Hello and welcome to the Political Party podcast. This one features former Labour MP Tom Harris.

He's also author of a fantastic book called Ten Years in the Death of the Labour Party.

So you can imagine the sort of conversation we had. Tom was an MP in Glasgow for 14 years

for Labour, describes herself as a Blair right, but stands on some, maybe stands in position

on certain issues that he might be surprised by. He's pro-union, but I'll leave her

that because the conversation reveals where exactly he stands on different things and

what I and it therefore leads to some fascinating conversations about things we don't often

talk about. So I shall not ruin the conversation at all, but leave you in the hands of Tom Harris.

I'm delighted today to be joined by Tom Harris, former Labour MP for Glasgow, Cathcart

and Glasgow South. 14 years, I remember the party. Sorry, I remember a parliament for the

Labour Party, up in Scotland. Tom Malkin to the show. It's great to be here.

Tom, we will talk about your fantastic book Ten Years in the Death of the Labour Party

in due course and I would fully recommend it to all listeners as a fantastic insider

account of the erosion really of the Labour Party, as perhaps you and I might see it,

but I wanted to start a lot earlier than then because you in 1990 became press officer

to Scottish Labour. Yes. And I was thinking about this early today, just thinking what an incredible

period that must have been to be compared to Scottish Labour now. Scottish Labour then

was just this embarrassment of riches, of talent, of brownsmith, cook, duor. I mean, it

must have been Robinson. It must have been such a thrill to be working for the party back

then. It was an amazing time and it was a fantastic job to have at that age because I was

only 26 when I started and I had spent years kind of idolizing all these giants of the

Labour movement from afar and then suddenly going from reporting a local newspaper to

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