An interview with… Glenda Jackson MP

Labour MP Glenda Jackson, a former Oscar winning actress, has recently announced her decision to retire before the next general election, by which time she will be almost 80. She ignited controversy recently in her House of Commons’ attack on Thatcher’s premiership. The Boar spoke to her before her announcement.

One of students’ main concerns at the moment, obviously, is the increase in tuition fees.

“Why? The idea that we can just bump along hoping that people will find an education is ludicrous.  It has to be paid for!”

“You have no problem taking on the possibility of a mortgage at some point, you benefit from further and higher education, it has to be acknowledged for that to be possible it has to be properly funded. I think that students should start looking at the fees…as an investment in their future rather than debt.”

Ed Miliband has said that if Labour were in power he would stop fees at £6,000… “Really?”

Do you not agree with that? “I’d like to see the bottom line.”

If critics of the fees suggested that the drop in applications to universities shows the new fees promote social inequality, what would you say to that?

“I’d want to see the evidence, but as someone from a working class background, I find it inordinately patronising this argument that people who come from working class backgrounds are incapable of balancing the economics of their lives. We are not. Those who have nothing don’t have any expenses. This is a middle class concern.”

I wonder if you can share some of your views on the Leveson inquiry?

“There are issues which I personally find very concerning, not least the failure of the police. The whole issue of a too cosy, too close working between political parties and the press– who’s surprised at that?” she demands.

Tom Watson said it was weak political leadership that caused Murdoch to have so much power.

“That may well be the case, but whose weak leadership? How long had it been going on for?”

Speaking of leadership, you were very vocal on your views about Tony Blair’s leadership during his stay in office. “Well post the Iraq war, yes. My view on him changed dramatically after that debacle.”

What do you think of the current leader of the party?

“I voted for Ed. I think it’s an extremely difficult position to be in as the new leader of an opposition party at a time when the economy is really the only issue… But I don’t regard the party as being anything other than united. I think there are serious discussions going on about precisely what does a Labour party stands for right now, and that is all to the good.”

What does Labour stand for? “We need to genuinely re-examine.”

What advice would you give young aspiring politicians?

“Join a political party. Obviously I’d like them to join Labour. Unless you want the incredibly difficult and, I would have thought, financially impossible position of being an independent – the self-gratification of irresponsibility.”

It seems odd that she is unwilling to comment further, given politicians’ concerns about a growing disaffection with politics amongst young people.

Have you found it difficult being a woman in Parliament?

“Yes – of course – but you know no different to women in any other profession. When I first came in people said to me, ‘you know, you’re going into a version of a workingmen’s club’. I said, ‘I know but I’m a woman, it’s been like that all my life.’

“It’s got better here, by virtue of the fact that there are more of us, and I think we have seen change. But we’ve still got a long way to go.”

You had quite an unusual route into parliament. Do you still take an interest in film and cinema?

“No I don’t! Because we work anti-social hours here. But I mean one of the great pluses of being in the theatre, is that you work very, very intensely and very closely with people for a comparatively short space of time… I mean I was at Ken Russell’s funeral a while ago and there was the camera guy who I’d worked with on several films. Hadn’t seen him for 20 years, [but] it was as though we’d just walked out of the room.”

In recent years, there’s always been a wide discussion about the weight of models, but there’s also a lot of pressure on actors and particularly actresses to maintain a certain weight. I was watching A Touch of Class recently (Glenda’s starring role landed her an Oscar) and you looked very, very thin.  “Well I was five months pregnant, so your eyesight can’t be very good”.

Pointing out to Ms Jackson that I am not talking about Women in Love, would require more courage than I possess just now. Did you feel any pressures to be a certain weight? “Never.”

You’ve mentioned pregnancy, you were five months pregnant by the time shooting for Women in Love finished, going back to equal rights and difficulties faced by women, did you feel nervous about your acting career when you were pregnant?

“Yes, I was nervous… I discovered that I was pregnant on the film; they could have fired me. That was the price worth paying for me, babies are a lot more important than films.”

Which medium did you prefer when you were acting?

“Oh well the best of course is radio, because you don’t have to wear any make up, and you don’t have to put costumes on, you don’t even always have to learn the lines, so if you’ve got a good script it’s wonderful.”

Do you miss acting? “No, I do miss the people. Actors are very brave.”

You could say that about politicians too? “No. But they [actors] are; they’re very brave, they’re funny, generous.”

Provoked by “history being rewritten”, Jackson’s forthright epithet for the former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, “not a woman on my terms” reminds us that the Commons will soon bid farewell to another politician, who certainly expected to be taken on her own terms. According to the Guardian, a reporter, before the last election, “bravely – or stupidly” enquired if she was not too old to be standing.

Ready to leave the world of Westminster behind, she remains a tough interviewee, not only challenging my right to ask questions on behalf of students but indeed shouting at me throughout, for which she apologised afterwards.