Do MPs get ridiculous money? I don’t think so, says Tory bigwig Norman Fowler

Norman, Lord Fowler was Health Secretary from 1981 to 1987, during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, and famously approved a series of hard-hitting advertisements about the dangers of Aids, writes York Membery.

He was a Conservative MP for 31 years, was party chairman from 1992 to 1994 and chairman of the House of Lords from 2016 to 2021.

After graduating from Cambridge, he worked as a journalist for the Oxford Mail and then for The Times before becoming an MP.

Dad-of-three Fowler, 86, who has just published his diaries, and his second wife Fiona split their time between London and the Isle of Wight.

What did your parents teach you about money?

I was an only child and grew up in Essex. My engineer father Norman, who died at 63, and my teacher mother Kitty, who lived to be 92, moved south in the 1930s in search of work.

They were both careful and careful with money and placed great importance on qualifications, although the pre-World War II Essex County Council had an outrageous rule that forced married women like my mother to give up their jobs if their husbands were also working.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

I’ve never really been on the edge financially, but there have been times when money has been tight. After being selected as Conservative PPC for Nottingham South in the late 1960s, I continued to work as a journalist in London.

I had to rent a cottage in Nottingham and travel there a lot, luckily my efforts paid off and I was elected MP in 1970.

Have you ever been given stupid money?

No. Do MPs get ridiculous money? I don’t think so, I think they work hard for their money, and in my time they worked even harder. I have been paid to give the occasional speech, but no one offered to pay me a large amount of money for it. Some politicians make ridiculous money after leaving parliament, but some jobs can conflict with political views.

What was the best year of your financial life?

Probably in 1991 or 1992, when I was an MP and became chairman of a newspaper group in the West Midlands (publishers of the Birmingham Post), which later went public and made me a fair amount of money. That was the first time I didn’t have an overdraft.

The most expensive thing you bought for fun?

The safaris I took in the 2000s with my wife Fiona, and Ken Clarke and Leon Brittan and their wives, three or four years in a row to Kenya and other parts of Africa – it was like the Conservative Party was maneuvering.

Each trip cost a five-figure sum, but they were great vacations and we saw some amazing wildlife. I remember Ken Clarke – a great bird lover – once saying: ‘Forget the hippos, look at those beautiful birds over there!’

What is your biggest money mistake?

It’s a toss-up between buying an open-top Jag and accepting to become chairman of the Conservative Party.

My wife refused to drive and my grandchildren couldn’t fit in the back. I refused to take a salary as Tory leader because the party was going bankrupt. For the next two years I worked with John Major to restore its finances, at the expense of my own. I also doubt my book will make me much money, but I enjoyed writing it.

Game driver: Former Tory party chairman Norman Fowler with his Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher

Best money decision you’ve made?

I bought a flat on the Isle of Wight in the mid-1980s because I couldn’t afford to take my wife and children to France for the school holidays. I initially got a two bedroom ground floor apartment in Seaview for £30,000. We have since sold it and bought a house and we go there for a few months every summer.

Do you have a pension?

I receive a parliamentary and ministerial pension, thanks to the years I spent as an MP, a minister and later as Lord Speaker. I also receive the AOW pension.

Own you any property?

Yes, I have a six-bedroom house in Seaview, Isle of Wight, which I bought about ten years ago. My wife owns the flat in Fulham where I live when I’m in London.

If you were Chancellor, what would you do?

I would spend more on defense. The Prime Minister has announced a 2.5 percent increase in GDP by 2030. I think this should be 3 percent as soon as possible, because if we lose Ukraine, we will lose a very big war.

What is your number one financial priority?

Not to run out of money before I die, and so far so good.

• The Best of Enemies: Diaries 1980-1997 by Norman Fowler (Biteback, £25)