14 NOVEMBER 1987, Page 59

William Waldegrave

IF YOU are a politician, most lunches are occasions for someone to lobby you about something. Solitude is therefore a very great luxury and one that is best found by lurking behind the ramparts of your de- partment. The most luxurious lunch I have is therefore one that consists of apple and cheese and a glass of wine looking over London from the window of the hideous pile in Marsham Street in which I work.