NIGEL de Gruchy, the master of the soundbite, is struggling to find the right words. The torrent of reminiscences and light-hearted remarks dries up when he is asked to sum up how he feels about his experience during 12 years as general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers. Finally, he proffers: “Pleasantly surprised.”

Admittedly, he goes on to find other words: “exhausting”, “exhilarating”, but he seems pleased to discover that, really, his time at the helm has surpassed any expectations he might have had back in 1990. “I thought long and hard about whether to apply for the job when Fred Smithies was coming up for retirement,” he reflects. “The job was a bed of nails at the time, dealing with Margaret Thatcher, Sir Keith Joseph and Kenneth Baker. Fred did well just to survive and keep the association alive. There was no doubt the Tories wanted to put us out of business.”

Within months of Mr de Gruchy’s appointment, Mrs Thatcher had left 10 Downing Street, and within a year, John Major’s government had given the nod to a teachers’ pay review body, with Mr de Gruchy playing no small role in bringing it about. It was his first taste of success - and he liked it.

Wherever there was news, there was Nigel. Armed with press statements, he would be waiting for journalists as they left briefings at the Department for Education. “I think my record is six press statements in one day ... but I couldn’t maintain that level of productivity,” he says.

He moved the union’s London offices to Covent Garden - a short walk from Parliament, the Trade Union Congress, the Department for Education and the radio and TV stations at Millbank. He installed ISDN links in his office and his home, so that he would be the teachers’ leader with the clearest telephone link. “It also meant I could do the Today programme in my pyjamas,” he joked.

Even though his ubiquitous presence in the media earned him, in some quarters, the reputation of being a publicity-driven one-man band, his strategy paid off. In 1990, membership was just 120,000. Today, it has reached more than 200,000.

“It was a lot of hard work. It did not happen by accident,” says Mr de Gruchy, who acknowledges that he drove himself close to exhaustion during the late 1990s.

His finest hour came in 1993 - he was the chief architect behind the teachers’ boycott of excessive workload associated with national curriculum testing and assessment. The London borough of Wandsworth challenged the legality of the NASUWT’s proposed industrial action in the High Court. The union won. Wandsworth appealed and the union won again. “It was probably my finest moment,” he says. “It shocked the Tory government - it was the only victory by a trade union in 18 years of Tory rule.”

As a result, the Dearing inquiry was set up, testing and assessment slimmed down and external markers introduced for many of the tests.

But it is defending teachers’ rights not to teach violent and disruptive pupils which he describes as “his baby”. Even as London secretary of the union in the 1970s he was fighting this corner.

In the late 1990s the subject exploded on to the national scene with four high-profile cases, culminating with The Ridings School in Halifax. He describes this period as his “grittiest hour”.

If his lack of attention to managing the union or his more outrageous utterances have caused offence among officers or members, the news does not get out. Under his stewardship, the union has been a tight, disciplined ship. And while the executive does not always gets its way at conference, there are none of those scenes which are so damaging to the National Union of Teachers at this time of the year. The NUT may, in the public’s view, be the most militant, but when the NASUWT calls for action, it is never an empty threat.

As his successor, Eamonn O’Kane, takes over as general secretary today, it is time for Mr de Gruchy to take a back seat. He says he has been winding down gradually, but still, it seems, finds it hard to pass up a media moment when it presents itself. Only two weekends ago, a team from Sky television wanted to interview him about Estelle Morris’s comments on violent parents. “They interviewed me on the first tee,” says Mr de Gruchy.

This at least gives a hint of what he hopes to do next. “My three priorities for retirement are golf, golf and more golf. I’m also going to give leisure a try.”

For the moment though, he still has a year to serve on the TUC and is tipped to take over the presidency next year. He will also continue to serve on the executive of Educational International, which represents 23 million teachers from 140 countries.

“When people say I don’t stand for anything, I say it’s ludicrously simple: I thought teachers were badly treated in the late 1960s and went to an NASUWT meeting and opened my mouth. Here I am some 33 years later still doing the same.

“I’ve always been a traditionalist - I believe in whole class teaching - and I have never changed my views to secure promotion unlike other people who get to the top.”

Mr de Gruchy may have been pleasantly surprised by his years as general secretary, but how would he like others to remember him? With barely a hesitation, he says: “That I spoke up for the teacher in the classroom.”

CURRICULUM VITAE

1943 Born in Jersey and educated at De La Salle College.

1965 Graduated from University of Reading with an honours degree in economics and social philosophy.

1965-68 Combined study, travel and work in France and Spain.

1968 Met his wife Judy in riot-torn Paris.

1969 Took the PGCE and settled in Orpington, Kent. Became head of economics at St Joseph’s Academy, a Roman Catholic grammar school in south London. Spoke at first NASUWT meeting at a pub in Lewisham.

1975 Son Paul born.

1975-78 Served on the NASUWT national executive.

1978 Joined staff of NASUWT as assistant secretary.

1990 Became general secretary.

1993 Legal victory against the London borough of Wandsworth over teachers’

workload and national curriculum testing.

1996 NASUWT members refuse to teach disruptive pupils at schools in Nottinghamshire and South Tyneside. At a second Nottinghamshire school, Manton junior in Worksop, NASUWT members stage an eight-day strike over a disruptive pupil.

Strike action threatened by members at The Ridings School in Halifax unless 61 disruptive pupils are excluded. Head resigns and school is temporarily closed.

1999 Mr de Gruchy successfully leads representations to the Government to amend its proposals on performance pay.

2001 Wins court case giving teachers the right to take industrial action over disruptive pupils.

MAGIC MOMENTS IN DE GRUCHY-SPEAK

“They are taking away the last perk of the teachers.” On proposals for a six-term year which would cut the summer break (Dec 21, 2001)

“It’s like putting the Taliban in charge of tourism.” On proposals from consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers to get the Office for Standards in Education to inspect management of teachers’ workload. (Nov 16, 2001)

“Teachers wouldn’t be looking so hard for love if they felt their employers loved them a bit more.” On a Dateline survey which showed that more teachers than any other professionals subscribe to dating agencies. (Feb 25, 2000)

“Lemmings display a remarkable sense of unity as they hurtle themselves into oblivion.”

On why unity does not always mean strength. (Nov 13, 1998)

“Industrial action with a halo.”

On the union’s work-to-rule over workload (April, 1998)

“I feel desperately sorry for all of them. But I feel sorrier for my members whose lives are wrecked.” On being asked if he felt guilty over Richard Wilding, the disruptive teenager excluded from Glaisdale comprehensive, Nottingham, whose father died at the height of the row over his schooling. (Nov 1, 1996)