Patrick McLoughlin on HS2, rebellion and Ukip

It was, perhaps, inevitable that heading to interview the Transport Secretary I would end up stuck in traffic — so by the time I reached Patrick McLoughlin’s office, I was running a few minutes late. The normal punishment for tardiness is to be left languishing outside a minister’s office. But McLoughlin does things differently. When I arrive, his door is open and he urges me to come straight in.

As befits a man who used to earn his crust as a miner, McLoughlin has a big physical presence. He is broad-shouldered and the buttons on his shirt sleeves look close to bursting as they try to contain his large forearms. His physical appearance is just the most obvious of the many traits that make McLoughlin stand out in a cabinet dominated by Oxbridge graduates. His life has not been one of privileged ease.

McLoughlin was born into a mining family in Stafford in 1957. He had to grow up very young when his father died — leaving him, one of his elder sisters and his mother at home. He tells me that his mother went out to work at 6.30 a.m., so I ask if his sister got him dressed, given that he had just started primary school. He looks at me like I’m slightly odd, before chuckling and declaring, ‘No, we got ourselves ready.’ The conservative notion of self-reliance was something he learned young.

McLoughlin remarks ruefully that ‘I never really knew my father at all. He died the day after my seventh birthday, so 1 December 1964.’ When I ask more, McLoughlin replies, ‘I never really talk about my father, simply because I didn’t really know him. I mean the idea that you have this great relationship with your father by the age of six…’