Goodbye to Tony Blair. Do you care he's off? Are you ever so slightly tinged with sadness? Thought not. I can't believe there's talk of him becoming a middle east peace envoy. They hate him there. More than they do here. What a silly idea.
But what's an ex-PM to do once the door at Number 10 closes behind them? It's not like you can go and run a country pub or a bar in Spain, or retire to a little bungalow on the English riviera. You have to do stuff and be someone, while not being anyone. That said, Thatcher just faded away didn't she. And now she looks so old and doddery it's astonishing to think she once ran the country.
What will Gordon Brown be like? I wonder if he's on Facebook? Everyone else is.
I went to Number 10 once. Nothing official, but I had a friend who worked in the press office, who took me, Mrs F-C (ms F-C at the time) and two other friends, one of whom died shortly after in Croatia. He was a journalist and on his last day there the crew he was with decided to check out the smoke coming from a village. A sniper got him in the neck and he died almost at once. He was only 29.
So , it was a wet Saturday in 1994 and the place was empty. The Majors were in, but out that day. It's an amazing place to go to. Goes back miles and has a ballroom, priceless art collections (Bridget Riley is the only one I can recall now), interesting bits and pieces from all over the world and beyond. We went everywhere, the cabinet room, the living room, up that staircase with pictures of all the old PMs on it, and through to number 11 too. We even went to the Mrs T-designed bathroom with the nasty Hollywood style mirror and shagpile carpet. The only thing out of bounds was the Majors' flatlet. But it looked shabby so we weren't missing much.
Do you remember when you just walk up Downing Street and stand outside the house. I do very vaguely, so not that long ago really.
So if nothing else, at least it'll be an interesting place to live. Or is it that he lives there already after swapping with the Blairs who wanted the roomier 11? Perhaps he can't wait to leave. Who fancies a snap election?
