'He didn't have a cat in hell's chance'

In the first of three exclusive extracts, Keith Proud tells how Blair came to be MP for Sedgefield.

WHEN Margaret Thatcher called the 1983 General Election on the back of the Falklands War, there was only one seat in the country that had yet to select a Labour Party candidate.

It was Sedgefield, newly-formed and vacant because County Durham's sitting Labour MPs had performed a last-minute game of musical chairs.

John Burton was idly wondering whether he might stand himself. He'd been born in Trimdon, had gone to school in Wingate and to college in Durham City. He'd scored goals on every playing field across the constituency - his 75 in a season remain a record in the Wearside League - and now he was playing with his folk band Skerne in many of the clubs.

He was a local teacher, a local councillor and secretary of his local Labour Party.

As Neil Kinnock says in Burton's new autobiography: "Given a slight twist of fate, a little more ambition and a little less generosity, a respected, articulate local teacher aged 43 might just have thought of securing the Sedgefield Parliamentary candidature for himself.

"But then, not everyone's talent-spotting extends to sponsoring a future Prime Minister."

Because a young barrister from London had also spotted Sedgefield's vacancy. He knew the area, as his family had moved to nearby Durham City in 1958 when he was five. He knew also that his time was running out. He had a deal with his wife, Cherie, that whichever of them reached Parliament first would pursue the political career with the other taking more of a back seat. He had had his chance, being defeated in a by-election in Beaconsfield, and now Cherie was contesting a seat in Kent. It was now or never.

He was staying with a friend in Shincliffe, just outside Durham, trying to find which branches of the Sedgefield party had yet to nominate a candidate.

One of the very last was Trimdon, but the young London barrister had been having trouble getting through to the secretary, John Burton. Eventually, he tried an 0429 code instead of the 0740 and the phone rang. "It was like music," he recalls. "It sounded great. All I needed then was for someone friendly to pick it up."

It was the morning of May 10, less than a month before polling day. Burton was in a rush for school, but stopped angrily to answer the phone.

"Hi, I'm Tony Blair," said the voice at the other end. Wearily Burton, who was not enamoured with Labour's 1983 manifesto and had privately decided to concentrate on local affairs rather than national ones, suggested that the caller turn up the following evening at his house when he and some others were putting together a leaflet to thank those who had voted for them in the recent local elections.

For Blair, this meant another day of hanging around. He admits: "I was missing Cherie like mad and just wanted to go home - but there had been something in that guy's voice which insisted that I had to meet him and his colleagues. I borrowed a car and drove to 9 Front Street South, Trimdon Village.

"A man with a shock of greying hair, a moustache and smiling eyes opened the door. This was my first unforgettable meeting with John Burton."

That meeting has become the stuff of legends.

Burton recounts: "A story has gone round that I opened the door to Tony, invited him in and told him to sit down, have a beer and keep quiet until the end of the game of football we were watching or he wouldn't have a hope of gaining the nomination from Trimdon Village."

It was the European Cup Winners' Cup final, Aberdeen versus Real Madrid. Burton protests: "I never said any such thing!"

Present with John and Lily Burton were Peter Brookes, Simon Hoban, Paul Trippett and Terry Ward. The drama of the match drew them in, and it wasn't until the extra time had ended and the Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson had picked up his first European trophy that thoughts turned to politics.

After a brief consultation, the five told Blair they would nominate him. And then Burton warned him: "The one thing you need to understand, is that we're really going to try hard to get you in."

Says Burton: "On the cards, he didn't have the remotest cat in hell's chance of becoming the prospective Labour candidate for the Sedgefield constituency. Everything was stacked against him."

Before Blair left that evening, the wheels were already in motion to engineer his selection. Trippett took a holiday to show Blair the patch; Brookes loaned Blair his car and Burton got the names of the delegates who would be at the selection meeting so that they could go round and talk to them all. Phil Wilson also became involved.

Blair took up John and Lily's invitation to move in with them and their children. A special branch meeting was called for May 14.

"Tony arrived along with other hopefuls including Hilary Armstrong, Frank Robson, David Taylor Gooby and 'the favourite' Les Huckfield," says Burton. "All of them wanted our nomination but it went to Tony."

Getting a nomination was the easy bit. Next, Burton had to persuade the Constituency Labour Party Executive to put Blair on the shortlist. "Some of the executive members were politically to the far left and were supporting the former Nuneaton MP Les Huckfield. Their object was to manipulate the shortlist so that it would be easy for him to win."

The executive met in Spennymoor Town Hall on May 18. It had before it Blair's CV which had been so hastily typed he was called "Tony Glair". The executive refused to add Blair's name to the shortlist of six - and ordered its members to vote against any further additions.

The following night, at a constituency party meeting to ratify the shortlist, Burton realised there was disenchantment among ordinary party members at having a shortlist imposed them.

He stood up and said: "Mr Chairman, I propose that Tony Blair be added. I have here a letter from Michael Foot stating that he would like him in the House of Commons as soon as possible."

Another delegate argued that everyone who stood unsuccessfully for Parliament received such a letter. Burton to extended his argument. "The wording in this letter acknowledges the help Tony has given Mr Foot with speech writing."

The matter was put to the vote. The head teller Bill Waters counted up and gave the result to the party chairman, former Durham County Council leader George Terrans. The number for adding Blair to the shortlist was 42, the number against was 41.

"Actually," Burton smiles, "Bill came up to me after the meeting and explained that all three tellers had come up with different figures - 42 for Blair, 41 against, 41 for and 41 against, and 41 for with 40 against. Waters had reasoned that because there had been two in Blair's favour and one draw then that preference should be communicated to Terrans."

A left-wing delegate demanded a recount. Terrans refused. Some of the executive members, despite having been firmly instructed to block any additions, had given their votes to Blair.

Burton drove back to the Red Lion at Trimdon and as he walked in, Lily, Blair, Wilson, Trippett, Brookes and his wife Christine all fell silent. Burton looked despondent. "You wouldn't believe it," he said. "They added just one solitary name to the list." He paused.

"And that name was Tony Blair."

With the election less than three weeks away, the meeting to select the candidate from the shortlist was held the following night in Spennymoor Town Hall. All the candidates spoke in turn. Blair performed well and Burton lay in wait for Huckfield. His tactic was to link Huckfield with the far-left Militant group.

The vote went to five rounds. In the end, Huckfield had 46 supporters while Blair romped home with 73. Blair also romped home on election day, June 9, winning the seat with an 8,281 majority.

Remembers Burton: "It was while I was driving him back from the count that Tony said to me: 'I'll only say this once; I'll never, ever be able to repay you for what you've done.'

"He's never mentioned it since, and I've never wanted him to."

Taken from The Grit in the Oyster: The Biography of John Burton by Keith Proud which The Northern Echo is publishing this week.

The night Tony Blair became Prime Minister. See tomorrow's Northern Echo.