IN THE SUMMER OF 1983 A VACANCY unexpectedly arose in the Conservative Research Department, and Oliver Letwin, who had worked there during the 1983 general election and was now a member of the Downing Street Policy Unit, asked whether I would be interested in filling it. I replied that since I had never had anything to do with the Conservative Party and had spent much of the past 18 months in France, so was more than usually out of touch with British politics, I could not be considered a suitable candidate. Letwin insisted, in his usual optimistic way, that none of this mattered, as they just needed someone who could write.
It was true that I had written an unpublished novel, and also that I needed to earn a living. I was 25 years old, and many of my friends seemed to have embarked on serious careers of one kind or another, so I agreed to go for a talk with the Director of the Research Department, Peter Cropper.
I felt extremely nervous and so, it appeared, did he. He was a great expert on economic policy, who had worked closely with Sir Geoffrey Howe, both in opposition, as they helped devise what became known as Thatcherism, andgroup of political appointees.
