Keith Joseph was one of the quirkiest people Mary Kenny ever interviewed
It’s 30 years since Keith Joseph died – on 10th December 1994, aged 76.I’m glad to note he’s been included in Vernon Bogdanor’s recent book about six of the most consequential modern British politicians.Joseph, aka ‘the Mad Monk’, had a formative influence on Margaret Thatcher. He was one of the quirkiest people I ever interviewed in the course of my journalistic life.His political career effectively came to an end when he made a speech criticising poor people for embarking on parenthood – ‘children born to mothers least fitted to bring children into the world’.I told him I disagreed with this: poor people should be supported in becoming parents. He had had to apologise profusely for this ill-judged speech, and he did so again, quite humbly.You see, I believe in embourgeoisement,’ he explained. He believed in encouraging respectability and self-improvement, as the route out of poverty. He then spoke nostalgically about...
I’m afraid this isn’t one of our four free articles available in full, which are set out in the first two rows of the ‘Magazine’ page.
Please click here to find them.
To buy a digital version of this issue for just £2.99, click here
