In his book titled "The Political Animal", Jeremy Paxman recounts Conway's reflections on his defeat: "'Had it not been for James Goldsmith's intervention I'd have won. He died of pancreatic cancer,' he says, and then adds in the most chilling tone, 'I hear it's the most painful of deaths. I'm so pleased.'", although the number of votes by Goldsmith's Referendum Party was underneath Labour's majority in 1997, meaning Conway would have still lost the seat by several hundred votes if there had been no candidate from the party.