![\"Lord](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Lord-Heseltine-muses-on-politics-business-and-trees-at-Farnham-Literary-Festival.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nLord Michael Heseltine was one of the defining figures of politics in the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n
Now 92, the former defence secretary and deputy Conservative leader is often described as the greatest prime minister Britain never had.<\/p>\n
Yet he believes his lasting legacy may be something rather quieter \u2013 the arboretum he developed with his wife Ann in Oxfordshire, now home to hundreds of trees, shrubs and a national collection of snowdrops.<\/p>\n
His new book, From Acorns to Oaks, explores the arboretum and his two other passions \u2013 politics and business.<\/p>\n
Lord Heseltine discussed all three during an In Conversation With event at St Andrew\u2019s Church as part of the Farnham Literary Festival on Friday, March 6.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lord Heseltine muses on politics, business and trees at Farnham Literary Festival. (Farnham Town Council)<\/p>\n
Explaining the inspiration for the arboretum, he reflected on the fleeting nature of political fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho remembers any politicians?\u201d he asked the audience. \u201cYou remember a few prime ministers a hundred years ago, but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arboretum in the Midlands is something where people will walk around and say \u2018who did this?\u2019 I\u2019ll do my best so there\u2019s some way they can find out it was me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"St](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/St-Andrews-Church-was-packed-for-the-Lord-Heseltine-event-in-Farnham.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
St Andrew’s Church was packed for the Lord Heseltine event in Farnham. (Farnham Town Council)<\/p>\n
During a wide-ranging question and answer session he reflected on his six decades in politics, including his resignation from Margaret Thatcher\u2019s government during the 1986 Westland affair.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I regret it? Yes. Do I believe I was wrong? Absolutely not. Would I do it over again? Yes I would,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged the episode damaged his prospects of ever becoming prime minister. Asked whether he would have liked the premiership, he replied: \u201cOf course. What is the point of climbing the ladder if you don\u2019t take the final step?<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a fantastic career and I loved the jobs I was doing. But I would have liked to have had a go at the top job.\u201d<\/p>\n
An ardent Europhile, Lord Heseltine also criticised the decision to leave the European Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrexit is a disaster in every conceivable way,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is seriously damaging our economy and seriously damaging our international power base and frankly it is an insult for this country to be on the margins of Europe when we should be at the centre of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was equally blunt about some of the leading figures behind Brexit.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigel Farage is a fraud \u2013 it is quite extraordinary the way people have fallen for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked about former prime minister Boris Johnson, who later succeeded him as MP for Henley, he said: \u201cI know Boris well, he took over my constituency, and he\u2019s a charming man.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he was here now, he\u2019d have you laughing in fits and rolling about in the aisles.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he\u2019s a man without a shred of moral integrity whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the discussion he also spoke about his long-standing campaign for directly elected mayors in major cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would a minister want to see his power spread around?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo local councillors want mayors to have more power than them? Do local Members of Parliament want mayors who are more important than them?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole system is geared towards preserving the status quo.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut turkeys don\u2019t vote for Christmas,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Lord Heseltine also reflected on how the internet has transformed political life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was in the House of Commons we used to get letters from constituents \u2013 10, 20 maybe 30 letters a day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow with the internet, the ability for any member of the public to circulate letters to any Member of Parliament is so evident\u2026 the flow of public pressure and the speed with which events change is something I never experienced, but I can see what a problem it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite that, he suggested the nature of politics itself has changed little.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing new in politics. Read Shakespeare, it\u2019s all there \u2013 and I bet he got it from the Greeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the easiest place to be, it\u2019s very demanding. But they used to cut people\u2019s heads off \u2013 I certainly would have been executed in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
Returning to the arboreal theme, he was asked what kind of tree Sir Keir Starmer would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have to be a willow \u2013 blowing with the wind,\u201d joked Lord Heseltine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lord Michael Heseltine was one of the defining figures of politics in the 1980s and 1990s. Now 92,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-814652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116199960676966197","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}