I would much prefer someone to stand up and say, 'I cannot deliver what you are requesting.' I understand that. But he expects certain promises to be honoured, starting with one that he has had covered with laminated plastic. "It was a political statement from a politician," he continues, "I don't look at it in any other way."This sounds ominous for his relations with Labour, a party he joined in 1964. "I was a great supporter of Harold Wilson and the white heat of technology," he tells me. "I don't think that's the correct analysis of it." He believes that this was a Blairite attempt to distance new Labour from an unpopular dispute. "David Blunkett would best have served the interests of the train drivers I represent by keeping out of it." Yes, but wasn't it perhaps significant that a disabled man should feel so strongly? Perhaps this comes from Blunkett's perception of how much some people suffer when there is a strike This does not appeal to Mr Adams.

How can anybody tell me to adjudicate or arbitrate on that? I mean to say, halve it or quarter it I won't have it I want that." He slaps it again "I don't want anyone to tell me anything about that. I want that delivered."But if that's the case, would an arbitrator not find in Aslef's favour? He waves the paper "I can read that Anyone can read that And it says AGREEMENT - Working Arrangements Agreement That is honest [honest is Mr Adams's favourite word]. So I don't want any sleaze merchant, as has happened with some MPs - who've got their snouts in the trough for 26 per cent - to tell me what is right or wrong here."How about David Blunkett, who called for binding arbitration? Lew is cross. The crux is that last year the employers signed an agreement, and it's his contention that they have simply reneged on it He prods a document "I have got an agreement which is there" He slaps it "It says AGREEMENT It's there. "The strikes have inconvenienced a lot of people and that we do regret And I mean that with sincerity. But we had exhausted all other avenues".Yes, but couldn't he have gone to arbitration, or something? At this point he becomes quite animated.