The UK’s new striker

Date: 05/06/1997

DOUG Henderson, the UK's new minister for Europe, was a bitterly disappointed man the day after his prime minister's triumphal entry on to the European stage at last month's Noordwijk mini-summit.

It had nothing to do with politics, but with something almost as important in Henderson's life: football. His beloved Falkirk, the club he has followed all his life, lost in the Scottish Cup Final in their first appearance at this stage of the competition since 1957.

Apart from this set-back, it has been a remarkable few weeks for the 47-year-old Scots-born MP for Newcastle North.

His appointment was probably the most surprising of Tony Blair's new government, given his low profile and previous lack of involvement in European affairs.

The job had been expected to go to Joyce Quin, a multilingual former member of the European Parliament, who had handled the EU portfolio competently in opposition. But the Blair camp felt - unfairly, say Quin supporters - that she would have been a pushover at the Union negotiating table because of her shy manner and her long record of Euro-enthusiasm.

In contrast, Henderson has no ideological baggage about Europe and, as a former trade union negotiator, can play hard at the dealing table. He demonstrated both characteristics when he became the first minister in the UK Labour government to enter the Brussels arena four days after Blair's crushing victory.

“My view is that the European Union is a very important institution in the world. It is crucial in protecting European democracy, in encouraging European economic cooperation, and it provides the basis of the future lives of all our citizens. It is an institution which has to adapt to reflect internal and external changes and it is one I am happy to be a part of,” he told reporters.

Earlier, when asked whether he believed the Western European Union defence organisation should be merged into the EU, he did not flannel or prevaricate, but told his questioner: “I would rule that out.”

Henderson himself was as surprised as anyone when his appointment was announced.

A few hours earlier he had been completing his regular lengthy Sunday morning run. Less than 24 hours later, he was plunged into the complexities of the Intergovernmental Conference negotiations on EU reform.

His passage from domestic to Union issues has been eased by the almost constant presence at his side of Paul Lever, the deputy under-secretary for European affairs in the UK foreign office.

He also had an early briefing session on the IGC from UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett, who had previously been the personal adviser to one of the European Parliament's two observers at the negotiations, French Socialist MEP Elisabeth Guigou.

Coincidentally, the two first met last December when Henderson spoke for Corbett during the latter's European by-election campaign. Little did either know that their paths would cross again so soon on the continent.

Cynics have suggested that Henderson's appointment was the result of a Machiavellian desire by the new British Finance Minister Gordon Brown to keep an eye on his arch-rival Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, with whom he has a notoriously difficult relationship. Henderson and Brown have long been allies, having learnt their political trade in the tough environment of the Scottish Labour Party.

What such dark speculation ignores are the positive qualities which Blair is known to admire in Henderson. “Doug is thoughtful and highly intelligent. He does not make a big noise, but his speeches have been some of the best from the Labour front bench,” says one Westminster veteran.

Particularly impressive is his command of detail, which he has regularly demonstrated in handling legislation in the British parliament - such as when he wrong-footed the Conservative government on several clauses of the asylum and immigration bill last year.

This ability to master complicated issues will be invaluable in EU negotiations, as will his tactical skills, shown by his adroit manoeuvres over a minor but complex measure on local authority business rates in 1994 which disrupted the Tory government's parliamentary timetable.

In fact, Henderson is one of the few Labour MPs with an important legislative achievement to his name. In 1990, he piloted a private bill giving patients the right of access to their medical records through the House of Commons, a rare achievement for an opposition member. His efforts won him a special award from the Campaign for Freedom of Information.

But Henderson is no enthusiast for pressure groups. Last year, as Labour's home affairs spokesman, he sent gay rights campaigners away from a meeting empty-handed. Nor did he take the easy route last week by promising British Labour MEPs that he would support them in their fight to conduct more of their work in Brussels instead of Strasbourg.

Part of this ability to say 'no' stems from his long experience as a trade union official. From 1975 until his election to parliament in 1987, Henderson was an organiser for the General Municipal Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union, where he gained a reputation as a tough and canny operator.

Colleagues describe him as charming, persuasive and amusing. Those who have worked with him in the past say his civil servants and EU officials will find him one of the most accommodating of ministers.

“Doug was incredibly kind and generous towards me. He is probably the most decent figure I met in ten years' involvement with the Labour Party,” says one of his former assistants.

One problem his officials may have, however, is trying to arrange his agenda around his daily run. Henderson is a serious marathon runner, with a best time of 2 hours 46 minutes, although he has lost one of his most enthusiastic training partners with the defeat at the election of former Tory MP and Olympic gold medallist Seb Coe. Cricket, mountaineering and skiing are among his other interests.

In political outlook, Henderson has always been in the centre of the party, never indulging in the wilder excesses of left-wing policy which bedevilled Labour in the Eighties.

But nor does he have much time for the fashionable politically correct causes of metropolitan New Labour. His only concession to fashion has been in personal appearance rather than politics. Since he first entered Parliament he has shaved off his moustache and replaced his spectacles with contact lenses.

Unlike most of his newly elected Labour colleagues, Henderson is from a traditional working-class background. Born in Edinburgh in 1949, the son of a railwayman, he left school at 16 and became an apprentice at Rolls-Royce in Glasgow. In his early twenties, he sought to improve his education and enrolled as a student at Strathclyde University.

From there his interest in politics deepened, driving him first into trade unionism and then into parliament. His selection for the Newcastle North seat in 1986 - after failing to find a seat in Scotland - came after a bitterly fought contest which led to allegations of vote-rigging. Only after a full investigation by Labour's national executive committee was his selection endorsed.

Despite such difficulties, Henderson was fortunate in his choice of constituency. He is now part of the north-east of England political mafia which dominates the Labour government. His neighbouring MPs include Chief Whip Nick Brown, Labour's campaign manager Peter Mandelson and, of course, Blair himself.

Henderson sees no problem in being a Scot sitting for a northern English seat, claiming there are similarities in temperament between the two peoples.

“Both are instinctively more democratic, more egalitarian, more questioning, more self-deprecating, more humorous, louder, often more convivial and frequently less sober,” he says, describing many of the characteristics he has displayed in his own career.

He will certainly need them now as he faces his greatest challenge.