Talk:John Redwood

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It was of Redwood that John Major is believed to have been speaking when he made his famous comment about neutralising MPs who disagreed with his policies by inviting them into the Cabinet. (Major used a less polite turn of phrase.)

Could someone who knows more about this provide some additional information? It's impossible to understand for someone already not familiar with the incident as the description currently stands, and google doesn't turn up anything. --Delirium 00:45 11 Jul 2003 (UTC)

You are quite right. Major said something about "the bastards", but I forget the exact quote. I'll dig it out. Mintguy 17:09, 23 Aug 2003 (UTC)
Ok I've found it and, it looks like (at least as suggested from this report), Major wasn't talking about John Redwood anyway. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,9174,534415,00.html
Another of those apocryphal stories, I suppose. But I've met JR and he is one. Deb 17:39, 23 Aug 2003 (UTC)
It's messy because it appears that Major wasn't thinking specifically of individuals and was very tired when he said that, at the end of one of the longest weeks in politics. According to his memoirs (pages 343-344) he was really meaning ex ministers (presumably Norman Lamont amongst others, but not named) were bastards. At the time the media identified Lilley, Portillo and Redwood rather than Howard, but it is quite possible that Major had no specific individuals in mind (and asserts in his memoirs that the media knew more of those threes intentions than he did). Instead Major asserts no minister had threatened resignation over the Maastricht Treaty.
I've also met Redwood and don't find he meets up to the media image. Timrollpickering 14:06, 26 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Not according to Paul Routledge and Simon Hoggart from The Observer on Sunday July 25, 1993, as given by the above link. Mintguy (T) 22:34, 11 May 2004 (UTC)


Did he really have an 'excellent adademic career'? Sure, he got the prize of an All Soul's scholarship, but this is open for application to any student who has got a First. I thought he'd gone on to the City to make money rather than persue a career in academia.

No- although those gaining good firsts can be invited to sit the examination, the All Souls scholarships are limited to only two or so a year in all disciplines. The scholarships themselves are enormously well-regarded in academia.

I've updated the article and added in some key points about Redwood's career which are not included in the article. I've also made some slight changes to avoid a neutral point of view dispute.

I've added his full, correct title which is 'The Rt Hon Dr John Alan Redwood DPhil PC', although am happy to be corrected if there is a particular Wikipedia style which needs to be followed. Shotlandiya 12:40, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Hideous. Using both "Dr" and "DPhil" is wrong. Ditto "The Rt Hon" and "PC" - the "PC" suffix is only for peers in the Privy Council because they could also be "Rt Hon" because of their peerage. Timrollpickering 12:55, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
In that case I will change it back

Shotlandiya 16:42, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Youtube clip of John Redwood miming the national anthem

I wanted to include a link to a Youtube clip of John Redwood miming the National Anthem. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIwBvjoLyZc I think it is valide to add this link because it is (1)accessible to the reader (b) it is relevant to the content of the article (useful, helpful, informative, factual, etc.) and(c) it is a functional link, and likely to continue being a functional link. However when I added the link it automatically got reverted.128.122.242.66 (talk) 19:52, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Neutrality

Most of the articel assumes a generally over-wishipping tone, describing events in such a manner that implies he was right in everything he does, kinda subtle but still fairly clear-cut. I haven't really got time to correct it, but I'd encourage others to do so.Nwe (talk) 15:56, 24 March 2008 (UTC)