Island Life Magazine Ltd October/ November 2012 | Page 38

INTERVIEW

10 years old.
“Another childhood memory was
when we loaded up the dinghies and
drove to Freshwater and then rowed
around and had a picnic in Scratchells
Bay. Another time we had a running
race from Freshwater to home.
We really went for it, and couldn’t
move for a week afterwards. It was a
competitive environment.
“When we were young Priory Bay
was quite distant from Ryde because
people didn’t have cars and we went
everywhere by boat. I think we learned
a great resilience. Sometimes the tide
and wind are against you and you
make no progress. On other occasions
you have the tide and wind with you,
and even though you don’t make much
effort you travel like a rocket. I think
that is the most wonderful lesson for
life – sometimes you work so hard and
it doesn’t happen, but other times you
just sail through it.”
Virginia recalls one of the most
influential people in her life was her
‘very special’ aunt Peggy Jay. She said:
“She was in politics and had a massive
influence on me, and I say my husband
Peter only married me because he
thought I would turn out like Peggy
Jay. She was a member of the Greater
London Council, and was forceful. She
was a great reformer and campaigner.
She was brought up on the Island, and
was a wonderful mentor.”
Despite being married to a Tory
MP, Virginia had never given much
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thought to joining him in the
Commons. Then one day her whole
life changed when she received a call
from 10 Downing Street, on the orders
of PM Margaret Thatcher, saying more
female MPs were required, and she was
on the ‘wanted list’.
She continued: “I decided Peggy
Jay should have been an MP, but she
wasn’t so I would be. I wanted Peter to
be the MP for the Isle of Wight long
ago, and then in 1982 it came up for
the following year’s General Election.
I worked so hard and actually got
34,900 votes – only five people in the
country got more votes than I did, but
one of those was Liberal Stephen Ross,
the sitting MP, who beat me.
“I was devastated. The campaign was
‘Turn Wight Blue’ and Mrs. Thatcher
even came over to visit. The day after
I had lost she rang me to say ‘what
bad luck’ and I burst into tears. But
it made me realise much more about
the Island; the huge delights, but also
some of the difficulties and dilemmas.
“I learned how hugely entrepreneurial
and creative the Island is with lots
of small businesses and so many
dedicated people. We all hope it can
become an Island of real enterprise
and creativity in small businesses.
With modern technology, distance
working and IT, my senses are that it is
going to become ever more possible to
realise this vision. The Island really has
everything going for it.

“Whatever I have done, I have always
felt part of my energy was put into
developing and promoting the Island
in any way I could. The Island needs
all the help it can get to make people
realise what a wonderful and exciting
place it is.”
Virginia became MP for South
West Surrey in 1984. There were 365
applicants to be the Tory candidate,
but she was chosen and subsequently
won the seat. She said: “At the time
there were just 23 women MPs in a
House of Commons of more than 600,
so we were like an endangered species.
Now the ratio is about one in four. I
loved the constituency life and being
involved in every aspect.”
Initially she served under Margaret
Thatcher and then John Major,
and received her first ministerial
position in 1988 as a Parliamentary
Under-Secretary at the Department of
the Environment. She was appointed
Minister of State at the Department
of Health in 1989, and was appointed
a member of the Privy Council upon
joining Major’s Cabinet as Secretary of
State for Health in 1992, serving until
1995.
She then served as Secretary of State
for National Heritage until 1997.
After the 1997 General Election, she
returned to the back benches, saying:
“I had been working 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, and returning
to the back benches enabled me to