Flashback

Mr Motivator, aka Derrick Evans, remembers meeting Tony Blair, 1998

Ibecame a regular fitness instructor on GMTV in 1993, after prodding the belly of the programme controller while I was waiting in the ITV reception. I said to him, ‘We’ve got to do something about this’ – I don’t know what got into me. Then I took my exercise bike upstairs and left it outside his office. I went back a week later and said, ‘Look, you’ve got the bike here. We need to get you exercising.’ He gave me all the excuses, but in the end I got him moving. He told me anyone who could convince him to exercise should be on television. At first the advertisers didn’t want a black man, they wanted a white lady with two kids. But I persevered, and that was that.

The Lycra was my trademark. I knew that if I went on television in a pair of black shorts and a white T-shirt, I’d go the same way as everyone else. That’s where the bright gear came in – it was to impact on people so they’d remember me.

This photo was taken at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. They were holding an event for the surviving passengers of the 1948 Windrush voyage. My wife – on my left – and I were bored with all the speeches, so we went for a walk around the Foreign Office. We weren’t supposed to, but I thought, ‘Come on, this is Motivator. Motivator goes everywhere.’ We were admiring some pictures on the wall when we looked down the staircase, and who was coming up? Tony Blair. He went, ‘Hello, Motivator,’ and I replied, ‘Hi matey, how are you doing?’

He told me, ‘Listen, this place upsets me. Robin Cook has a bigger office than mine at Number 10. Would you like to have a look?’ So, with his PA in tow, we went wandering around the corridors to these wonderful doors, which looked around 15ft high. Tony opened them and swept us into Robin Cook’s empty office. It really was huge; it was fabulous. Tony said, ‘Look at this – mine is about half the size and I’m the Prime Minister!’ I said, ‘Well, let’s take a seat,’ and we did – me in Cook’s chair with my feet on the desk, and Tony opposite.

I started pretending to interview him for the role of Prime Minister, saying, ‘What makes you think you’re qualified for this job?’ and stuff like that. After a while his PA told him to go back to the function, so we all went back and Tony made his speech. This photo was taken at the end of the evening as we were saying goodbye.

Who’d have thought that a young man from Jamaica, who was homeless at one time, would end up having a laugh with the Prime Minister of the UK? It was one of those nice, impromptu moments – Tony’s guard was down, and we were like kids wandering around. No one knows the kind of journey they’re going to take. I really have been very fortunate. Interview by Eleanor Muffitt Mr Motivator’s autobiography, The Warm Up (Filament Publishing), is out on February 1

We weren’t supposed to go for a walk around the Foreign Office, but I thought, ‘Come on, this is Motivator. Motivator goes everywhere’