Lord Peter Hain knows a thing or two about political intrigue, and not only from writing about it. The son of South African anti-apartheid activists who were jailed, banned and eventually forced into exile, Hain was just 19 when he led campaigns to stop all-white South African sports tours. The backlash was extraordinary: he was sent a letter bomb, framed for a bank theft he knew nothing about and came perilously close to prison.
He went on to spend 24 years as a Labour MP in the UK, including 12 years in government and seven in the Cabinet, while somehow also finding time to write 30 books. His latest thriller, Smuggler Kingpin (Jonathan Ball), heads into the murky world of African tobacco and gold trafficking, where Zimbabwean corruption and South African gangsterism collide.
The book hits South African bookstores this month, with Hain heading here later in August for a series of events, including a launch at Exclusive Books Hyde Park and a lecture at Gibs Business School. Before he arrives, we put our Eight Questions to the politician, activist, author and lifelong sports fan.
What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year, and why?
Surviving Chaos: Geopolitics When the Rules Fail by Mark Leonard because I found it especially interesting on China and why it’s stealing a technological march on the Western world.
How do you keep fit?
I walk regularly, go to the gym regularly without heroics, and occasionally do Pilates to strengthen my core, which older people tend to ignore.
Week-night, low-key restaurant go-to?
King Arthur Pub in Gower, South Wales, near home or, on holiday, Café Roux in Noordhoek Farm Village on the Cape Peninsula.
What is the one artwork you’ll always love, and why?
Picasso’s Guernica, which depicts so starkly the horror of the Nazi bombing of a peaceful Basque village in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. When it was displayed in Paris, a Nazi leader reputedly asked, “Who did this?” Picasso replied, “You did.”
Do you have a hobby? What is it?
Watching soccer, especially Premier League side Chelsea, which I’ve supported since 1965, just before my anti-apartheid parents and us four kids were forced into exile from South Africa to southwest London.
The one unusual item you can’t live without?
Rooibos tea.
Who was your high-school celeb crush?
All his girlfriends in the James Bond films.
Three songs you’d take to a desert island?
UB40’s Red Red Wine, Katie Melua’s If You Were a Sailboat and Hot Water’s Lekker Sakkie.
