by Chris Mullin
PR (proportional representation) 341
Pratt, Christine 426
pre-trial detention 212, 219, 223, 234, 242, 248
42 days issue 249, 250, 251, 276
Prentice, Gordon 354
Prentis, Dave 252
Prescott, John (‘JP’) 74, 120, 286, 386
his empire 16
on the London Olympics 25
council tax affair 69
and loans for peerages 89
relationship with diary secretary 94, 95, 156
a ‘figure of fun’ 101
Dorney Wood 104
in America 106
and Blair holidays 114, 115
and Timothy Spall 147
plan to push Blair into announcing his retirement date 156–7
and the Millennium Dome 180
speech on departure 185
farewell event at Admiralty House 189
memoirs 244
Prescott, John, jnr 104
Press Gallery 219
Prest, Paul 313
Price, Lance 369, 370
A Spin Doctor’s Diary 62
Prickly Pear restaurant, Sunderland 210
Primary Care Trusts 42
Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) 42, 48, 49, 61, 84, 85, 88, 93, 96–7, 100, 129–30, 147, 149, 183, 189, 214, 216, 227, 271–2, 279, 287, 289, 309, 315, 324, 326, 344, 347, 350, 354, 382, 389, 409, 426, 433, 439
Prison Reform Trust 43, 68, 106, 147, 160, 173, 215, 292
prisons 129, 160, 173
US 292
Private Eye 36
Private Finance Initiative 63
probation officers’ union 370
probation service 153, 154
Profile Books 318
Profumo, David 136
Profumo, John 136
Profumo, Valerie 136
prorogation 440
Pryer, Chief Superintendent 129, 280
Public Accounts Committee 85
Public Bill Office 154
public spending 372, 375, 379, 442
Purchase, Ken 306, 416, 433
Purnell, James 286, 339, 344
Puttnam, David 128, 190–91
Q
‘Quantitative Easing’ 310
Queen, The (film) 147–8
Queen’s Assent 440
Queen’s College, Oxford 442
Queen’s commissioners 440
Queen’s Speech 290, 394–5, 396, 397
Question Time (BBC television programme) 144, 385
Quin, Joyce 267
Quinn, Niall 266
R
Radice, Giles 293
RAF Lyneham 355
Rammell, Bill 306
Rating (Empty Properties) Act 256
Rawnsley, Andrew 425, 427, 430
Raynsford, Nick 62, 79–80, 85, 95, 113, 239, 320, 340, 386
recycling 4, 25, 231, 331
Red Flag 78
Redwood, John 229, 302
Reform of Parliament Committee 371, 382–3, 384, 390, 392–3, 419–22
Reid, John 21, 23, 27, 45, 97, 101, 106, 111, 116, 120, 143, 147, 153, 154, 165, 176–7, 180–81, 233, 250, 320, 422
Reinert, Emmanuel 14
Republicans (US) 134
Respect party 21, 165
Retford railway line suicide 371–2
Rice, Condoleezza 10, 60, 70, 100, 227
Richards, Ed 301–2
Richards, General 138
Richmond, Surrey 65
ricin plot 47–8
Rifkind, Malcolm 436
‘Right to Buy’ 152
Rise and Fall of Tony Blair, The (film) 183
Rivergreen Developments 256
Robathan, Andrew 204, 208, 209
Robertson, Denise 422
Robinson, Geoffrey 409
Robinson, Iris 413
Robinson, Nick 140, 328, 333, 374, 437
Rogers, Robert 436
Rohsler, Caron 6
Roll, Ernie (in Sunderland) 418–19, 422–3
Roma 179
Romanian immigrants 127
Rooker, Jeff 149
Rooney, Terry 111, 130
Ross Back Sands, Northumberland 235
Rothermere family 303
Rothermere press 39
Rothschild, Nat 279
Rothschild family 270, 278
Rowling, J.K. 266
Roy, Frank 284
Royal Africa Society 179, 373
Royal Bank of Scotland 301, 309
Royal College of Nursing 163
conference (2006) 94
Royal Commonwealth Club 179, 211
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London 159–60
Royal Lancaster Hotel, London 397
Royal Mail 298
pension fund 299
proposed part privatisation 308, 309, 315, 326, 342–3, 352
recruitment of casual workers 383
Rudd, Geoff 73
Ruddock, Joan 49, 155
Rumsfeld, Donald 10, 36, 134, 371
Runciman, Ruth 43, 68, 148
Russia
Great Terror 92
blackmailing of Finland 66
invasion of Georgia (2008) 261
and the Chechens 312
air crash (2010) 440
Rwanda 193
Ryan, Joan 264
Ryhope, Sunderland 240
S
Saigon 193, 362, 363 see also Ho Chi Minh City
Saigontourist 367
Sainsbury’s 281
St Aidan’s Church, Sunderland 280
St Aidan’s School, Sunderland 283
St Bede’s Terrace, Sunderland 141, 171, 264, 275, 300
St John Stevas, Norman 151
St Luke’s hospital, Headington, Oxford 296
St Martin-in-the-Fields church, London 21, 396
St Pancras Station, London 23–4
St Peter and St Paul, Church of, Ilford 417
St Stephen’s Green, Westminster 174
Sala Pak Oum 34
Salih, Bahram 130
Salter, Martin 259, 429
Sam Rainsy Party 206
Sandhill View School, Sunderland 3, 63, 289, 451
Sandler, Ron 232
Sarkozy, Nicolas 318, 374
SAS 206
satellite television 302
Savimbi, Jonas 81
school meals initiative 217
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 7, 179, 269
Scolt Head Island 259
Scotland, Patricia 153
Scottish Nationalists 198, 259
Scottish Office 265
Seahouses, Northumberland 235
Seaton, Jean 388
Security and Intelligence Committee 188, 251, 412
Security Service 65, 66
Sedgefield, County Durham 174, 190
Sen, Hun 205
Senior Salaries Review Body 180, 220, 255, 390
Senlis Council 27, 76, 77, 112
September sittings 344, 345, 371, 383, 384
Sere, Gascony 194
Severn Barrage 277
Shaw, Jonathan 175
Sheerman, Barry 84, 222, 230, 336, 339, 409
Shell 76
Shepherd, Ben 81
Shepherd, Bishop David 190–91
Shepherd’s Bush tube station bomb, London 28
Shepherd’s restaurant, Marsham Street, London 44
Sheridan, Jim 346, 433
Shia Muslims 10, 144
Shop Direct (formerly Littlewoods) 416–17
Short, Clare 50, 51, 53, 130, 373, 422
Sickert, Walter 55
Sierra Leoneans 91
Silksworth, Sunderland 59, 227
Simon, Sion 123
Simpson, Alan 55, 107, 108, 177, 240
Simpson, John 10, 19
Simpson, Pascale 107, 108
Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London 343, 415
Sinclair, Angus (Speaker’s Secretary) 351
Singapore 367–
8
Singapore Airlines 360
single mothers 56, 266
single parents 179
Single Regeneration Budget 56
‘single status’ 31
Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson 69, 71
SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) 387
Sixsmith, Martin 327
Skinner, Dennis 61, 76, 88–9, 95, 114, 148, 216, 256–7, 273, 287, 294, 337, 348, 349, 354–5, 437
Sky 369, 431, 445
Sky News 349
Smiles, Alex 331
Smith, Geraldine 5, 260, 343
Smith, Jacqui 133, 188, 192, 211, 214, 220, 221, 223, 234, 248, 257, 275–6, 291, 308, 317, 337, 381
Smith, John 43, 137, 432
Smith, Councillor Pat 46
smoking ban 45, 80, 451
Soames, Hon. Nicholas 44, 54, 107, 108, 331, 346, 384, 396, 397, 401, 436
SOE 296
Soham murders 129
Soley, Clive 114
Somalia 85
Somaliland 189, 237
Somalis (in Acton) 75
Sondheim, Stephen 99
Sopheak, Ok Serai 206
Soros, George 316
South Africa 105, 248
South Downs Way 8
South Ossetia 261
South Shields 237, 303
Sovan, Pen 206
Sowerby, North Yorkshire 37
Spall, Timothy 147
Speakership
candidates (2009) 343–4, 345
speeches 346, 348
front runners 346–7, 348–9
Bercow wins 349
special advisers 7, 9, 10
Special Branch 26, 176, 189, 223, 237, 403, 445
Spellar, John 104, 109, 126, 148, 161
Sri Lankan asylum seekers 91
Stadium of Light, Sunderland 236–7, 243, 266, 289, 435
Stafford Smith, Clive 18, 198
Stalin, Joseph 230
Standards and Privileges Committee 1, 74, 193, 226, 233, 302, 396
‘Star Chamber’ 337, 359
‘Star Wars’ 291, 323
Starkey, Phyllis 161
State Opening of Parliament 8, 210, 394–5
Steele, Jonathan 17
Stern, Beatrice 175
Stern, Sir Nicholas 131, 211
Stevens, John 184, 188
Stewart, Major General Andrew 396
Stiglitz, Joseph 424
Stirrup, Sir Jock 357
Stockton 434
Stockwell tube station, London (Jean Charles de Menezes shooting) 28, 29, 30, 248
Stone, Bob 285
Stop and Search 181
Storey, Sir Richard 7
Straits Times 368
Strang, Gavin 155
Straw, Jack 27, 109, 180, 242, 250, 253, 344, 422
CM happy working with him 2
on the May 2005 reshuffle 4
announces abandonment of EU referendum 13
friendship with Triesman 14
and CM’s fall 19
the Wolfgang incident 39
junior colleagues 57
and extraordinary rendition 60
and Guantanamo 77
as Gordon’s deputy 88
demoted from Foreign Office to Leader of the House 97–8, 100
Blair on 99
and summer recess 113
and proposed ‘Communications Allowance’ 132
Lords reform plans 133, 148, 149, 151, 153, 156
Lyell on 144–5
Hayden Phillips inquiry and report 155, 158
and Trident 157
Gordon’s campaign manager 161
asks CM who he intends to nominate 174
given Justice in new Cabinet 187
on choice of election date 199–200
terrorist detention times 211
party funding 224
assessment of the current state of play 258
statement on Brown 259
postal voting rules 276, 277
praised by Douglas Alexander 334
and September sittings 344–5
Bill to set up a new quango 351–2
Omand on 388
‘Secret and Personal’ memorandum 415
personality 415
Stringer, Graham 226, 242
Stuart, Gisela 226, 315, 336
Stuart; Moira 415
student travel cards 78
Sudan 90
Sugar, Alan 340
summer recess 8, 16, 40, 44, 113, 344
Sun newspaper 32, 40, 51, 73, 106, 123, 127, 129, 190, 320, 322, 341, 377, 392, 428, 444
Sunday Express 388
Sunday Times 18, 148, 279, 303, 315, 378, 424
Sunderland
male unemployment in 2
City Hospital 3
size of CM’s constituency 15
Penshaw Monument anti-poverty protest (2005) 20–21
management committee meetings 46, 59–60, 66
City of Sunderland College 56
Hill’s Bookshop 63
local government settlement 66
CM’s surgeries 91, 102–3, 277–8, 300, 398
local election day (2006) 97
Holy Trinity Church 140
Bengali quarter 141
Pyrex factory 149–50
school music 150
Puttnam on 190
voting during elections 196
Civic Centre 212, 243
Cenotaph 212
all-women shortlist 256–7, 294, 299
Policy Exchange report 261–2
Rupert Hanson 237
and Shop Direct (formerly Littlewoods) 416–17
canvassing in Hill View 446–7
election results (2010) 447
Sunderland Central 201, 299, 391
Sunderland Echo 11, 78, 97, 129, 236, 246, 331, 358, 370
Sunderland Empire 359
Sunderland FC 266, 435
Sunderland Glass Centre 446
Sunderland Minster 150, 252
Sunderland Royal Hospital 451
Sunderland South 15, 68, 455
Sunderland South Labour Party 455
Sunderland university 134
Sunni Muslims 10, 144, 282