Uniting Paisley and McGuinness was much better than ANY salary

PETER HAIN learned all about the terrible cost of conflict while still a boy in South Africa – and he used this experience to help bring peace to the North. He tells Dan Moore how at aged 11, he was awakened in the middle of the night to be told his parents were in jail for supporting Nelson Mandela and racial equality. After being hounded out of South Africa, his family settled in Britain, where he became an anti-apartheid activist in his own right, and later Labour MP in Wales. While Northern Ireland Secretary, he brokered negotiations between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party, which led to powersharing – a deal that’s credited with bringing peace. The 73-year-old now writes political thrillers set in South Africa.

What did your parents teach you about money?

I was brought up to believe you need to look after your money and be careful what you spend it on.

Why did your family leave South Africa?

We were left with no alternative. In 1961, I was woken up just after midnight to be told my parents, both leading lights in the anti-apartheid movement in Pretoria, were in jail. They’d been incarcerated for supporting Nelson Mandela’s call for black workers to stay at home and not come into the white city of Pretoria to do menial work for their white masters.

This was pretty scary for an 11-yearold. While they were in jail, my dad, an architect, was sacked from his government job. I was acutely aware that we were in dire financial straits. A year later, my dad was banned from leaving Pretoria, and then the security police instructed all the architectural firms in Pretoria not to employ him. With no way of getting work, we had no alternative but to leave the country. In London, Dad got a job with an architectural firm almost immediately. A friend put us up initially because we’d left everything behind and were penniless.

What was your first job?

I did a paper round for the last couple of years at school. I earned about £1.50 a week. I just put it into a savings account.

Did you save money as a student?

I started off on an engineering student apprenticeship combined with a degree in the subject. I was paid weekly in cash… about £7.50 in old money. By the time my parents bought their first house in 1971, I was able to give them the 10% deposit. At around the same time, I ended up leading the campaign to stop South Africa’s all-white 1970 apartheid-era cricket tour of England.

How did you get from activism to UK Parliament?

I worked for the Post Office Workers Union for 14 years… and joined the Labour Party in 1977. When I became an MP after being selected to stand in the 1991 Neath by-election I didn’t even know what the salary was. Pay was never an important reason for me to do any job, and certainly not a reason for becoming an MP.

What was the best year of your financial life?

It was in 2002 when as secretary of state for Wales, I became a cabinet minister, earning about £120,000, which was the combined MP and cabinet minister’s salary. Although I was more thrilled about the job than the pay packet. By the time Tony Blair appointed me Northern Ireland Secretary my salary had risen in line with the cost of living, so not by too much. Negotiating the 2007 peace settlement, bringing bitter old blood enemies Ian Paisley of the DUP and Martin McGuinness to share selfgovernment together was the highlight of my career.

Has writing made you money?

Writing doesn’t even pay minimum wage!

n The paperback edition of Peter Hain’s The Elephant Conspiracy goes on sale on November 30. The Lion Conspiracy – the final book in the trilogy – comes out in March 2024.