Still A Game Cook

Norman Tebbit talks to Patrick Galbraith about fieldsports, politics and the joys of cooking game

I first read Norman Tebbit’s The Game Cook at 5.30am, lying beneath my duvet eating jelly babies. It was Christmas Day 2009, and I had found the little book poking out of my stocking at the end of my bed. At that point I had no idea who Tebbit was. Eight years on, as inevitably happens to any good cookery book, my copy is now torn in places, tatty throughout, and covered in gravy stains.

Some months ago, the controversial former Tory grandee decided to republish the great little cooking companion, so I thought I’d give him a ring and see where his love for all things shooting began. When he picks up the phone he is standing over the stove, midway through making partridge and dhal. This, Tebbit tells me, is his party piece and the dish he would pull out if he was a young guy trying to impress some girl.