BBC2 interview with John Major

I always liked John Major. I remember when he first became PM Ken Livingstone said that the Tories had no idea what a left wing Tory he was. Sadly he didn't have a chance to really work with some of his ideas. I think he's the first person I've heard who has said would be immigrants in the "backwoods" of Africa would have no idea what legislation we were passing, and wouldn't be deterred by the threat of Rwanda.That very much chimes with the comments I read by a successful immigrant who crossed from Africa to The Canaries. They arrive (if they survive) expecting to walk into a job and immediately start sending money home to the people who paid for their passage. As John Major says, it will require a joint campaign by the developed world because the problem will just get worse.
Babs03 is right. "Grown Up" is the expression that comes to my mind.

Agree with the above. A really impressive interview. We always liked John Major. In fact I remember thinking he was too nice to be a Tory. His remarks about Brexit were spot on. It was said that it was the biggest act of self harm that this country had ever done to itself. So who do we have to thank for that ?

Sounds like he was right about so very much, (once I've put aside he privatised the rail network)

Of course labour supporters favour John Major because he loves to attack his own party.

Wyllow3

Sounds like he was right about so very much, (once I've put aside he privatised the rail network)

Yes, privatising the railways was a big mistake, not easy to put aside
But the one thing I think many will be eternally grateful for was the fact that he started the Good Friday Agreement process.

John Major is 81 years old. He may have been an adequate prime minister in his time but it doesn’t give him the right to trash the last government. So why would he as a Tory grandee? I am beginning to think that the anti Brexit group is beginning to get its message in order and this is a public relations exercise to realign with Europe. For better or worse I know not.
Major wasn’t entirely honest in his marriage I seem to remember, so probably not now?

Major isn’t alone in attacking his own party at the end of their term in office many still serving members of the party were also attacking it. The fact is if you see the party you are affiliated with and have dedicated your life to moving so far way from its founding principle ‘country before party’ and witnessed how it has moved from its centre right position to become a populist far right joke, of course you will speak out.
I support Labour but will speak out about the present direction Starmer is taking.
To do otherwise is to just stand by and watch a car crash.

Babs03 I admire your optimism. Since when has speaking out made the slightest difference?

I think the last government managed to trash itself. As an ex politician, Major didn't have to put a spin on anything so he was telling it as he sees it.

I don’t have a clue as to where the current Conservative Party has placed itself. It seems to be a moving line- I guess the latest election for a leader will determine its path until another leader is found and so on .

I enjoyed what I saw of this and he seems so sensible but I wonder how much of what he says is with the benefit of hindsight. He said he has kept quiet for the last year. I thought Amol interviewed him very well.

ronib

John Major is 81 years old. He may have been an adequate prime minister in his time but it doesn’t give him the right to trash the last government. So why would he as a Tory grandee? I am beginning to think that the anti Brexit group is beginning to get its message in order and this is a public relations exercise to realign with Europe. For better or worse I know not.
Major wasn’t entirely honest in his marriage I seem to remember, so probably not now?

I agree with some of your comments but I really don't see what his affair with Edwina has to do with his political stance!

buffyfly9 don’t think it shows particularly sound judgement? Any way loads of comments about Boris Johnson and I do wonder how these men operate? At least Sunak managed to avoid this kind of publicity.

Major was not a wholly adequate PM but because right about the damage done by Brexit and the loony Right.

Should have read ' he is right'

Did they discuss his affair with Eggwina?

John Mayor? Edwina Curry? I shall say no more about his trechery.

Has everyone forgotten his 4 year affair with Edwina Currie? We thought at the time, he was a grey man, a less than adequate prime minister and presided over a series of scandals at the time. I don't think he'd help the Tory party today.

The best Prime Minister we never had is Ken Clarke. I have read his political memoir, "Kind of Blue", good read. I'm not a Tory. I vote for Plaid Cymru

Wasn't his tenure all about so called "family values" I seem to remember that Yeo geezer in his government banging on about the curse of single mothers and then he went and made some woman a single mother himself outside his own marriage. At the helm of course was the fine upstanding family man Major himself and then we found out about his shenanigans with Eggwina. No wonder the country was glad to vote that lot out. Duplicity and hypocracy do seem a prerequisite for top jobs in politics.

We enjoyed listening to the interview, it was a very pleasant change to hear proper views, not waffling on. I can’t say I was a great admirer of John Major but felt his was a very sensible outlook of the present situation. He said it was time for a change because it brings new perspectives and younger blood into government. A refreshing change.

i was disappointed to read a piece a few years ago by his former DIL.
she had been married to his son, and they had a son who had some kind of special needs.
this of course took up much more time and worry and her husband seemed to lose interest and divorced.
she was surprised to find that the majors senior, her child's GPs, then showed little interest in the child and kept their distance.

eazybee

Of course labour supporters favour John Major because he loves to attack his own party.

Oh dear!

I think most of us here are more than happy to “admire” and “respect” members of other parties simply for being decent human beings!

I enjoyed the John Major interview - though in all honesty it was more of a monologue than an interview. It's always interesting to hear former politicians speaking with the advantage of distance and hindsight. Major had interesting things to say about Brexit (its divisiveness and the "misappropriation of realility" that brought it about). He was strong in his opposition to the Rwanda scheme, regarding it as un-Christian. And he was interesting on the issue of world politics and future challenges.
As a lifelong Labour voter and no fan of Amol Rajan I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this programme.