Former Labour leader: My old pal Joe
WHEN Neil Kinnock made a speech in the Welsh town of Llandudno more than 30 years ago he had little idea it would start a friendship with the man favourite to be the next US President.
The former Labour leader was addressing the Welsh Labour Party conference in May 1987 when he broke from his script to try to “ignite” the audience.
He asked: “Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is my wife, Glenys, the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university?”
The lines were so good that even the special branch police officers started to well up.
His words caught the attention of Joe Biden then running to be the Democrat’s presidential candidate. A few weeks later, Biden “borrowed” heavily from Kinnock to say: “Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university?
“Why is it that my wife is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright?
“Is it because I’m the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?”
Unfortunately he forgot to credit Kinnock for the line. Opponents quickly accused him of plagiarism and he had to quit the race. However it sparked an enduring friendship. Shortly afterwards Biden and his son Beau, who died from brain cancer in 2015, came to London to meet the author of the words which had proved his downfall. Kinnock recalls: “We got on very well. I knew he was good guy.” The two have continued to meet over the years.
He added: “When I saw him in his Senate office in 2007, I was in Washington on an official visit. I went to see Joe and all the staff lined up and he said ‘folks, I want you to meet my greatest ever speechwriter, Neil Kinnock’.” Such is the bond that the former Vice President invited Kinnock and wife Glenys to the 2009 presidential inauguration.
At 78, Kinnock is six months older than the 77-year-old Biden and nobody could be more delighted that the great survivor of US politics could soon boot Donald Trump out of office.
Leaping to his pal’s defence, he said: “He’s up against a guy who’s biological age is 74 but who’s still in adolescence. Joe is very, very fit [and] is more than capable of doing the job. There is so much he is going to have to clean up.
“Trump is the first man who thought you can drain the swamp by flooding it. He’s dishonest, he’s a fantasist, he’s corrupt, he’s got a completely prejudiced and uneducated view of the world. Joe will restore normality and values to the most powerful position on earth.”
He calls him “courageous, calm, highly intelligent and very well informed”.
By contrast Kinnock says Trump is “a privileged rich kid, a toddler with a hand grenade”.
He adds: “Joe is the absolute opposite. He has shown it in the way he has dealt with awful tragedy with great dignity but deep, personal misery.” Kinnock says he will be “ecstatic” if Biden defeats a man he “absolutely despises.”
He fears Boris Johnson will struggle to have the rapport with Biden he has with Trump: “He and Trump are kindred spirits in some ways, in their narcissism and gigantic egos.”
Moving to domestic politics, he says Keir Starmer is doing “very, very well,” adding that his hardest tasks will be to rebuild trust in the Labour Party and ensure it retains cohesion.
Age has not diminished the warmth and spirit of Kinnock. Though he admits he felt old for the first time recently when a teenager wanted his autograph: “I asked ‘how do you know who I am?’ and he said ‘we’re doing you in A-Levels’.”
He roars with laughter. He’s hoping Biden has the last laugh too in a few days time.