Hello there and welcome to the latest edition of the political party podcast. This one featuring

one of the big beasts of British politics, Michael Hezl time. It's a phenomenal experience

sitting opposite Lord Hezl time and it was it was only sort of halfway through the interview or

at some point or that it dawned on me that actually the vast majority of politicians have interviewed

and the vast majority of politicians sort of in our landscape are broadly sort of 90s onwards

and mid to late 90s onwards even though they've been in parliament before then the defining era

really was sort of major Blair in onwards and then everything that's followed since.

Michael Hezl time reaches far further back. He's 84 years old. He served under Margaret Thatcher of

course, challenged her for the Conservative Party leadership, challenged John Major for the

Tory Party leadership, has had a phenomenal career. Really is if I think that's much older. One of

defining politicians of my life, one of the biggest characters since the war and one of the most

revered, not just in Conservative circles but outside and as we come onto in the conversation

we talk about Margaret Thatcher and her views on him although they had that rivalry actually

she never doubted his talent and you can see why even at 84 he is as sharp as ever, he's as relevant

as ever and there are some brilliant moments in this. At one point we start talking about a

particular gadget, he pulls his iPhone out which leads to sort of slightly surreal conversation about

what Michael Hezl time uses his iPhone for it 84 years old but the way he talks about the poll

tax, the way he talks about Margaret Thatcher, the way he talks about Europe, it's a wide ranging

conversation taking into the contemporary and the past and it is an absolutely, it was a real treat

and he still, this may say, it still looks like Michael Hezl time, he is still tall,

impressive, impeccably groomed with that distinctive hair and those huge eyebrows and it really was

a user word at the end hypnotic, that's kind of what it is, it was almost as if though for an hour or

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