There were several bursts of applause during my speech, some lasting for up to half a minute, and at the end I sat down to cheers and a standing ovation. The last part of the speech really got them going. I think I might have a future as a major demagogue.
[The original typescript of the speech has been lost, so we cannot publish it in full. However, we can reproduce a transcript of the last section of it -- taken from the BBC Nine OClock News recording. Audience reaction is marked Ed.]
BBCTV
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
The attached transcript was typed from a recording and not copied from an original script. Because of the risk of mishearing the BBC cannot vouch for its complete accuracy.
NINE-OCLOCK NEWS NEWSNIGHT
TRANSMISSION: JANUARY 13th
ACTUALITY:
THE RT HON. JAMES HACKER MP: Im a good European. I believe in Europe. I believe in the European ideal! Never again shall we repeat the bloodshed of two World Wars. Europe is here to stay.
But, this does not mean that we have to bow the knee to every directive from every bureaucratic Bonaparte in Brussels. We are a sovereign nation still and proud of it.
(APPLAUSE)
We have made enough concessions to the European Commissar for agriculture. And when I say Commissar, I use the word advisedly. We have swallowed the wine lake, we have swallowed the butter mountain, we have watched our French friends beating up British lorry drivers carrying good British lamb to the French public.
We have bowed and scraped, doffed our caps, tugged our forelocks and turned the other cheek. But I say enough is enough! (PROLONGED APPLAUSE)
The Europeans have gone too far. They are now threatening the British sausage. They want to standardise it -- by which they mean theyll force the British people to eat salami and bratwurst and other garlic-ridden greasy foods that are TOTALLY ALIEN to the British way of life.
(CRIES OF HEAR HEAR, RIGHT ON, and YOU TELL EM, JIM)
Do you want to eat salami for breakfast with your egg and bacon? I dont. And I wont! (MASSIVE APPLAUSE)
Theyve turned our pints into litres and our yards into metres, we gave up the tanner and the threepenny bit, the two bob and half crown. But they cannot and will not destroy the British sausage! (APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)
Not while Im here. (TUMULTUOUS APPLAUSE)
In the words of Martin Luther: Here I stand. I can do no other. (HACKER SITS DOWN. SHOT OF LARGE CROWD RISING TO ITS FEET IN APPRECIATION)
[The following day Hacker was interviewed by Ludovic Kennedy, the well-known television interviewer. We have been fortunate in obtaining the complete transcript from BBC Television, and reproduce it below Ed.]
BBCTV
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
The attached transcript was typed from a recording and not copied from an original script. Because of the risk of mishearing the BBC cannot vouch for its complete accuracy.
TRANSMISSION: JANUARY 14th
ACTUALITY:
KENNEDY: Your speech was strong stuff, Mr. Hacker.
HACKER: Well, its something I feel very strongly about. In fact, I sometimes wonder whether you media people really appreciate how strongly the rest of us feel about our country and our way of life. We love it and were proud of it.
KENNEDY: So youre at odds with Government policy over the EEC?
HACKER: Im very happy with Government policy, Sir Ludovic. Sorry. Mr. Kennedy. It has never been Government policy to abolish the British sausage. Sausages are not just good to eat, you know. Theyre full of top-quality nutrition.
KENNEDY: Brussels has denied ever wanting to abolish the British sausage.
HACKER: Well, they would, wouldnt they? They know what theyre up against. They know the strength of British public opinion.
KENNEDY: Minister, your speech certainly got a lot of coverage and a lot of praise. Was there any significance in its timing?
HACKER: What do you mean?
KENNEDY: With your Party looking for a new leader. After all, your name has been mentioned by a few people.
HACKER: Quite a lot of people, actually, but no. Absolutely not. I have no ambitions in that direction.
KENNEDY: You mean, you wouldnt let your name go forward?
HACKER: Well, Ludo all Ive ever wanted to do is serve my country. Ive never sought office. But I suppose that if my colleagues were to persuade me that the best place to serve it from was Ten Downing Street, then I might reluctantly have to accept the responsibility, whatever my own private wishes might be.
KENNEDY: So, if youre not in the running, who will you be voting for?
HACKER: Well, of course, its too early to say. But what I will say is that I see this as a time for healing. A time to stress what we agree about, not what we disagree about. We need to see the good things in our opponents, not to keep looking for their faults. Theres good in everyone, you know.
KENNEDY: Except the French.
HACKER: Except the Fre No, even the French.
[Hackers diary continues Ed.]
January 18th
Ive been too anxious to do anything these past three days. Even making notes for the diary was too great a strain. But today I made it! Im it! Im in! I did it! I got it! I won!
Ill try to recount the last events of the leadership campaign in a coherent manner.
The committee held the annual meeting today. The ad hoc party leadership committee, that is. Eric and Duncan withdrew after the success of my speech put me unexpectedly at the front of the race. Of course, rather than vote for each other, they now both promised to put their weight behind me. As Ive got them both by the balls, this was no surprise to me, though it impressed everyone else no end!
So today the only issue was whether or not the Parliamentary Party was going to put up another candidate to oppose me. If so, we would have had to call an election.
I called both Eric and Duncan this morning, to check that they were supporting me. They were both slightly equivocal. It was still possible for them to withdraw and support someone else. In which case Id probably have won the election, but the agony would have been prolonged by another two or three weeks -- and who knows what might have happened in that time? If a week is a long time in politics, three weeks is an eternity.
Then I went to Humphreys office and we waited, all through lunch, Humphrey and me. Would the phone never ring? There were two phones on his desk. I asked him which one theyd ring on.
This one, probably, he replied. Then, after a moments thought: Or this one. Either, really.
I was none the wiser. Even that information was denied me. I told Humphrey that Id just sit and relax. As I sat his intercom buzzed, sending me three feet into the air. Bernard had arrived.
Minister, he told me reverently, the Palace has been on the phone.
The Palace?
Theyre checking with all the possible candidates, to see if theyd be free to kiss hands at five oclock. [The formal expression of allegiance to the Sovereign by a newly appointed Prime Minister Ed.] Thats only in the event of an unopposed recommendation, of course.
I told Bernard that I thought I could probably make time for it.
We sat and waited. And then I made a spontaneous and generous suggestion which I think I regret already. I asked Bernard to be my Principal Private Secretary at Number Ten, should I become PM.