Unparliamentary Language: Jenny Jones

What is your earliest memory?

My earliest memory is getting sunstroke at the age of three. My mother came to see me in hospital and she said I was lying naked on a table with ice laid around me. That’s how they brought my temperature down. I woke up and I was too ill to play with any of the toys in the middle of the children’s ward. I remember being very disappointed.

What were you like growing up?

I was fairly rebellious. I wasn’t a particularly good student, I got bored very easily. I didn’t get into education until I was a mature student, and then I absolutely loved it. But before that I found it all a little constraining.

I see that you lived in a few places. How did you end up in the Seychelles?

I got married and had children – I was basically a housewife. My husband originally worked in Lesotho. We were there about seven years and then we lived in the Seychelles for about six and a half years. The Seychelles were absolutely beautiful, but dead. I couldn’t work because I couldn’t get a work permit. You weren’t really encouraged to do voluntary work either. I did a bit but back then it was a sort of Marxist government so we weren’t really supposed to volunteer. But I got really good at water sports.

That’s something! Which watersports?

I dived. I actually got to the point where I was teaching. We dived on wrecks and round islands. In fact, that gave me one of the most amazing experiences of my life: meeting a whale shark.  We were out on a boat trying to find a wreck and then all of a sudden we spotted this shark. Huge, huge creature. We all got our gear on quickly and dived in there. We just watched it. It was incredible.

So how did you get in to politics?

The Seychelles are amazing for six weeks, but for six years? So I came back and started in politics. In 1970, I finally read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich and was just horrified about what we were doing to our planet. I mean there wasn’t much to do in terms of saving the planet in Lesotho and the Seychelles but when I got back here I started working with the local Green party in Herefordshire and started from there.

And has archaeology always been an interest?

No. After my divorce I thought: ‘I really need an education’. I thought archaeology would just be the easiest subject because I was enthused by it. Of course it isn’t the easiest subject, but it is as an amazing subject. It is a lot of hard work and really badly paid, although I did it for 10 years. I worked in various places in the Middle East. I wasn’t a very good archaeologist.

What makes a good archaeologist?

You have to have an attention to detail and you have to read. You have to be able to recognise the stuff you’re digging up. They say you have to have huge patience because you are scraping away tiny fractions of the earth but you sort of get into a zen state and it is actually quite soothing. 

If you could go back and pick the age you were happiest, which age would you choose?

I think I’m happiest now. It was great when I was in my twenties and my thirties from a physical point of view but quite honestly my quality of life is fantastic now. I love my family and the friends I have. I regret the physical decay of my body. I sometimes think that when I get to the point where I can no longer run for the bus, I’d like an assisted death.

What would you call your autobiography?

The Price of Tomatoes. I was chatting to someone once and I said that the economy wasn’t doing too well. They said, ‘oh I don’t know anything about the economy, I only know the price of tomatoes’. I thought, actually that is what it’s all about.

You’re having a dinner party. What are you cooking to impress?

I probably wouldn’t think about impressing people with the food. I don’t want to waste time in the kitchen while there are interesting people around the table. I would make a starter that everyone could pick at and then I would have something quite simple like vegetarian lasagne with a very good salad. It would have to be as organic as possible of course.

Who are you inviting?

I probably would just invite my family and friends I’m afraid. I have talked to famous people and they aren’t that interesting.

What don’t your colleagues know about you?

It’s slightly odd, but I was young when I fixated on Arnold Schwarzenegger. The only nice thing Boris Johnson ever did for me – during his eight years of being Mayor and while I was an Assembly Member critic of him – was to introduce me to Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s always been a hero of mine.

That’s certainly unexpected.

What Boris doing anything nice or meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger being a hero of mine? I suppose I feel Arnold Schwarzenegger was born into poverty – which I was too – and he just fought his way up. I quite admire that. At the same time he talks about climate change.

What are you most proud of?

I have two daughters, who I absolutely adore. I have five grandkids. But I don’t know if I can say I’m proud of them because they are their own people. As an Assembly Member, I was very proud of getting bike racks behind City Hall. I think to a certain extent I’m proud of surviving in the House of Lords as a singleton, because I think that’s quite tough.

Why is that tough?

Although I have friends there whom I really value, and I have colleagues from other parties who I do work with, there is nobody who I can turn to who understands my whole remit and the Green philosophy. I find it quite isolating. But I have spoken to other peers and they say it’s just the same for other parties.

What’s your biggest regret?

I don’t really go for regrets. Not really. Sometimes I think I should’ve made more of school but if I had done that I wouldn’t be where I am now. I don’t really do regrets or fear.

How do you not do fear?

I do alarm and panic. But I don’t know, fear is just not in my makeup. I’m absolutely terrified about what’s happening to our planet. I have political fears but not really personal fears. Or maybe they’re so buried so deep that I can’t access them.

Do you think you’re a brave person?

I think rebelliousness is a kind of bravery. I am quick to ask people not to talk so loudly on their mobile phones or to take their feet off the train seats. Perhaps that’s a slight recklessness.

Have you ever broken the law?

Oh, loads of times, of course! I smoked cannabis but it’s not my drug of choice. I prefer caffeine and alcohol. I imagine it is quite hard to get to my age and not have broken some laws. I’m very law abiding. Unless I think the law is stupid.

Have you ever been arrested?

I got arrested a few years ago at an Occupy protest at Parliament Square. At the time I was trying to calm everyone down. Protestors were being harassed by the police and the police were getting totally fed up with their opposition, so I was going, “look can we all just calm down?”. Then the senior officer just said “right, nick them all”. And so I had my hands cuffed behind my back by a police officer. I kept telling him that he was really hurting me and he just ignored it. I thought, if he’s doing that to a small woman in her sixties, how is he treating other people? Anyway, I got arrested but I was released three minutes later.

Who do you most admire?

I’ve been reading a lot about Rosa Parks recently. She must have been so tired to refuse to stand up on that bus but also so brave. The retribution could have been so extreme and so fast. I’d say I admire someone like Rosa Parks who is a sort of innocent hero. She wasn’t looking for glory, fame or celebrity.

 

 

 

 

PoliticsHome Newsletters

Get the inside track on what MPs and Peers are talking about. Sign up to The House's morning email for the latest insight and reaction from Parliamentarians, policy-makers and organisations.