Getting to know Phillip Hammond...

My speech: 30% Labour wrecked the economy; 10% High Speed Rail; 15% Localism; 15% Rail must modernise; 30% We will "save the car"

My speech: 30% Labour wrecked the economy; 10% High Speed Rail; 15% Localism; 15% Rail must modernise; 30% We will "save the car"

When Labour came to power in 1997 it was John Prescott who was handed the transport brief. Prescott was enthusiastically pro-public transport but soon found himself under fire for being “anti-motorist”.

The current transport secretary, the first to be installed by the new coalition government is the polar opposite, and the transport world got to know him a little better at October’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. While Prescott pledged to transform the bus from...