Lord Heseltine: My GREEN industrial revolution can revive Britain

Michael Heseltine has never been a ‘clubbable Tory’. To his lasting regret, he missed out on achieving the top job in British politics that he coveted so much. 

At 90 years of age he still cuts a dash. He is tall and trim. His leonine, once golden mane is now snowy white, but still stylishly swept back.

Shrewsbury and Oxford educated Heseltine is under no illusions that he is not everyone’s cup of tea. He says: ‘I have always been a controversial figure, I have views and I have expressed them.’

Cutting a dash: Lord Heseltine at his home in London’s Belgravia

Heseltine was seen by many as Margaret Thatcher’s successor when she left Downing Street in 1990, but he lost to John Major in the Tory leadership contest. However, he went on to serve as his Deputy Prime Minister.

He is honest about missing out, but perhaps there is a tinge of regret that he didn’t ‘play the game’ in the Commons bars and tea rooms. ‘I was never in the tea rooms,’ he says. ‘I was seen as a divisive character.’

Called back by David Cameron in 2010, the ardent Remainer then spectacularly fell out with the party over Brexit. He had the whip suspended in 2019 after saying he would back the Liberal Democrats in European elections.

At his age, the multi-millionaire publishing entrepreneur is as fiery as ever.

He believes the adults are back in charge under Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt after the Liz Truss interlude, adding that there is much to be done to show the voting public that the Tories should still be in power after 13 years in government.

‘Anybody who thinks this is a perfect business environment is wrong,’ he says. ‘But we’ve always had the talent. It’s a great country.’

The economic environment is showing some signs of improvement. Sunak looks set to hit his inflation target of 5 per cent by the end of the year and the economy is growing faster than rivals Germany and Italy.

‘I think there’s one more interest rate hike down the line,’ he says.

He lists a host of problems that need to be overcome, starting with the banks.

In his long career he has been a passionate champion of many causes. The latest of these is the Daily Mail’s campaign to get the banks to pass on better savings rates to their customers now that interest rates are sky high. This is an issue that particularly affects many older voters.

‘It’s a scandal,’ he says. ‘It is really serious. Those with loans are paying significant sums of money and those with cash balances are getting derisory sums. Those with deposits deserve a fair crack of the whip.’

Chancellor Hunt has called the banks to Downing Street to address the problem, while in Italy prime minister Giorgia Meloni has gone a step further and introduced a windfall tax on lenders.

Power couple: Heseltine was seen by some as Thatcher’s successor

When it comes to Sunak’s plans to deregulate the City – Big Bang 2.0 – Hezza urges caution. The financial crisis in 2008 wreaked havoc and much of the regulation put in place after the event is viewed by many as essential.

The original Big Bang took place in the 1980s under Thatcher.

‘What she did was let the foreigners in to a gentleman’s club and the City transformed,’ Heseltine says. ‘But remember, regulation is the difference between the jungle and civilisation.’

Sitting back in his armchair in London’s posh Belgravia district, surrounded by antiques and sumptuous cream carpets, Heseltine is almost regal as he rattles through 60 years of modern British political history. As well as his London home, he owns Thenford House in Northamptonshire – a sprawling country manor.

His wife Anne pops in and out with coffee, tea and biscuits. She takes to sitting on the sofa opposite us reading through newspapers while we chat, keeping a discreet eye on the proceedings.

On the current high tax environment, Heseltine says he feels the pain of the nation’s entrepreneurs. Unlike most politicians he has first-hand experience.

The corporate tax rate currently stands at 25 per cent, its highest level for more than ten years.

He started Haymarket – owner of What Car, Management Today and AI Week – in 1957, turning it into a publishing triumph. Last year, the company – where his son Rupert is now chairman – posted revenues of £165.9 million and a profit of £11.2 million.

‘It’s never easy running a small business, but it’s always fun,’ Heseltine says as his eyes light up. ‘Tax is a bore but you have to pay it.’

He says tax cuts are not possible given the high spending that took place during the pandemic. ‘Cutting taxes is politically popular, but there’s huge government debt after Covid.’

We touch on Brexit. It is no secret it is anathema to him. ‘The single market is historically perhaps one of the most extraordinary successful concepts ever developed by humankind,’ he says.

But his abiding passion is the need for Britain to create a credible industrial strategy.

He fervently believes the state and business need to come together so that the UK can get ahead on green technology and develop the industries of the future – including hydrogen and battery plants.

‘We need a public private partnership,’ he says. ‘Anybody who thinks we can leave it to the market is talking nonsense.’ He points to America’s Inflation Reduction Act, which he says is transforming the world’s largest economy.

He also wants to see more power devolved to the regions so they can take control of their own individual strategies. ‘It’s up to Manchester and Liverpool to devise their own plans,’ he says. ‘But they need stirring up.’

He believes the UK should stop selling off all of its best and most valuable companies to foreign buyers in order to keep jobs and innovation in Britain. He says the Government should have the power to veto takeovers if necessary.

In recent years defence giants Cobham and Ultra have been sold to private equity – something he insists would never have happened while he was Minister for Defence.

It is unsurprising that he is so passionate about using business to solve some of Britain’s social issues. In the 1980s he was the driving force behind the early development of Canary Wharf and the rejuvenation of Liverpool.

More recently, he wrote a landmark report on restoring economic growth to Teesside in the wake of the steel closure of 2015 that led to an ambitious scheme bringing thousands of jobs in green energy to the former steelworks site.

He says he wants to see his legacy carried on, adding that the Conservatives should do more on levelling up in order to hold on to the Red Wall seats won at the 2019 General Election.

‘It’s been much too slow,’ he says. ‘There is no momentum behind the process at the moment.’

But the One Nation Tory remains optimistic. ‘Virtually every major rejuvenation innovation in this country has been led by the Conservatives,’ he says. ‘All the initiatives I know have been led by Tories.’ He says Mayors Ben Houchen in Tees Valley and Andy Street in the West Midlands are good examples of those carrying on this Tory tradition.

Time flies and the hour he has allocated me in his busy diary is gone in a blink. And with that Anne whisks the grandee off to lunch. He may be in his tenth decade, but Hezza has no desire to slow down.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk