the wonderful mo mowlam. john major had taken _ the wonderful mo mowlam. john major had taken over from margaret thatcher— had taken over from margaret thatcher by then and my children asked. _ thatcher by then and my children asked, daddy, is it really possible that a _ asked, daddy, is it really possible that a man — asked, daddy, is it really possible that a man could be prime minister? laughter— laughter we have had three women conservative prime _ we have had three women conservative prime ministers, assuming the most recent— prime ministers, assuming the most recent one _ prime ministers, assuming the most recent one counts, of course. laughter and we now have the first prime minister— and we now have the first prime minister who represents a yorkshire seat _ minister who represents a yorkshire seat ts _ minister who represents a yorkshire seat is that— minister who represents a yorkshire seat. is that the big deal? it certainty— seat. is that the big deal? it certainly is. the member for richmond did not have been a better neighbour— richmond did no

john major had taken _ the wonderful mo mowlam.rse. laughter and we now have the first prime minister— and we now have the first prime minister who represents a yorkshire seat~ _ minister who represents a yorkshire seat is _ minister who represents a yorkshire seat is that— minister who represents a yorkshire seat. is that the big deal? it certainty— seat. is that the big deal? it certainly is. the member for richmond did not have been a better

like gordon brown, tony blair, of course, jack straw , robin of course, jack straw, robin cook, mo mowlamwere of the left instinctively and perhaps with the exception of blair. but they realise, following blair's example , that following blair's example, that if they were going to break this tory stranglehold on power and mrs. thatcher had bestrode the nation, bestrode the from nation, bestrode the world from the late 1970s, that they were going to have to become more moderate. they understood instinctively to their fingertips uk elections are fingertips that uk elections are won the centre . a radical won in the centre. a radical left wing parties do not win elections in this country. new labour knew that alistair darling knew that and as he entered government he became known quickly as a safe known quite quickly as a safe pair of hands , a competent pair of hands, a competent technocratic politician who could be relied upon to make reasonable and moderate decisions. >> and i believe there have been tributes from jeremy hunt and rachel reeves. >> yeah, very , very interesting. >> yeah, v

shifting as the views of robin cook were shifting, gordon brown was shifting john prescott as the mau mo mowlamis election and oust the tories, which a lot of the country wanted to happen. they'd power long they'd been in power for a long time and certainly my generation wanted that. and alistair darling was one of those people who you could see was becoming constrained actively and pragmatically moderate in order to his ideas electable. to make his ideas electable. >> do you see parallels with what happened in the 90s and the labour party with what's happened last three happened in the last three years? yeah i mean, i think what happenedin years? yeah i mean, i think what happened in the 90s was a bit more intellectually rich and i think that's to the right way of putting labour right. >> that's a good way of putting it. essentially you've got keir starmer the cabal around it. essentially you've got keir starrwho, the cabal around it. essentially you've got keir starrwho, thbasicallyround here who, who basically justify themselves we themselves against the left. we are and we are not jeremy co

i was selected to challenge the wonderful mo mowlam by then, by the way, john major had taken over from really possible that a man can be prime minister . oh we have now had three women, conservative premiers . women, conservative premiers. assuming the most recent one counts, of course . counts, of course. we now have and we now have the first prime minister who represents a yorkshire seat. is that a big deal? yes, it certainly is . i must say that certainly is. i must say that the right honourable member for richmond could not have been a better neighbour nor a better friend for me. yes now . my job, friend for me. yes now. my job, my job cabinet, labour were well aheadin my job cabinet, labour were well ahead in the polls in the run up to the 1992 election and mo actually had a car at the count with the engine running ready to take her down to sit in. neil kinnock's cabinet as northern ireland secretary. but once again , the polls were wrong . i again, the polls were wrong. i stood in north—west leicestershire in the 1997 blair landslide election , which i landslide election, which i