When the former deputy leader of the Labour Party and MP turned 50 a couple of years ago, he weighed 22 stone, was struggling with type 2 diabetes and his fitness levels were so poor he could barely play with his children. A radical change of lifestyle saw him shed 8 stone and reverse his diabetes diagnosis – and with it has come a determination to use his life post-politics to help other people achieve the same turnaround (as well as writing a political thriller).

 

In conversation with Bee Wilson, food writer, journalist and Festival Patron