Those who vote for Johnson deserve him

Double Vision with Charlie Adley

It was going to be a great night. All four of us were working in Bradford University’s bars, so we’d all be finished at the same time. Instead of lingering for late night staff drinks, we all headed for Malcolm’s place, because he had a telly, unlike the other two, and he lived alone with his girlfriend.

My gaff had a telly too, but I shared with two crazed DJs, who very probably didn’t even know there was a General Election in progress.

Thursday, April 9 1992, was going to be the day the British people finally came to their senses and kicked out the Tories. After three Thatcher victories in a row, Labour now had a leader who shone, in comparison to the grey tones of John Major.

Sometimes Neil Kinnock shone too brightly. There’d been that video of him falling over on Brighton beach. There was also the skin-crawling embarrassment of his Sheffield Arena attempt to behave like a US President. Three times he’d roared in triumph at the crowd: “We’re aaaall riiiiight!” in a mid-Atlantic accent, each time looking more like Kinnock the Pillock to the British electorate.

Still, surely this was going to be it. Labour were ahead in the polls, but only just. We were young and dreamed of a Tory wipeout. At worst there’d be a minority government, formed by a coalition of opposition parties.

We had beer in the fridge and onion bhajis, wine on the side, cheese and chocolate. There was coffee in the pot and whiskey in the bottle.

We were in for the long haul; the full-nighter. We wanted to enjoy every second of it, because we lived in what was officially the cheapest place in England, and unofficially (they don’t make bad news official) the most deprived city in the country.

Malcolm turned on the telly as we went off into the kitchen to fill glasses.

“Bloody f****ing WHAT? Ohhhh NOOOOO!”

We all stopped still and looked at each other, because it was so strange to hear Malcolm’s voice raised in anger.

To read Charlie’s column in full, please see this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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