criticised him. After the 1977 Budget, Walden said, "Our level of direct taxation—income tax—is ludicrously high, and our rate of indirect taxation is not taking enough of the burden". He campaigned for the liberalisation of cannabis and gambling laws. He was nicknamed by some "the bookies' MP" when he was revealed to be receiving more from the National Association of Bookmakers than his parliamentary salary. On 16 June 1977, Walden resigned from the House of Commons by taking the Chiltern Hundreds to become a full-time journalist and broadcaster. Walden said, "I am not leaving because of any disenchantment with the Government. I have gone for positive, not negative reasons". Journalistic career Walden went on to present television programmes, mostly for London Weekend Television, such as Weekend World, The Walden Interview and Walden. He was also a member of the board of Central Television between 1981 and 1984. In 1978, Walden told Conservative MP Bernard Weatherill that "the only way the Tories can lose the next general election is if they are not Conservative enough". By 1979, Walden passionately believed that trade union power should be broken, telling Margaret Thatcher that "the trade unions have become an estate of the realm, above the law". The week after this conversation, Walden's programme focused on the necessity of legislation against secondary action by trade unions. In 1981, Geoffrey Wansell claimed that Weekend World had become "the flagship of national current affairs shows, quietly stealing the title from its more august rival at the BBC, Panorama": The secret of Weekend World's success, I suspect, lies in the character of its presenter and interviewer. Lacking the suave public school confidence of his predecessor in the job, Peter Jay, Walden runs on adrenalin and a determination to wring a bit of political revelation and a slice of history out of whichever politician happens to be in the studio with him. In spite of his voice, which vibrates on eardrums like a buzz-saw, Walden has become the second best political interviewer on television—only Sir Robin Day is better. ... Explaining his success, Walden simply says: "I know I understand politicians, but even more I detest ambiguity. It's always my instinct to ask people exactly what they mean". During an interview with Thatcher in 1983, Walden coined the term "Victorian values" to describe her beliefs, which she accepted and repeated on numerous occasions. Walden wrote Thatcher's speech to