Justification by faith
"HE LIED AND lied and lied" screamed the Guardian newspaper after he was sentenced to 18 months for perjury and perverting the course of justice. But the Jonathan Aitken who spoke to the Oxford Student on Tuesday seemed a changed man, mellowed by years and humbled by the events that shattered his political career. Even before his final downfall, he had a colourful past, from 'reviewing' LSD for the Evening Standard the day before it was banned ("I had a bad trip") to having a fling with Margaret Thatcher's daughter (no comment). Aitken was tipped as a possible future prime minister, yet today quips that "the world is absolutely full of ex-future prime ministers". He now has a renewed faith in Christianity and is presently studying Theology at Wycliffe Hall.
Aitken was keen to focus on political issues and tried to play down questions on his criminal past or the libel accusation he brought against The Guardian in 1997. Deeply critical of Blair's government, he spoke out against Labour parliamentary reforms which he saw as destructive to democracy. His Conservative sympathies obviously remained, despite insisiting: "I feel I'm a non- political person these days... I honestly can't see myself back in politics again". He denied the Tories were redundant - "Britain needs a good strong opposition just as it needs a good strong government" - and praised William Hague as a "parliamentarian performer", predicting the present Labour majority would be halved in the forthcoming general election.
Aitken then spoke reluctantly of his time in jail, describing the misery, drugs and illiteracy problems: illiterate inmates would apparently come to his cell to have him read their letters to them. He questioned the present prison system and instead declared himself in favour of other measures such as electronic tagging for offenders. Having been tagged for two months himself, he joked that the associated 7pm curfew had no effect on him, a "sedentary old man".
He appeared repentent about his past actions. When asked how he would have handled situations differently given the chance, he replied quite simply: "I would not have sued for libel".
Aitken's much commented-upon Christian convictions were also apparent. Supportive of religious schools - "Religion is absolutely essential to upbringing and education" - he compared the "materialism" of modern students to the idealistic principles of Oxford students in the 1960s - "When I was here, students felt passionately about idealistic issues: nuclear disarmament, the Vietnam war, Apartheid, the environment... now when I go to student dinner parties the conversation is about who is going to get a 30,000 a year starting salary". Surprisingly however, he found twenty-first century Oxford students more hardworking than their 1960s counterparts, commenting on their "seriousness and dedication". He continued: " I don't think I ever got an essay in on time when I was studying law in 1961."
Asked whether he thought religious people could survive in politics, he responded: " The temptations of pride in particular are very great, but not so great they can't be defeated" and called the British government "remarkably corruption free", keen to point out that recent incidents of corruption such as his and Peter Mandelson's are "small compared to what you read about in the rest of the world". He displayed a mixed attitude to the press who ruined his career - they "sometimes exaggerate and distort", but "politicians who don't like the press are like sea- captains who don't like the sea. It's a rough old sea out there".
Aitken was aware of his bad public image but seemed confident in his new approach, though unsure of the future - "I genuinely don't know what I am going to do when I leave Oxford". Unpeturbed by cynical accusations that his new found faith is a public image stunt designed to win him sympathy, he piously commented: "At the end of the day, there is an audience of one for that... it is between God and me. Other people's opinions are of no interest to me."
17th May 2001