I now have a better insight into TikTok… and a dim understanding of phrases like “Leader of the Rizz Dems” and “Main Character Energy”.
What wouldn’t you do to spread your party’s message?
The two things that got vetoed during the election were wing-walking and putting my hand up a cow’s behind—both, apparently, for health and safety reasons. The truth is, if it’s legal and decent, my kind comms team seem happy to consider it and give me just enough time not to be able to say “no”. I’m so looking forward to the next election campaign.
What do you most regret?
I’m not sure if I regret this so much as wonder what life might have been like had I made a different choice over MI6’s attempt to recruit me. I was sorely tempted, though, ultimately, my reflection on the two-hour interview at an address in Carlton Gardens led me to conclude that a decade or two of half-truths to friends and family, and a life full of concealment and ambiguity, was less attractive than working as the economics adviser to the then senior Liberal Democrat team of Paddy Ashdown and Alan Beith.
