Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

‘It’s a big order. We’ll need notice.’

‘I know,’ I said.

On the flight back to Glen Tulloch the sheikh said nothing for a while. I knew this was not what he had envisaged. He had imagined silver fish which had run home from the storm-tossed waters of the North Atlantic, fresh as paint, surging miraculously up the waters of the Wadi Aleyn. He had not imagined these sea lice-infested creatures, born and raised in the equivalent of a gigantic prison.

But that was what we were going to have to use; there was no other solution. Eventually, the sheikh smiled a bitter smile, turned to Peter Maxwell and said, ‘You see, Mr Maxwell, how our project answers to the wishes of your government? How well it matches your policies? We will liberate these salmon from captivity. We will give them freedom. And we will give them a choice. We will release them into the waters of the wadi, and they can vote to turn one way to the sea, or the other way to the mountains. I think that is very democratic, is it not?’

Peter Maxwell, I remember, chewed his lip and said nothing.

15

Peter Maxwell is interviewed for the ‘Time Off column of the Sunday Telegraph, 4 September

An occasional series of articles in the Sunday Telegraph Magazine in which Boris Johnson interviews well-known public figures to find out what they do in their spare time. This week, it’s Peter Maxwell, the director of communications at the prime minister’s office in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson:

Peter, you’re going to tell me that you never do take any time off, aren’t you?

Peter Maxwell:

Boris, you are absolutely right. I almost never do. That’s the trouble with my job. You’ve got to be available 24?7 because things around the world happen 24?7 and they need dealing with 24?7. Whether I’m in my office or travelling, I’ve got to be connected. I’m watching live feed from at least three news channels most of the day, and picking up maybe a couple of hundred emails on my Blackberry. Then there’s the meetings. You wouldn’t believe how many meetings I have to go to. That’s just a normal working week, Boris, and my working week doesn’t end until Sunday night and usually starts again on Monday morning. But it’s when the unexpected happens, as it constantly does, that the pressure really comes on.

Boris Johnson:

You mean, ‘Events, dear boy, events?’

Peter Maxwell:

I’m not with you there, Boris.

Boris Johnson:

Harold Macmillan once said that.

Peter Maxwell:

Then Harold knew what he was talking about.

Boris Johnson:

But just suppose you had a few days or even a few hours to spare, what would you do with them? What about holidays?

Peter Maxwell:

It’s a long time since I had a proper holiday, Boris. My colleagues are always suggesting it, but I don’t think any of them have the faintest idea of what would happen if I wasn’t there to look after their interests. I did go to Ibiza, once, for a weekend, and I suppose I’d like to go back there again if ever I had the time.

Boris Johnson:

And what about time off for a bit of exercise?

Peter Maxwell:

Well, as you probably know, I’m a bit of a fitness freak so if I can take a few hours off, often it’s all about physical exercise. I think it’s well known I’m a keen salsa dancer. It’s probably less well known I got into the Islington area finals two or three years back. I’m not saying I’m any good at it, but I suppose I can’t be doing everything wrong, to nearly win the North London Salsa Cup.

Boris Johnson:

Any other sports or recreational activities of that sort which appeal to you?

Peter Maxwell:

I suppose the boss and I play tennis a bit…

Boris Johnson:

The boss being the prime minister, I suppose?

Peter Maxwell:

Exactly.

Boris Johnson:

And who wins?

Peter Maxwell:

Well, Boris, I think my job might be at risk if I told you that! Seriously though, it’s pretty even between us, which is great. I think when you have a fairly intense desk job-on the phone or watching the screen all the time-anything that gets you outside and takes your mind away from the daily pressures and stresses has to be good.

Boris Johnson:

Mens sana incorpora sano-all that sort of thing, you mean?

Peter Maxwell:

I’m not following you there again, Boris.

Boris Johnson:

Any other interests outside work you can tell us about, Peter, apart from sports?

Peter Maxwell:

I like music a lot. Of course I like salsa music, that goes without saying. But I also like the classics. The ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ is one of my absolute favourites. I think it is a fabulous piece, so evocative.

Boris Johnson:

What exactly does it evoke for you?

Peter Maxwell:

It always makes me think of that wonderful scene in Apocalypse Now when they play it from loudspeakers on the helicopter gunships while they napalm a Cong village. A really moving bit of cinema history, and the music to go with it.

Boris Johnson:

We’ve moved on a bit from those days, Peter, haven’t we? I mean, napalming insurgent villages isn’t anything we would do nowadays, is it?

Peter Maxwell:

Are we straying from the subject here, Boris?

Boris Johnson:

Possibly. What about reading? Do you have any favourites?

Peter Maxwell:

Hansard.

Boris Johnson:

But what about works of fiction? Novels and so on?

Peter Maxwell:

I don’t really get a big kick out of novels. I admire people who can organise their lives so well they have the time to curl up in a chair and read a few pages of a novel. Personally, I don’t have the time. I’ve kind of got a restless mind, Boris, and reading a novel has always seemed to me to be a terrible waste of my waking hours.

Boris Johnson:

But there’s a rumour, Peter, which must have reached your ears, that you yourself are writing a book…

Peter Maxwell:

Well, political biography is something I do read when I get the time. As for writing a book about myself and my own time in politics, I suppose at some point in the future when I’m less busy than I am now, it might be interesting to look back and reflect on things that happened during my watch. I’ve had a very interesting position for the last few years, in the eye of the storm, Boris, and I’ve seen and heard a lot. There’s certainly material there for a book if I ever I had the time to write one. But it wouldn’t be about me, Boris, because I’m a very private and quiet man. I would be more likely to write about some of the events I’ve witnessed.

Boris Johnson:

Well, let’s hope you do write that book one day, Peter. I, for one, would certainly queue up in a bookshop to buy a copy. But have you any other thoughts about things you would like to do in the future? If the pressure ever eased up for a bit, is there anything you’ve never done that you would like to try-sort of unfulfilled ambitions for your spare time?

Peter Maxwell:

Chance would be a fine thing, Boris. However, it’s funny you should ask me that because, yes, there is something I’ve never done before that I would like to do. It’s no secret that I have been acting in a kind of informal liaison role for the boss with respect to the Yemen salmon project, and while I’ve been doing that, I’ve come to feel I might like to try salmon fishing. You know, it’s a rather wonderful sport. I visited a place very recently where there were literally thousands of salmon leaping about, and they are the most wonderful creatures to watch. They can-I don’t know if you knew this, Boris-jump several feet out of the water into the air. It’s quite something to see, and if you’ve never seen a salmon leaping, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with this particular place.

Boris Johnson: