Isabel Hardman
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I first came across him as a housing journalist when he was covering the brief as a junior shadow minister. Then he was helpful and constructive, but surprisingly the best conversations the two of us had were when I moved to this magazine. I remember approaching him at a Labour conference rather nervous that — as a Labour trade unionist — he might not want to talk to someone from The Spectator, but he was instantly warm and jovial. He reflected on his party’s failure to recognise that the electorate really liked Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy. The best piece of work I did with him illustrated what a generous and constructive character he was: he joined Tory Caroline Spelman in a radio interview to talk about how the pair of them had enjoyed working together on an amendment to Brexit legislation.
‘We are of different backgrounds and different political traditions but we’re absolutely united in a passion to stand up for those we represent,’ he said, quoting with pride one constituent who he’d met as an apprentice at Jaguar Land Rover whose life had been transformed by his job. He spoke of ‘decent Tories’ who had supported the amendment he and Spelman had brought, which had passed, and of his emotion on it succeeding. It was such a warm discussion where they agreed that they had the same motivation to protect their constituents who shared a big employer. And it was entirely typical of Dromey, as anyone who met him will attest.
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