Worst experience I remember was at a Labour party fundraiser for the National Union of Seamen, who were on strike at the time. This was early in 1989.

Graham Larkbey kicked off and he was great. Then a couple of arty-farty lefty women decided to do a one-hour, two-woman sketch about the evils of Thatcherism - using masks. Poor Robb Johnson, who was also playing, got roped into it at one point.

At one point in this skit, one of the women was addressing the audience saying 'What can I do to protect myself from the oppression of Thatcher?' A mate of mine, a scouse woman living in Ealing at the time, had had a few by then and piped up, 'Kick her in the c***!'. Awkward silence all round, especially from the 'sisters'.

By the end of that, the punters had pretty much all lost the will to live but the best was yet to come. A speaker from the Union (who was also completely pissed by this time) came up and told the audience that he was glad about the 'Herald of Free Enterprise' sinking a couple of years before because it showed how greedy the bosses were. Then he bragged that the Union were going to buy their own ferries and put P&O out of business (and probably use them to ram the royal yacht Britannia, no doubt).

We eventually got to play for about 20 minutes and then we were offski as fast as our little legs could carry us. I knew there and then the Tories were going to win the next election and guess what - that's exactly what happened. Why? Because the Labour Party deserved to lose.