Page 762 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

At the DoE, Key set up an Inner Cities Religious Council in 1991 to help defuse tensions, and was
given special responsibility for Liverpool. He got off on the wrong foot by claiming that there were
7,000 Liverpudlians drawing the dole in Bournemouth. But having spent time in the city, “my
perception of Liverpool changed”, and he went on to tour America with the Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra and Merseyside Development Corporation to drum up investment.

After the 1992 election, Major moved Key to what would be his favourite job, at David Mellor’s new
Department of National Heritage. When Mellor was forced to resign soon after, Key competently
handled the interregnum until Peter Brooke returned to the government to replace him.

Key visited Windsor Castle with Brooke that November to see the extent of its fire damage. He
announced that the National Lottery would have a £1 million weekly prize. And at the 1993 Cannes
Film Festival he put his officials on “bimbo alert” to make sure he was not photographed with porn
stars.

He spent his final year in government at John MacGregor’s Department of Transport. Key
launched a crackdown on speeding, but made clear his love for cars – starting with his first, a
Sunbeam Rapier convertible. He categorised the railways as “environmentally unfriendly”, having
“carved up the countryside” and “spewed out polluting gases”.