Well, almost.
His conversation with Peter Hennessy this morning revealed that he had been one of Iain Macleod's followers, a one-nation Tory, when at university. He was also proud of the fact that he had virtually single-handedly persuaded President Bush snr. to attend the Rio climate-change conference which resulted in the USA acceding to the terms of the first international climate-change agreement. Mr Howard remains a believer in humanity's making a major contribution to global warming.
He had also been a supporter, along with other members of the "Cambridge Mafia", of Britain's membership of the European Community. He asserted that he would still be a supporter of a reformed European Union, but what changed him into a Leaver was David Cameron's dramatic failure to achieve any changes just before the referendum. To my mind, this was evidence of Mr Cameron's weakness - and previous UK ministers' failure to engage in Europe - rather than an immutability on the part of the EU.
He also claimed to have reduced crime in England & Wales. This is somewhat disingenuous. Some of his reforms at the Home Office may have been worthwhile, but statistics show that crime rates throughout the western world showed a similar decline in the same period.
His long-standing support of Liverpool FC was already well-known, and that he had tried to organise a soccer team at Llanelli Grammar School. However, in a much earlier interview he had revealed that he had also been a vice-president of Swansea Town. It would have been good to know if he had continued that interest.
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