How did you begin your political career?

How did you begin your political career?

Andrew Phillips (Lord) gives expert video advice on: What first interested you in politics?; How did you begin your political career?; If you could have chosen any other career what would it have been? and more...

Well, I was always, because of my mother to some extent, politically aware and interested. That carried me through posh boarding schools when I was the only person in the school who supported Labour. Then at university, which of course was wonderful because it's a fantastic hotbed of political talk and activism, I joined all three political parties there to get the best out of each. When I came down, I had already gotten to know the Labour agent Bruce Denyer and he, in desperation when a candidate fell out just before the 1970 election, rang me up and said, "Will you stand?" I said, "I can't possibly, I just started on my own with my own law firm" but then I did of course and that was the start.