Style -- 17 hours ago
Words: Violet
In his prime, Lord Michael Heseltine cut a flamboyant figure with his coiffed blond hair, powerful oratory, and grand fortune (today estimated at £250?million) from Haymarket Media, the publishing group he founded in the Fifties. But Lord Heseltine is still very much the high-flyer.
In October last year he produced his report – No Stone Unturned – setting out 89 recommendations for ways George Osborne and David Cameron could kick-start the economy, with 81 receiving the handshake of approval. We caught up with the Tory grandee to talk about British national will, his stance on the key areas of growth for Britain, his interest in trees and what he plans to do now that he has hit 80.
In a recent interview you suggested that British people are significantly better off than previous generations and, as a result, have lost the will to drive themselves. Countries such as China and India have larger room for growth as they are still, relatively speaking, underdeveloped. Therefore is it a lack of national will pushing them? Or that Britain has less room for growth than the emerging markets?
I didn’t say that was the case. I raised the question as to whether advanced economies would see their priorities in such stark terms as the developing countries.
There is no comparison between the living standards of people in China and India to people living in the UK and equivalent countries. The fact is that a significant proportion of the population in advanced economies now have a choice of lifestyles, so it is worth asking whether they are exercising those choices by working shorter hours or other factors. When I started in the commercial world, people worked on Saturdays, and they worked a five-and-a -half day week. It used to be that going back much further they would have worked six days a week. Prosperity opens up options.
There are many factors, like huge investment capabilities, which militate the other way. The question is: will people in advanced economies see the desire to work long hours and many days when set against leisure opportunities which they can afford to pursue? It is an interesting question, which is why I didn’t try to answer it too fully.
If you could pick one of the proposals you put to David Cameron and George Osborne this year, which would be the most important single area for growth in Britain at the moment?
I don’t ever accept the “single one out” question because the moment you do everybody who is not affected by it sits back and feels that the problem is going to be solved by somebody else when it simply won’t be.
We have a very significant set of problems which everyone knows about; undertraining, inadequate education, over-consumption, and low productivity compared to Germany and America. These are widely spread national phenomenon so I refuse to pick out something that will work as a headline as it gives a very misleading impression.
Where would you say the UK economy is, in terms of growth, at the moment?
Green shoots
Do you think the British government is moving in the right direction with the economy and what would you focus on growth–wise in the next year if you were still in the Cabinet?
Well, I think it is still moving in the right direction. I buy the argument that we inherited the problems from the last government; that there is no money left and that we have to try to restore financial balance which the government is doing. It is a long-term, painful process but it is necessary. I had eighty-nine recommendations in my report, and since I delivered it many more have come to light which I couldn’t deal with. We need an overall national growth strategy which applies comprehensively across the many aspects of our economy.
There has been a lot of talk about certain British industries being revitalised as key British export sectors, such as the fashion and car industries. Do you think the phrase “Made in Britain” has a strong selling power overseas, and if so do you think government bodies and trade associations are doing enough todo justice to it?
I don’t think the name “Made in Britain” sells. It is quality of product and price that sell. Thinking that you can produce non-competitive products under the guise of the flag is misleading and dangerous. Do I think that small businesses are as effectively organised as they are overseas? No I don’t, and I think it is a weakness in our performance that we do not have sufficiently effective trade associations – we have over 3,600 of them which is far too many – and we do not have a locally based place base representation of the private sector which other advanced economies do.
Many people know you as a politician but you have a very successful career in business as publisher. After carrying out your report on growth and re-generating British cities, if you were a young twenty-something today would there be a particular sector you would go into and if so why would that sector be particularly attractive to you?
Once again, I can’t narrow down to one sector or guide someone because everyone is individual. You have to know what your interests are, what your skills are and above all what you like. My advice to people is to tell them to think about their life and what they want it to look like. People should ask themselves: ‘Do I look forward to Monday morning?’. If you can find a career where the answers are positive then go for it because the idea of spending most of one’s life in a career that bores you seems to me like a pretty unattractive way of spending one’s life. Fulfilling yourself and hopefully achieving satisfaction in doing it would be very high on my list. You can’t turn it into specifics.
Publishing has seen very many changes over the last decade with the growth of technology. Do you think publishing is a growing industry going through substantial change or a declining industry due to less demand for print?
Significant areas of print are obviously subject to the technological revolution. It varies from sector to sector and company to company but there is a migration to the web and electronic communication.
The message is exactly as it was when I went into publishing fifty years ago – the quality of the product is what matters and serving your market with what the audience wants to the best of your ability is the purpose you have to put your mind to.
Is it a growth industry? It is an exponential industry: you only have to think of what is happening with the web and mobiles and all the processes available for disseminating information to realise that we have only just begun to scrape the surface. When you realise that there are 7 billion people out there collectively growing 3% wealthier per year, you understand that the additional annual wealth creation, the explosion of education and the elimination of poverty at a faster rate than ever in history adds up to the most extraordinary potential opportunity.
Some people say it is harder to start your business today and get your money on the property ladder. Would you dispute this?
There is far more money around than there ever was then. For women in the 50s it was far more different to get a job other than as a secretary – now there are huge professional opportunities, and quite rightly so. You only have to look at the statistics through the professions to see the rate at which women are catching up on the gender gap.
You only have to look at the number of small companies that have started up this year – huge numbers! In the last 25 years the creation of small businesses has been one of the most exciting aspects of economic development.
You are known for your love of trees; what is it about trees that you love and do you have mainly plant British species or imports?
There are very few British species, so of course a huge proportion are imported from different parts of the world and we import from seed and grow them over here. That has been the case for many years, particularly the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I was fascinated by gardening from the earliest days I can remember. When I first went to school, the head teacher gave every new boy a square yard of mud and a packet of Virginia stock seeds and I methodically covered my square yard with seeds and a month later I had a wonderful blaze of colour and I have been a gardener ever since!
You are eighty years old and you haven’t shown the slightest signs of quietening down, the question is what next?
[Laughs] I haven’t got the first idea!
Interview: Harry Jarman | Words: Emma Corbett
This article was originally published in the Winter 2012 issue of The Gentleman’s Journal. To subscribe to the print edition of the Gentleman’s Journal go to thegentlemansjournal.com/subscribe.
