Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
From war to politics... Brian’s topsy-turvy life on the frontline
Iwas once blown out of bed by a Viet Cong rocket.” So starts the riveting and mesmerisingly well-written memoirs of Brian Staley, a former Liberal Democrat councillor on Canterbury City Council who worked with Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe at the height of the Norman Scott gay sex scandal. Many in Kent will know him as a vociferous campaigner for Gurkha justice and a founder of the Gurkha Peace Foundation which has the determined support of the redoubtable Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley.
He was a founder of the Federation of Small Business Canterbury branch and chaired the Canterbury District Liberal Democrats. He also orchestrated a whistle-stop electioneering tour of the county by the 30-stone Cyril Smith, using a plane and bus financed by former supermarket supremo Lou Cartier.
But the most staggering stories come from his time as a freelance war correspondent in Vietnam, which is where his book My Road From Saigon begins. Three years after being rudely awakened by that rocket he found himself, beer in hand, chatting to Le Van Sao, one of the leaders of the Viet Cong government. He recalled: “We were joined by a doctor friend with a wicked sense of humour who related the story in a facetious way saying that Viet Cong rockets were far more effective than an alarm clock.
“Le Van Sao had a frown on his face as he put a consoling hand on my arm and said: ‘You know it was nothing personal.’
“Such has been the topsyturvy experiences in my life.”
The 320-page paperback was to have been published on March 20. But on March 23, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the beginning of Britain’s coronavirus lockdown. Mr Staley, surprisingly sprightly for his 81 years, sighed during a sociallydistanced interview at one of his favourite watering holes, the Table Table restaurant at Herne Bay.
“The publisher had 1,000 copies printed,” he explained. “Half were for the distributors to send to book shops and Amazon and the rest were for me to take to book signings. I had lots planned. Now I have 500 copies taking up space in the front room of my house in Littlebourne.” Completion of the book was also delayed when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Mr Staley, as a young twentysomething natural seeker of justice was determined to see the full horrors of war for himself. So, clutching his first Press Card (which gave him the honorary rank of Major with the British and American military) he flew to Saigon in 1968.
Looking back, he said: “The war would have ended within a year if President John F Kennedy had not been assassinated and would have ended in 1969 if Richard Nixon had not been elected because he ruled out any neutrality or accommodation with the communists.”
He pulls no punches in this hard-hitting history. His recollection of events is striking. He admitted: “I made lots of journalistic notes at the time. They came in really handy when writing the
book.”
Vietnam was unlike any other war. More weight of explosives was used by the Americans than by both sides in the Second World War. As well as the horrific burning jelly of Napalm, the Americans unleashed ‘lazy dog’ bombs which exploded two or three feet from the ground, sending hundreds of L-shaped razor blades spinning into bodies. They also used the chemical Agent Orange which razed whole forests and led to thousands of deformed births. Back in Britain, Mr Staley was hoping for the relative safety of working as membership director of the National Liberal Club. But he said: “I could not have been more wrong. A clash with a paedophile who could not be sacked because of his friendship with the man who hired the hit man for Jeremy Thorpe ended my professional political career.
“Sadly, it also ended the National Liberal Club as a members’ club. Working with Jeremy Thorpe and Cyril Smith was a sad reflection that so much idealism should end in their personal disgrace.” Mr Staley, who has never married, was born in Deal in 1939, the son of a miner
who later founded a family greengrocery business. He said: “I came from a workingclass family with a passion for social justice and an empathy with the underdog.
“My father was a Christian Socialist whose first political advice to me was: ‘Fight for what you believe with all your soul but always respect the views of those who disagree with you’.
“Though he was the secretary of the Deal Labour Party, his close friend and my godfather was the son of a Tory alderman who sadly perished in the RAF before I had a chance to know him.” Mr Staley joined the Liberal Party in 1962 and became parliamentary agent for Canterbury in the 1964 General Election, the first he was old enough to vote in. He held the same position in the 1966 General Election.
He was elected to the national policy-making forum
in 1967 and held numerous positions within the party, including membership director of the National Liberal Club, and then the Liberal Democrats.
He said: “I hope my lasting epitaph will be as a peace campaigner. Those who have experienced the horrors of war can sometimes become the most passionate advocates for peace.
“I will always remember the small child who died in my arms or zigzagging along the pavement to prevent treading on starving amputee men, women and children waving their empty begging bowls.
“Nor can I forget being asked to comfort an American soldier as he was gaining consciousness as so many casualties were entering the hospital. Just how do you console a 19-yearold man as he wakes to find that he is now totally blind?”
My Road From Saigon (£9.99, Conrad Press) is available in bookshops, Amazon and and direct from Mr Staley by emailing brian@brianstaley.co.uk. He will donate £5 from each of the first 100 books he sells to the Pilgrims Hospice.