Hello and welcome to rock and roll politics with me Steve Richards.

Thank you so much for tuning in, wherever you are.

And this being, the Whitson recess, the kind of half-term at Westminster, and no doubt for some in the

Rock and Roll Politics Cooperative, I thought we'd do something slightly different. A few days ago,

I interviewed Michael Heseltine at the brilliant Cambridge Literary Festival.

And Michael has got a new book out that's called From Acorns to Oaks,

kind of stuff full of reminiscence, insight and reflections on politics.

And anyway, I interviewed him at the festival. And I found it very interesting and in some

ways moving. He's 93. And you always wonder when you're embarking on an interview with someone

of that age, you know, well, how will it go? But he is across everything. He remains articulate. And he is, in a way,

the great living example of a one-nation Tory. I introduce it. You'll hear it in a second.

By saying he is the great Tory moderniser at 93, in the sense that he's still thinking about

the best ways of delivery in terms of government,

new fresh ways. He dares to put the case for investment, in some cases for public services,

as he did at the height of Thatcherism with his commitment to Liverpool and other cities.

And of course, Europe remains a constant theme.

So he's very interesting on all these kind of topics in a way that kind of makes clearer to me

why the Tory party is in such a state of crisis now. This is the kind of viewpoint that

it has purged and rejected. Anyway, give it a listen. I think you will find it interesting and

enjoyable. And I've had hundreds of brilliant emails this week, but because we're doing this

special, there won't be your questions at the end or else this podcast would go on for about

eight hours. And even the most ardent member of the Rock and Roll Politics Cooperative might say,

...