A LABOUR MP in north Herefordshire?

The concept today seems as unfamiliar and alien as it did back in 1998 when Peter Temple-Morris' defection from the Conservative party provided exactly that scenario.

Now, Lord Temple-Morris, as he became after his eventual departure from the House Of Commons in 2001, has revealed the entire story behind his decision to join New Labour in a new autobiography Across the Floor - A Life in Dissenting Politics.

During 27 years as an MP, the urbane and personable Peter Temple-Morris made important contributions on the international stage.

He explains how he played a significant role in the Irish peace process talks, leading up to the Good Friday Agreement.

And he talks with an insider's knowledge of Iran - his wife Tahere is Iranian - on the downfall of the Shah, the arrival of Ayatollah Khomeini and subsequent Anglo-Iranian relations.

But as a prominent Europhile, he found himself increasingly out of step with a Tory party moving to the right during the Thatcher era.

He experienced, from the inside, an evolution from a 'tolerant' and 'gentle' party to one which 'became steadily more nationalistic and less European in sympathy'.

The process of leaving the Conservative party, he explained to Alistair Campbell as moves to join Labour reached full swing, had begun with Margaret Thatcher's arrival as leader in 1975.

While he clearly respected our first woman Prime Minister for her political skills, he admits that he could never get on with her personally and never pretended to do so.

"She was not my type nor did she share my politics," he writes.

"I could not stand being lectured and hectored by someone who would not let you get a word in edgeways."

Despite that, it was the internal divisions of the Major years which finally set him on the road to the other side of the house and it is the period of his defection which will probably be of most interest to local readers.

Clearly his fine record as a constituency MP and his cordial relations with those of all political persuasions in the county stood him in good stead on all sides when the time to make his move came.

He has praise for his Conservative chairman of the time, John Stone, who is still prominent in county politics today, remains his good friend and dealt 'magnificently' with the national media over the defection issue.

He writes of the warm welcome received from his local Labour party and its chairman Richard Westwood although, confusingly, he refers to Mr Westwood, a teacher and his opponent for Labour in the 1997 General Election, as 'a long-standing journalist on my local newspaper' - he may be confusing Mr Westwood with another former Mayor of Leominster, Richard Winterbourn, an eminent member of this newspaper's staff for more than 30 years.

Temple-Morris' departure from the Conservatives to another party was far from being the only one during the 1990s - Emma Nicholson and Shaun Woodward among them - but, interestingly, he says that, were he to be given the chance, he would not have followed the same route again.

"I would not have been a rebel but rather a team player, stayed longer at the bar and then used the Commons for advancement as the opportunity arose," he writes. "This would have meant a totally different life, and probably a less enjoyable one, even if I had gained high office."

Across the Floor - A Life in Dissenting Politics by Peter Temple-Morris is published by I B Tauris and available from booksellers at £25.