John Grady MP: I was a pain in the backside at school

What’s your earliest memory? Probably my first day at school. My mum used to work at the school opposite mine and I walked across the playing fields to the other school with one of the older pupils. 

What were you like at school? I was pretty badly behaved. This was my folly in the second half of my school career, as my mum taught at my secondary school. By the time I was 13 I had a very limited respect for authority. My school reports were atrocious. My daughter is making some of her choices with what to do now, and that brought back some memories of my time at school. I remember thinking, well I’m certainly not joining this or that teacher’s class. I wasn’t a well-behaved or studious kid; I was an absolute pain in the backside to teach. 

Who would be your dream dinner date? I’d ask a few people along and just watch them talk really – the conversation amongst them would be more interesting than anything I’d have to say. I’d invite two Scottish artists, Elizabeth Blackadder and Joan Eardley. Joan did an amazing painting in Townhead, which is very close to my seat. It’d be interesting to have Ernest Bevin there, having his view from his era. Then I’d have Hughie Gallagher, he was the Scottish centre-forward of the 1920s and was the last person to captain Newcastle United to the First Division title. He was a son of Bellshill, a proper mineworker’s son. It would be fascinating to have him there and just sit back and listen to the conversations he’d have with everyone else at the table. 

What’s your greatest fear? My greatest fear is needles. I cannot be doing with injections. I got stung on a family holiday as a youngster and my dad took me to the doctors to get some kind of antihistamine jab. My dad, bless him, said, “we need to get him to the doctors – kids can get killed by this stuff”. So, I spent the whole holiday being like “am I going to die?” I suck it up when I go travelling, but I haven’t overcome it.

What’s the worst thing that anyone’s ever said to you? There is a lot of social media abuse, but I tend to ignore it. My tip for life is that it’s very easy to focus on the worst things that people say to you and much harder to accept the compliments. In my life as a Labour person, doing doorknocking since I was 16, I’ve found that the vast majority of people are kind, decent and want a proper conversation. As a lawyer before this, I had to develop a thick skin; it’s not a job for shrinking violets, and neither is being an MP.

What’s your most treasured possession? I’m not a possessions kind of person. But my grandad was a trawlerman in the north of Scotland; after he retired, he made these model boats for all his grandchildren that were hand-carved from wood, so I’ve got one these boats, which is an incredible replica of a kind of Banffshire coast MacDuff trawler. It has always sat at home in the room that I do my work in.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure? I don’t have time for them really. It’s not something I feel guilty about, but I am obsessed with food.

If you could go back in time, where would you go? I’d go back to one of the cup finals where Newcastle won the FA Cup, in 1952 or 1955, and I’d take my dad with me – he was a big Newcastle fan. That’s what got me all into it. I didn’t get to the [League] cup win this year, but I watched it and took a great deal of pleasure from it.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had? I hope I live it. My first job was on a market stall in Bedford, where I was brought up. I worked for these two fellas, Bob and Orb. They sold shoes, and it was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had; I had two cracking mates to work for. In a market you get the whole world represented there, like Only Fools and Horses. Bob and Orb used to always say “it don’t cost nothing to be civil” and I still utilise that phrase with people every day. 

What skill should every person have? When people listen and see the other sides in arguments, that’s a very important skill. Yes, party politics can be quite tribal, and politics is a very serious thing but it’s not Wolves vs West Brom. When I was a lawyer, active listening was very important to build a case or in negotiations between parties. If you go into a negotiation with presumptions about what someone is going to think, you are often proved wrong on those assumptions. What is significant about other people is often what you can’t predict. If you read some of Jonathan Powell’s book on the Northern Ireland peace process, that’s something that comes through strongly in it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard to listen – I’m bloody terrible at it sometimes, as I’m sure my family would tell you.

What’s the worst pain you’ve ever experienced? My mother dying very suddenly many years ago. That would be the most painful emotional thing. But I wouldn’t recommend kidney stones to anyone.

What’s your top film or TV programme of all time? I don’t think anyone would take TV advice from me, and you are about to see why. I would either pick the old Scooby-Doo without Scrappy Doo in it or the first series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

What was your best holiday ever? Taking my kids to Portknockie, which is just north of Cullen. It’s where I used to go as a kid. That’s where my mum was from so I love going there. I remember the tremendous sense of freedom I would feel when my mum kicked me out of the house in the morning and we’d be out by the sea all day, and there’s plenty of it to see up there. It’s a brilliant part of the world; taking the kids there is special. 

What was the last book you read? By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel. He’s from an island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea. It describes this young boy growing up on an island community that relies on fishing and subsistence farming. It’s completely fascinating and took me away from Westminster over the Easter period. It’s a brutal book about human nature though; of course many people were killed when he was growing up. The island is called Annabon, I’d love to go there. My new year’s resolution was to start reading again for pleasure and I’ve succeeded so far.