IT’S a rare thing for a politician to get resounding applause before they begin speaking but this happened with former Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

The Hull West and Hessle MP, who was introduced as one of the the most figures in the House of Commons, was not in Dorchester to talk politics but to talk about his love of Thomas Hardy literature.

The last politician who spoke at the Thomas Hardy Society Conference was Harold Macmillan, conference secretary Mike Nixon told the audience.

Mr Johnson soon had us laughing as he told of how, as a postman, he would drive to Dorneywood, ‘the place where John Prescott got into a lot of trouble playing croquet’, and would park up the road and read Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

“It was that glorious summer of 1976. There were no mobile phones, the Post Office couldn’t track you down.

“I have this lasting memory of sitting there and reading that gorgeous book,” he said.

Mr Johnson went on to read three Hardy novels while he was a postal worker and has read five in all.

Return of the Native changed his life, he said.

Mr Johnson, who has also been Health Secretary, Education Secretary and Shadow Chancellor, told how he dealt with the financial meltdown of 2008, compared to the then-Chancellor Alistair Darling.

“Alistair Darling went to a Leonard Cohen concert to cheer himself up and I read Jude the Obscure,” he said.

Surprisingly, Mr Johnson encountered more fans of Thomas Hardy in the postal service than he ever has in Whitehall.

“I had more discussions about literature in the sorting office for Slough than I ever did in parliament. I can’t think of another Hardy fan but perhaps I should mention it to Oliver Letwin.”

Also a fan of poet Philip Larkin, Mr Johnson told the audience he has had a go at writing poetry.

“When I was education minister, we had Paul McCartney at one of the schools.

“I quoted some lines from my own poem Bad Skin to him.”

Mr Johnson entertained the audience and drew plenty of laughs.

His best-selling book This Boy was briefly mentioned without the hard sell and Mr Johnson ended the talk on a positive note.

“Anyone who has anything to do with education realises that if a child has someone batting for him or her, at least one parent who sits down and reads to you, it’s crucial.

“It instils a love of books and no matter what your ethnicity and social class you will get through,” he said.

Mr Johnson’s genuine love of Hardy shone through in what turned out to be a rousing way to close the conference.

It was refreshing to hear what Dorset’s most famous son meant to this down-to-earth and charismatic politician, who, taking a swipe at career politicians across all three major parties, hammered home the importance of literature and living a life out of politics before dipping a toe into the deep waters of Westminster.

JOANNA DAVIS