Stephen Gethins: I'm probably one of the only MPs who has sat down with senior Russian officers years ago

What’s your earliest memory? 

It’s my dad putting me to bed the night before my third birthday. But I also remember playing with a truck in the garden outside the house in Dundee. I have a few early memories from when I was two or three.  

What were you like at school? 

I was a wee bit quiet, and I suppose a little bit nerdy. In primary school, I was sporty, but in secondary school, I was a bit awkward.  

I went to a youth theatre in Perth, which was a great outlet, and I made great friends for life. School was important but the youth theatre, which was the one that Ewan McGregor and Michelle Duncan went to, was so important in terms of formation and for my confidence. Also, some of the skills I picked up have been helpful for my current job.  

Then at university, I went on to do debating, which really helped. I remember Hilary Benn, just after a pile of us got elected in 2015, saying “you can always tell the Scottish students because they are the ones that did a bit of debating”.  

Who would be your dream dinner date?  

This is naff, but because I have two small children, my dream dinner date is my wife. It’s a bit soppy but that is my genuine answer.  

If I am thinking about people from history, it’s people who have challenged and received wisdom in a thoughtful and respectful way. People like E.D Morel, the former MP for Dundee, who worked on the issue of slavery, and William Wilberforce too. People like Michael Collins, Gandhi, and Williamina Fleming.    

What’s your greatest fear? 

The Loch Ness Monster. I don’t know why; it must be from when I was a kid. I still wouldn’t go in a boat.

You must sometimes have been asked about the Loch Ness Monster in your time working in the international NGO sector and as an MP? 

I am probably one of the only MPs who has sat down with senior Russian officers years ago when I was in the Caucasus region. It’s clear Scotland has a terrific international brand, and that is part of it, along with whisky, tartan, and the rest of it. People do ask about those things. 

Do you find being Scottish to be a bit of an icebreaker in those kinds of situations? 

Yes. I’ve written about this. People have found it to be an icebreaker all over the world. For example, there are international NGOs that will use their Scottish credentials as a way of gaining credibility or to be seen as more neutral. 

When I was in the Caucuses, and I was dealing with areas affected by conflict like South Ossetia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh, I would use it as a way of trying to neutralise the situation. The Georgians would associate themselves with what was going on in Scotland, they could understand it because of their relationship with Russia, and similarly, the Abkhaz or South Ossetians may associate it with being minorities in a bigger political entity.  
But there were lots of other things, even just down to things like Robert Burns, whose work was important in the former Soviet Union and was on its educational curriculum.  

But yeah, I remember sitting with the so-called foreign ministers of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and they were just generally interested.   

What’s your most treasured possession?  

I have two. I have a first copy King James Bible. I got that when I won my first debating competition when I was in school. I also have a first edition copy of Eastern Approaches that my Gran gave me, which is an amazing book by Fitzroy McLean about his travels around what was the Soviet Union and the Balkans.  

What’s your guiltiest pleasure? 

Taylor Swift. I couldn’t get tickets for her recent concert. It was also in the middle of an election campaign.  

I do have other musical tastes. But I remember I was living in Belgium when she first came out and I thought she was brilliant. It’s the one thing my daughter finds cool about me.  

If you could go back in time, where would you go? 

I would love to relive university again. I loved it, although I’m not sure I’m fit for it anymore. It was the period in my life when I started travelling all around Europe and discovering all of these amazing places. 

If it were a period in history, I would love to go back and speak to people like Altiero Spinelli and Robert Schuman, the people who started writing the European treaties. Everyone talks about foundation documents. The Americans love it, and they can do that with 200 years of hindsight. I think that the post-war period was so interesting and shaped the continent.  

What’s the worst pain you’ve ever experienced? 

I got my appendix taken out around the time of the Brexit referendum. It was also around the time my wife was giving birth, so I was struggling to find any sympathy. But childbirth is much worse, so I didn’t want to make a big deal of it, but it was really sore.  

I also put a pole through my foot when I was living in Belgium. It was getting put up on the wall and I slipped. I had to go to hospital and get stitches in the sole of my foot. There was blood everywhere.  

I was scheduled to sit my driving test, which is the reason to this day I can only drive automatic because I could only use one foot during the test.  

What was the last book you read? 

It was Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore. Putin let Montefiore into the Kremlin files, they were Stalin’s period of rule and gave an insight into what on earth was going on from the 1920s through to his death.  And Armando Iannucci, who I nominated for an honorary degree a couple of weeks ago, used some of the Kremlin files when he wrote Death of Stalin.