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Sat 1 Nov 2008, 15:53

I Had That Geoffrey Howe in the Back of My Cab Once

Or more exactly we shared a long wait on Platform 2 at Oxford Station last night. I don't know what it is about me and key figures of the Conservative Party, but I seem to be crossing their paths more frequently these days.

We were thrust into that fleeting comradery so often shared by stranded rail travelers waiting for trains that never appear, deciphering the hieroglyphs of ever changing and yet ever conflicting train schedule monitors.

He was trying to get the FGW to Banbury; and I the 19.39 back to Charlbury. Needless to say the monitors were in chaos, the announcements began to assume the logic of a Lewis Carrol poem and the poor Conservative stalwart was reduced to asking me and my friend for advice on which platform (2 or 3) was most likely to have the least late running train to his destination.

I actually thought that the train staff might want to know that so distinguished a traveler was falling subject the same level of confusion that the rest of us have put up with so frequently over the years. I thought surely he would receive some special escort or at least an attentive apology.

To be fair the member of FGW staff did register who I was talking about, but there plainly wasn't much they could do.

I returned to limbo and the company of Geoffrey Howe.

Fortunately, I had no daughter to meet at that hour and my family were in London so I was able to pass the time interrogating the right honourable Mr. Howe on the legacy of his party's time in power and especially the privatisation of the rail network they had overseen and that had so pointedly led to the situation we had now found ourselves at that moment in time.

Extremely politely, of course.

My friend was not so amused at passing the time this way as he wanted to get home to his wife and family as quickly as he could, oh selfish he!

But I was under no such pressure and pursued my line of enquiry with he right honourable gentleman as politely as I could, even volunteering to leave him alone if he preferred his privacy to my questions.

To his credit, he engaged me fully in intelligent conversation, admitting that perhaps his party had been a little overzealous in its economic policies and pointing out himself that there was no other country in Europe or indeed the world who had disassembled their national rail into competing companies, with such obviously disasterous results.

I reminded myself that he was indeed the Conservative who was instrumental in Lady Thatcher's political demise.

I found that he made as much sense last night as he did at the time of more consequential actions.

It was great to hear an intelligent politician admit that his party had made a mistake, albeit a disasterous one for us rail users.

Eventually our trains did arrive almost as if by their own volition, his a mere 40 minutes late and mine and my friend's about an hour later.

I would claim a refund but then I think I could be rightfully charged by the Conservative Party for supplying such a stimulating platform conversation to pass the time. It beats the Cappuccino stand by a mile!