Yesterday I stumbled upon a YouTube video from the UK Parliament marking 20 years of televised proceedings of the House of Commons. 

I had quite forgotten that I played a minor supporting role in Tony Blair’s first Prime Minister’s Questions on 21 May 1997.

I look a lot younger than I do today and the question I put to Blair was, on reflection and with the benefit of hindsight, delivered with too much intensity.

I point an accusing finger at the benches opposite. 

"Does my right hon. Friend appreciate the indignation and outrage felt among bus passengers in north-east Lancashire, who have been left high and dry by Stagecoach? Even as I speak, bus fares are going up, services are being cut, drivers are leaving in droves and the situation is in crisis. Is not such a situation, where private monopolies have driven out public interest, a shaming indictment of the previous Government's policies?"

I still have the tie.

Use the red bar at the bottom of the screen to scroll to 26 minutes 25 seconds in.

Gordon Prentice 21 October 2022.