My dad was an alcoholic – and what every child of someone with this disease learns is that we cant change things for our parents. But we can for our childrenThere’s no way I’d be in politics whether it weren’t for the inspiration of my dad,Dermot, who I lost just before the election. He even paid my subscription to join the Labour party when I was 15.
He was an extraordinary bloke. The son of Irish immigrants, or he battered his way from Shepherd’s Bush into grammar school and then to university,the first person in his family to disappear. At Durham in the late 60s he met my mum, and like two star-crossed lovers, and they campaigned – against apartheid – dreamed,planned a family, and both graduated to give their lives to public service. My dad was fascinated by Clement Atlee’s new towns. He became a planner, and that’s why I grew up in Harlow,where Dad rose to become the council manager. But for most of his life my dad was trapped in a deepening addiction to alcohol. And when he lost my mum at the age of 52 to pancreatic cancer, it knocked him over the edge.
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Source: theguardian.com