Roy Hattersley never held high Cabinet rank, nor did he come close to leading Labour, the party he served in Parliament for more than 50 years. He had neither charisma nor oratorical brilliance.
Yet he could claim to be one of the most influential British politicians of the late 20th century.
In the 1980s, at the hour of Labour's darkest crisis since its foundation, when the advance of the hard Left was tearing the movement apart and driving many moderates into the arms of the newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP) led by the elegant pro-European Roy Jenkins, Hattersley bravely resolved to take on the extremists.
He not only stood his ground but also helped to establish a new organisation, Labour Solidarity, to fight the centre-Right's cause.
His determination pulled Labour back from the brink and changed the course of Britain's political destiny, ultimately paving the way for Tony Blair 's 1997 landslide.
His fellow moderate Gerald Kaufman wrote that 'instead of walking out on the Labour Party , he set about saving it'. According to Kaufman, 'It was Hattersley who ensured that Labour never degenerated into a far-Left rump'.
What made this achievement all the more remarkable was the phenomenal amount of time and energy he devoted to his second career as writer. There has never been a politician so prolific in the literary trade.
In addition to an unceasing flood of newspaper and magazine articles, he authored 21 books which included a heavyweight biography of David Lloyd George, a study of the Catholic Church in Britain, a series of bestselling family sagas set in his native Yorkshire, and a humorous diary written on behalf of his dog Buster, who sprang to national fame in 1996 when he landed his owner in trouble for killing a goose in one of the London Royal Parks.
Roy Hattersley, then-deputy leader of the Labour Party, seen walking through the city centre to attend the Labour Party conference in Blackpool, Lancashire, on Monday, October 3, 1988
Roy Hattersley making a speech In 1995
Hattersley was mocked by many, including the satirical show Spitting Image
Hattersley was able to produce so much because he wrote in longhand everywhere he could, even on the Commons front bench. Not all the critics thought his energy was expended to a good purpose.
'His over-praised writing is a ghastly mishmash of the long-winded and the overblown, smugness dripping from its every pore,' said Craig Brown.
But those words were mild compared to some of the mockery he attracted. During his long career, he was viciously lampooned for his speech impediment and his excess weight, The TV satire Spitting Image portrayed him as a blubbery, blustering clown with the ugly habit of spraying saliva whenever he spoke.
Equally cruel was the magazine Private Eye which in 1979 ran a lengthy article that called him a 'fat slob' and painted him as a liar over his affair with 'a young attractive American', Maggie Pearlstine, who worked in the arts.
In the same vein, in 1993 when he pulled out of an appearance on Have I Got News For You at the last minute – the third time in succession he had done so – the production team replaced him with a tub of lard.
David Owen, who succeeded Jenkins as leader of the SDP, once called Hattersley 'the acceptable face of opportunism'. Certainly consistency was not always Hattersley's strength.
He was the radical warrior for equality who was also an enthusiastic bon viveur, the professional Yorkshireman who revelled in the high life of London's West End, and the champion of liberty who wanted to close all private schools.
His flexibility was a key reason he struggled to win trust. On Labour's centre-Right in the early seventies, he was nicknamed 'Rattersley' because of his changing attitudes over Britain's entry into the Common Market.
Neil Kinnock (pictured, right) and Roy Hattersley (pictured, left) seen in 1983
Hattersley was able to produce so much because he wrote in longhand everywhere he could, even on the Commons front bench
Even worse, he colluded with the forces of oppression in the infamous Salman Rushdie affair, calling in 1989 for the paperback version of The Satanic Verses to be banned because of the offence given to Muslims.
Hattersley had clearly been intimidated by Islamic hardliners in his Birmingham Sparkbrook constituency, where Muslims made up much of the population.
For a politician and a writer who trumpeted his commitment to liberal values, it was a shameful stance.
Hattersley could also be a difficult colleague. In 1976 Tony Crosland, the centrist Labour politician, expressed the view that 'Roy was very able but was unsuccessful politically because he angered people'.
Even someone as cooperative as Michael Foot, Labour's leader from 1980 to 1983, could be stirred into an explosive confrontation.
That happened at one meeting at Westminster in 1983 when Hattersley complained bitterly: 'Where's the bloody leadership?' In response, Foot said: 'Don't ever speak to me like tha…
Read the full article at Daily Mail →
United Kingdom