20 December 2006
Chris Evans gets a glimpse of what life is like for a Prime Minister at Christmas, the rules and the difficulties of the job and how he copes with it all in this special interview.
Read the transcript
Chris Evans:
Hello, it is Chris Evans here and I am in Downing Street in the White Room about to interview the Prime Minister. I have got a blocked up nose, so I am just going to blow that and then I will be ready for him. I just hope he is ready for me.
So Prime Minister, Christmas is just round the corner. When does the Prime Minister officially knock off work and what happens next?
Prime Minister:
It is pretty much Christmas Eve normally, but you will probably get some calls on Christmas day. The trouble is things don’t stop happening just because it is Christmas, so you are always, something may happen, there may be an issue that suddenly arises or there may be some disaster that happens somewhere in the world so someone gets on to you.
Chris Evans:
So how off work can you ever be?
Prime Minister:
You are more off work than people think sometimes. If you can get some space at a weekend and let’s say nothing terrible happens then you know you can relax a bit with the family and so on. But it is always coming at you, there is always something, it is very relentless, there is always something that is going to happen or a phone call that has to be made. But you know there are times we can get a bit of relaxation.
Chris Evans:
Now this is your tenth Christmas here in Downing Street, how different is Christmas now compared to how it used to be 11 years ago - if you can remember?
Prime Minister:
I think it is just the sheer busyness of the job. There is nothing that quite prepares you for it. When you are Leader of the Opposition you become a lot more busy than just an ordinary very busy Member of Parliament and you are probably busier than most, or certainly a lot of Ministers when you are the Leader of the Opposition. But when you become Prime Minister it is suddenly that just absolutely everything stops with you. So if there is any disagreement anywhere in the processes of government or there is anything that happens that people need an actual decision taken on, it is with you. So the last Christmas that you have before you are actually Prime Minister is the last time you don’t have that feeling always there at the back of your mind that something is going to happen, someone is going to …
Chris Evans:
Now somebody somewhere may be experiencing their last Christmas not being Prime Minister for quite a while. If you had some advice for them, what would you tell them to enjoy?
Prime Minister:
Just enjoy being actually free for the last time …
Chris Evans:
Put on a Santa suit.
Prime Minister:
Yes, or you know the fact is it is easier to go and have a good relaxing time with your family and so on.
Chris Evans:
OK. Now is Christmas Chequers for you?
Prime Minister:
Yes, Christmas we spend in Chequers.
Chris Evans:
And it has always been like that for 10 years?
Prime Minister:
It has always been like that.
Chris Evans:
Now is that out of choice or do you have to spend it there?
Prime Minister:
No, you don’t have to, but it is kind of easier to do and it is slightly nicer for the family to be out there. The thing with Downing Street is, as you will know just being in it for a short time, is that people are in and out the whole time and you know when we are in the flat in Downing Street basically people are running in and out with messages, it is just there is a sort of degree of lack of privacy that is difficult.
Chris Evans:
Now I asked you that question because I have been doing some research because of our chat, and I understand there are some rules, some surprising rules that you and others before you in the office of Premier have to adhere to. For example I understand that you don’t get allowed a front door key to No 10.
Prime Minister:
No, that is right, you don’t have a front door key.
Chris Evans:
Now when you become Prime Minister, as I say there are other rules. Is there somebody who briefs you and says right, OK, this is how it is going to be?
Prime Minister:
Well I remember the very first time I came into No 10, the first person who calls you Prime Minister incidentally is The Queen, because when you go and you do the ceremony of kissing hands, she is the first person …
Chris Evans:
How does that feel?
Prime Minister:
Very strange. When I did it she just remarked that the very first Prime Minister she had had as Queen was Winston Churchill and that was actually before I was born. It kind of made you realise how young I was actually when I first came in there. And then what happens is you go back from the Palace, you come into No 10 and they have this tradition where the staff and all the people who work in Downing Street line up on either side of the main corridor.
Chris Evans:
We have seen that scene in Love Actually, that is the scene isn’t it where he shakes hands with everybody?
Prime Minister:
Yes, that is right, and you go down. And I remember at the time, because the other lot had been in for 18 years and some people obviously were rather upset that they were going, so I would kind of wander down the line and some people obviously were rather upset that they were going, so I would kind of wander down the line and various people would be in tears.
Chris Evans:
Grimacing .. in tears and grimacing…
Prime Minister:
And so by the time you got to the end of the line you kind of felt guilty about the whole thing. But you then go into the Cabinet room and the Cabinet Secretary is there, and you know as he said to me: "Well you are in charge now, so what would you like to do?"
Chris Evans:
There you are, and off you go. And yet there is one rule which is to do with presents, because you get given presents all the time, as most world leaders do, people who are important, I even get the odd present, but you are not allowed to keep them.
Prime Minister:
No, you don’t keep them. They all go into a big, it is up to I think £150 or something.
Chris Evans:
£140, that is what I heard.
Prime Minister:
And what happens is that often you get, I sometimes don’t even, I mean I shouldn’t really say this or at least not specifically tied to countries, but sometimes you won’t even know the presents you have been given until you read in the list that is usually published in the papers about all the gifts that you have had.
Chris Evans:
There was one specific present off Bryan Adams, it was a great guitar and you thought I really want this, and didn’t you have to buy that then?
Prime Minister:
Yes, and then you pay for it, yes.
Chris Evans:
You have to pay for that out of your own pocket?
Prime Minister:
Yes.
Chris Evans:
And you have got that guitar?
Prime Minister:
I have, yes.
Chris Evans:
Any good?
Prime Minister:
Yes, no it is good, it is a Fender (phon), it is good, very good stuff.
Chris Evans:
Now what about the effect of being Prime Minister. Being Prime Minister must make you many things that you weren’t before. Has it made you fitter, are you fitter now?
Prime Minister:
I am probably physically fitter than I have been since I was at college, just because I have found there were times that to be physically fit is a necessary part of doing the job, it kind of relieves your stress when you are exercising and all the rest of it, and it is just the physical strain, particularly nowadays because you travel so much, you travel within the country, but you travel outside the country and for every single Prime Minister or head of government it is just the whole business to do with the international side is just so much bigger than it was even 10 years ago, never mind 20 years ago.
Chris Evans:
You have got to keep your energy up.
Prime Minister:
Yes.
Chris Evans:
Are you an expert on body language now for example?
Prime Minister:
I kind of like to think I always was a bit, you know it is part of …
Chris Evans:
Well there is all this talk about body language, isn’t there, not only in your game but in other people’s …
Prime Minister:
What does it mean in the end?
Chris Evans:
Well you [inaudible] cross your legs and you think oh he is not liking what I am saying here.
Prime Minister:
Well you can usually tell when you are with another leader and the meeting is not going too well.
Chris Evans:
But have you read books on body language and that kind of stuff?
Prime Minister:
I have never read books on it, no, but I think it’s your basic intuition, particularly as a politician because it is a people business.
Chris Evans:
You feel it?
Prime Minister:
Yes, you kind of feel it.
Chris Evans:
And what about power naps, you must power nap because you must be so tired all the time, have you become an expert in power napping?
Prime Minister:
No, it is something I have always wanted to do and I really, really admire the people who can do it. When Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister apparently he used to be able to go to sleep for just a period of 10 minutes at a time and he could do it in any set of circumstances, but I find it very very hard indeed, in fact hard to impossible. If I have got something up my mind is turning on it, but it is a great thing if you can do it.
Chris Evans:
So you have not acquired that skill?
Prime Minister:
I have not, no.
Chris Evans:
OK, now I have witnessed you make many speeches, both live and on TV, and they are great. Even people who don’t like you admit that you are brilliant at communicating as far as your speeches are concerned. What in your opinion makes a good speech?
Prime Minister:
That is a very good question.
Chris Evans:
… we get asked this question the whole time, so you are the king of speeches, give them a tip.
Prime Minister:
Make people laugh a bit, because you have got to relax your audience. The thing that an audience always wants to feel about its speaker is that the speaker is in control, the audience don’t want to feel that they are having to work really hard. It is like in your job actually, they need to know when they are listening to you that you are doing the work and they are not having to do the work, you know what I mean, so they are not kind of embarrassed and wanting you to do something else, you are kind of leading them through it.
Chris Evans:
Giving them pointers maybe.
Prime Minister:
Yes, exactly. But I think the other thing is always to understand the three or four points that you want to make, and sometimes when I make a speech and it is a sort of off-the-cuff, not the big prepared big set piece occasion, but sometimes I will kind of say, if I am making a lot of speeches in a day and I have to go to a place, I will say there are three points I want to make, and at that stage I haven’t thought of the three points, but I know that the discipline of putting up those things will concentrate my mind and it has got to be clear to people. I mean my first attempts at public speaking were absolutely terrible really.
Chris Evans:
Almost like a stand-up comedian going out for the first time, the most frightening experience one could imagine.
Prime Minister:
I think, I just don’t know how people do that because I really couldn’t.
Chris Evans:
And have you ever given a speech where you were going to say something else but you get such a good reaction to what you have just said you think I am going to leave it there actually?
Prime Minister:
Yes. Some of my staff would say and the opposite sometimes occurs where you go on forever because you are not getting the good reaction.
Chris Evans:
Now we haven’t got much time, so let’s be quick now because I have got a couple of questions I want to get in. One day soon, or otherwise, you will cease to be the man here at No 10 and the job will fall into the hands of someone else, whomever that might be, so if you had to brief them what would you say to them?
Prime Minister:
I would say you have got to live with all the media stuff day in, day out, but don’t get obsessed by it and just realise that you are there to be knocked and all the rest of it, and that just happens and don’t get overly fussed by it; know what it is you really want to achieve and focus on that the whole time and don’t get side-tracked; and above all I think realise that it is a tremendous privilege and honour to do it, and however difficult it is know that it is voluntary and you know for you to be in the position where you actually are the Prime Minister is a fantastic thing to have happened in your life and you should never feel anything other than an acute sense of privilege in doing it.
Chris Evans:
OK, back to Christmas now. Very quickly, it is the No 10 office ‘do’ this week, it is on Wednesday, what time does it start, is it any good and do you go anywhere afterwards?
Prime Minister:
I don’t go anywhere afterwards except up to the flat. I think it is, what is it, 7.00 o’clock the thing this week - Wednesday? - yes. And it is good, yes, because actually everyone, but Wednesday evenings are always an easier time because it is after the Prime Minister’s Questions and you can relax a bit more.
Chris Evans:
Because you have got 7 days until the next one. I have just got to choose my questions carefully now. Out of all your colleagues, who reminds you most of Santa?
Prime Minister:
I haven’t the faintest idea and I am not even going to guess that.
Chris Evans:
OK, well you won’t like this one then, who reminds you most of Scrooge?
Prime Minister:
Oh definitely not.
Chris Evans:
OK, we won’t go there. Now is there any Christmas cheer between the various different political parties? Do you get cards off the other guys?
Prime Minister:
You do occasionally get cards from people from other political parties and there is a certain amount of people working together, and should be in fact. I mean one of the things that should happen is that on certain questions and certain issues parties should be prepared to work together.
Chris Evans:
And they do?
Prime Minister:
And they do. And when people see Prime Minister’s Questions they see a great sort of debating joust where everyone tries to knock lumps out of each other, but actually behind all of that there is a certain amount of working together and I certainly have always felt that if I had a problem that I think is something that really requires everyone to work together on, that you can approach the other party. And you know you are not always successful with it, but most people, believe it or not, want to try and do the right thing for the country.
Chris Evans:
OK, this is my final question. Christmas time at the end of each year for many is a natural time of reflection when the noise of the whole world seems to quieten just for a few days. Now I find reflection ends up sometimes being contemplation, so reflection of the past and contemplation of the future. You have had your dream job, what are your hopes and dreams for the future?
Prime Minister:
I think the single thing for me that is most important is that whatever I do afterwards it has a real purpose to it, that it is not just about doing a job. This is a position that once you have occupied it you have done something that has what I call a real life purpose to it, now you may do it badly, you may do it well, some people like you, some people hate you, all the rest of it, but you have got a real motivating life purpose. And certainly in anything I wanted to do afterwards I want to have, it would be a different purpose but similar in its motivation.
Chris Evans:
Prime Minister Tony Blair I have enjoyed talking to you. Thank you for letting me into the White Room. Merry Christmas for this year and also for next year, wherever you may be and whatever you may be doing.
Prime Minister:
Thanks Chris.
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