09/07/2019
The former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Sir John Major, gave a rare indepth interview at the weekend to the BBC Parliament Channel's “Hard Talk” series. Sir John was Prime Minister between November 1990 after the Conservative Party leader Mrs Thatcher was toppled by her own Party, and May 1997, when the Tories were wiped out by the reforming landslide which saw the Labour Party returned to power with the largest Parliamentary majority in over one hundred years. Sir John was the first British Prime Minister to meet with gay activists, when Sir Ian McKellen representing the Stonewall Group, went to ten Downing Street to meet with the PM in 1991. This action split the gay movement of the day, with the more radical groups such as OutRage! Expressing cynicism at the meeting, and the anarchist led Homocult group producing a flyposter condemning the meeting, which appeared across gay villages in the UK. However, with the benefit of thirty years hindsight, the meeting was an important first step in laying the foundations for future discussions between the LGBT communities and the government, whatever Party was in power. Sir John Major spoke to the BBC Parliament Channel about his time in power, and the challenges facing the United Kingdom in an age of Brexit. Sir John is a firm supporter of the European Union and he argued that the EU has guaranteed peace and prosperity for the last sixty years. Without it, he fears Europe could descend into trade wars, high customs tarrifss, protectionist economics and abuse of human rights.
