Alan Johnson: Orphan, postman, politician like no other

Sweeney Talks

Global

Society & Culture, Politics, Government, News

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To many, he’s the greatest Prime Minister we never had. Born into post-war poverty, Alan Johnson’s childhood was tough. Alan was orphaned when he was 12 and brought up by his sister, Linda. They fought to stay together and escape the slums. Alan became a postman at the age of 18 before becoming a politician, holding a range of ministerial posts including Home Secretary. He tells John Sweeney what it was like to be grindingly poor in 1950’s Britain and what he loves and loathes about the Labour Party.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Look at him go.
0:01.5	He's a quality striker.
0:02.8	No, not him.
0:03.7	The electrician fixing those lights.
0:05.5	Wow.
0:06.2	Is he?
0:06.9	Yes, he uses QuickBooks to prepare for self-assessment.
0:10.3	This is truly game-changing.
0:12.9	Use QuickBooks year-round to ensure your income tax return is shock-free.
0:17.0	That's how you business differently.
0:18.9	Into its QuickBooks.
0:22.4	This is a Global Player Original podcast.
0:28.5	Welcome to Sweeney Talks. It's a podcast series where I get to interview people who've done serious stuff with their lives and then got into trouble.
0:36.7	Big trouble. I'm not here to lecture
0:39.0	them about that. I'm kind of a professor of big troubleology myself. I've got history with the
0:44.8	Church of Scientology, North Korea, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Tommy Robinson and the Russian
0:51.9	army. I'm here to find out what it feels like to be in the deep doo-doo.
0:59.0	How you survive it, and then how the hell you get out of it.
1:03.0	If you've been in trouble, you're not alone.
1:07.0	So, come along for the ride.
1:09.0	You might learn some new tricks.
1:11.4	You might have a laugh, but one thing is sure.
	...

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