Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
The longest serving Home Secretary in fifty years, known for her resilience and outspokenness.
On the island
Eight records
Well, this is going right back to my childhood and very much to that link with the church. It comes from a hymn which sometimes, if my father, mother, and I were just alone in the church, we would just kneel down and sing, particularly the last two verses of this, therefore we before him bending this great sacrament revere.
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Yo-Yo Ma, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn
Well, this is a piece of music which I wasn't aware of until I passed my A-levels. And the local GP and his wife actually said when I passed my A-levels they'd like to give me a present and the present they gave me was a recording of Elgar's cello concerto and I think it's a wonderful, wonderfully haunting piece of music.
Well, I thought when I was preparing this sort of list that I'd actually quite like something to perhaps jig up and down to or dance to a bit on this Desert Island. And my husband, Philip and I, are sort of the ABBA generation, so it is a piece of ABBA and it's I've chosen Dancing Queen.
The Taverner Players, Andrew Parrott
Well, this takes me back to the 1992 general election when I was a candidate in North West Durham. And it was the Conservative Party's theme tune for that general election, a piece of Purcell. And I remember one night particularly, I'd been speaking at a public meeting in part of the constituency, and I had to drive through the pitch-black night. And as I drove through on my own, I put the tape of this music on, and it lifted my spirits.
Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (Queen of the Night aria)Favourite
Cheryl Studer, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Yes, well I don't think anybody can go through life without listening to a bit of Mozart. And the piece I've chosen, I've chosen because it's from The Magic Flute, which is my husband's favourite opera. And I think I'd like something that I can try to sing to. I can't sing, but on a desert island, on my own. It's not going to matter how I sing. But hearing somebody else sing this well is just sensational.
The Compassionate Society (Yes, Minister)
Paul Eddington, Derek Fowlds, and cast
Well, this is something where I I suddenly thought when I was looking at uh what I should ha thinking about what I should have that it'd be quite nice to have something to laugh to um and uh to sort of enliven my mood uh on occasions. And I think probably there's nothing better for a government minister than an episode of Yes, Minister.
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Isaac Watts (lyrics), tune Rockingham (traditional)
Yes, this is back again to in a sense the role that the church has played in in my life and I think what I would like is my favourite hymn, Sung by Congregation, so I can get that feel of being in a body of a church with the people around me.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:21I wonder which part of your work you find the most challenging.
I think it's difficult to say because at any point in time a particular aspect of the work can have a particular focus on it. I think the key thing about all the issues that the Home Office deals with, though, is that they really matter to people. And the Home Office's raison d'ete since it was set up has never changed really. It's about the safety and security of the British public.
Presenter asks
2:47You look pretty well rested today, but I'm wondering what keeps you awake at night.
Well fortunately I'm somebody who can sleep quite well, although I don't get as many hours sleep as I might. On average what then? Yeah. Well, you're probably talking about five or six hours, but there's a lot of work to do.
Presenter asks
5:58What are your early memories of life at home?
Well, I suppose early memories obviously everything did revolve very much around the church, but early memories of, I suppose, a father who couldn't always be there necessarily when you wanted him to be, but who was around quite a lot of the time at other times when other parents weren't normally. And I have one memory, for example, of being in the kitchen I think I might have been helping my mother do some cooking or something and looking up and up the uh the the path to the back door were a whole group which was a family who'd come to complain about an issue around the church you know just knock on the door and that's it. They expect to see the vicar. You know some people would say sometimes life as a vicar's daughter isn't can have its ups and downs. But I feel hugely privileged actually in the the childhood that I had.
The keepsakes
The book
Jane Austen
I think I'd like a novel, and I will take pride and prejudice.
Presenter asks
7:45And so today, now, how important is your faith to your day-to-day existence?
Well, it is important. I'm still a a practising member of the Anglican Church. I don't get as involved in church activities as I have done in the past. But as I say, I'm still a regular communicant.
Presenter asks
18:48When you find that the thing that has always been there is suddenly not there any more, can you describe to me how you coped during that period?
Well, I think uh crucially um I had huge support in my husband. And that was very important for me. I mean, he was a real rock for me. He has been all the all the time we've been married. But particularly then, of course, being faced with that the loss of both parents within a relatively short space of time.
Presenter asks
24:37Your speech famously was met with total silence in the auditorium from the delegates. What were you thinking as you left the stage?
Well, the reason I'd made the speech is because I believed there was an important message to give to the Police Federation. When I left the stage, I suppose I was wondering what the next step for them was going to be, because they were looking at whether or not they were going to reform. And of course, following that speech that afternoon, they did indeed vote to reform, and those reforms are now going through.
“I think it's right that we don't sort of flaunt these things here in British politics, but it is a part of me, it's there, and it obviously helps to frame my thinking and my approach.”
“I'm very clear that women in politics, in business, in whatever field they're in, should be able to do the job as themselves and not feel they've got to walk like a man.”
“I suppose it's about the attitude that I take to most things, which is just get on and deal with it, get on and do the job.”
“I think one of the aspects of being Home Secretary, of course, is that you tend to see some of the most difficult aspects of life.”