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love him and all he represents. The activists get a physical thrill from simply saying the words ‘His Grace’. Working the room before last night’s dinner I said to several of them that I’d had a meeting with him during the day and I sensed as they held my hand they were conscious that they were holding the hand that had shaken the hand of the Duke of Westminster only hours before. The dinner – ‘Chester Meets the Brandreths’ – was fine, but my speech was too lightweight. They enjoyed the jokes, but they wanted (and didn’t get) some political punch and a Churchillian flourish.
    Today it’s been local election canvassing, plus the Litter Week Photocall, plus the Callin Court coffee morning, plus a couple of mortifying hours standing outside two desolate shopping parades accosting shoppers who don’t want to stop: they want to shop. It’s becoming clear to me that much of what I’m doing I’m doing
not
to woo the electorate and win over wavering votes but to keep our activists sweet, to boost their morale, to reassure them they’ve chosen the right man for the job.
FRIDAY 3 MAY 1991
    ‘Any remaining likelihood of a June general election disappeared in the early hours of this morning.’ In fact, in Chester we didn’t do too badly. We gained one seat from the Lib Dems and the Lib Dems gained one from us and one from Labour. I started the day with a photocall for National Squint Week (no jokes,
please
) and then made my way toMold for the Marcher Sound Jobline Launch – a complete waste of time. I went because the Welsh Secretary, David Hunt, 84 was going to be on parade and I thought it would be an opportunity to introduce myself and get a pic for the local paper. In the event when I had forced my way through the crowd to shake the great man’s hand he had no idea who I was or why I was there, and the photographers in attendance certainly didn’t want me cluttering up the shots.
TUESDAY 14 MAY 1991
    Last night we were invited for supper with the Deputy Chief Whip! 85 He has a charming house in Lord North Street, a charming wife called Cecilia (birdlike and delightful, with one of those deceptively daffy Kensington manners – don’t be fooled by the tinkly laughter…), and a charming, disarming way with him. Lots of quiet chuckling. They couldn’t have been more friendly or hospitable. He’d invited us because his is the constituency adjacent to ‘mine’ and he wanted to ‘mark my card’. Also at supper was another Cheshire MP, Neil Hamilton. 86 Dry and droll. I was on best behaviour: didn’t drink, didn’t talk too much, and didn’t find it as alarming as I’d feared.
    I was grateful to the Goodlads too because my current acquaintanceship among MPs is pretty limited – though it does include Edwina [Currie], of course, who is in court this week suing
The Observer
over a film review which apparently likened her to a character who undermines her own marriage, sacrifices her children and resorts to murder to further her career. In the movie the part (a glamorous Euro-MP) is played by Charlotte Rampling and you might have thought that Edwina would be thrilled to be mistaken for Charlotte Rampling in any role – but no.
WEDNESDAY 15 MAY 1991
    I’m on the 11.25, reaching Chester 2.07, then it’s BNFL at Capenhurst, the ‘Nursery Education for All’ meeting at Queen’s Park High School, and the Poster Committee Meeting at the office. Vanessa wants the posters in blue and day-glo pink. The traditionalists want blue and white. I want smiles all round. I predict an hour of wrangling – and Vanessa gets her way.
    Edwina wins the day. £5,000 plus costs. Quote of the case: ‘I am not interested in personal publicity. Being well-known is an absolute pain.’
SATURDAY 18 MAY 1991
    I found a Brandreth in the local phone book – and she lives in Blacon. 87 In fact, she isn’t a Brandreth any longer, but her ex-husband is and her son is and this afternoon she’s hosting a little tea party in my