First Among Equals (40 page)

“Good morning,
Clive. It’s nice to see you too. First I must congratulate you on the manner in
which you have conducted the bank’s affairs in my absence.”

“It’s kind of
you to say so, Mr. Hampton.”

“I was
particularly impressed by the Distil-lers takeover; that certainly took the
City by surprise.”

“Yes, quite a
coup,
wasn’t it?” said Reynolds smiling. “And there’s
another one in the pipeline.”

“I shall look
forward to hearing the details.”

“Well, I’m
afraid it remains confidential at the moment,” said Clive, taking the seat
beside him.

“Of course; but
now that I have returned I had better be briefed fairly soon.”

‘Tm
afraid
shareholders cannot be briefed until we are certain
the deals have been concluded. We can’t afford any rumors harming our chances,
can we?”

“But I’m not an
ordinary shareholder,” said Charles sharply. “I am returning as chairman of the
bank.”

“No, Mr.
Hampton,” said Reynolds quietly.

“I am chairman
of this bank.”

“Do you realize
whom you are addressing?” said Charles.

“Yes, I think
so.
A former Foreign Secretary, a former Home Secretary, a
former chairman of the bank and a two percent shareholder.”

“But you are fully
aware that the board agreed to have me back as chairman when the Conservatives
went into Opposition?” Charles reminded him.

“The
composition of the board has changed considerably since those days,” said
Reynolds. “Perhaps you’ve been too busy running the rest of the world to notice
minor comings and goings in Threadneedle Street.”

“I shall call a
board meeting.”

“You don’t have
the authority.”

“Then I shall
demand an extraordinary general meeting,” said Charles.

“And tell the
shareholders what? That you had a standing order to return as chairman when you
felt like it? That won’t sound like a former Foreign Secretary.”

“I’ll have you
out of this office in twenty-four hours,” Charles continued, his voice suddenly
rising.

“I don’t think
so, Mr. Hampton. Miss Trubshaw has completed her five years and has left us on
a full pension, and it won’t take you long to discover that I don’t possess a
Swiss bank account or have a wefl-compensated mistress.”

Charles went
red in the face. “I’ll get you removed. You don’t begin to understand how far
my influence stretches.”

“I hope I’m not
removed, for your sake,” said Reynolds calmly.

“Are you
threatening me?”

“CertaiDly not,
Mr. Hampton, but I would hate to have to explain how Hampton’s lost over five
hundred thousand pounds on the Nethercote account because of your personal whim
to finish Simon Kerslake’s career. It may interest you to know that the only
thing the bank gained from that fiasco was good will, and we managed that
because I recommended that Morgan Grenfell pick up the pieces.”

“You two-timing
crook. When I make that public it will finish you,” said Charles triumphantly.

“Perhaps,” said
Reynolds calmly. “But it will also stop you from becoming Prime Minister.”

Charles turned,
picked up his umbrella, put on his gloves and walked away.

As he reached
the door, a secretary walked in holding two cups of coffee.

“I’ll only
be needing
one, Miss Bristow,” said Reynolds.

Charles passed
her without a word and slammed the door.

“Don’t vou know
any other restaurants?”

“Yes, but they
don’t know me,” replied Ronnie Nethercote, as the two men strolled into the
Ritz for the first time in a couple of years. Heads turned as people leaned
forward and whispered Simon’s name to their guests.

“What are you
up to nowadays? I can’t believe Opposition fully occupies you,” Ronnie said as
they took their seats.

“Not really. I
might almost be described as one of the four miHior, unemployed,” replied
Simon.

“That’s what
we’re.
here
to talk about,” said Ronnie, “but first I
recommend the country vegetable soup and the .. .”

“Beef off the trolley,” intedected Simon.

“You
remembered.”

“It’s the one
thing you’ve always been right about.”

Ronnie laughed
more loudly than people normally did in the Ritz before saying, “Now that you no
longer have the entire armed forces at your disposal or ambassadors to call you
Your Eminence or however they address you now, why don’t you join the board of
my new company?”

“It’s kind of
you to ask, Ronnie, but the answer has to be no.”

They broke off
their conversation to give their orders.

“There’s a
salary of twenty-five thousand pounds a year that goes with it.”

“I must admit
it would help with Lucy’s clothes allowance,” said Simon, laughing. “Since
she’s been up at Oxford, Lucy seems to have been to more balls than tutorials.”

“Then why not
come in with us”
“ asked
Ronnie.

“Because I’m a
committed politician,” said Simon, “and I no longer want to involve myselfin
any conimercial activities.”

“That might
stop you from becoming Prime Minister?”

Simon hesitated
at the bluntness ofRonnie’s question,
then
said,
“Frankly, yes. I’ve got a better-than -outside
chance,
and I’d be foolish to lengthen the odds by becoming involved in anything else
right now.”

“But everyone
knows that as soon as Margaret announces she’s going to pack up, you’ll be the
next Leader. It’s as simple as that.”

“No, Ronnie,
it’s never as simple as that.”

“Then tell me,
who could beat you?”

“Charles Hampton, for one.”

“Hampton? He’s
a toffee-nosed prig,” said Ronnie.

“He has a lot
of friends in the Party, and his patrician background still counts for
something with the Tories.”

“Oh, come on,”
said Ronnie. “You’ll kill Hampton with every elected member of the Party having
a vote.”

“Time will
tell,’ said Simon. “But what have you been up to?” he asked, deliberately
changing the subject.

“I’ve been
working my backside off in preparation for the new company going public, which
is why I wanted you on the board.”

“You never give
up.”

“No, and I hope
you haven’t given up your one percerit of the company.”

“Elizabeth has
it locked away somewhere.”

“Then you had
better find the key.”

“Why?” asked
Simon.

“Because when I
put out ten million shares on the market at three quid a time, your one
original share will be exchanged for one hundred thousand shares of common
stock. I know you weren’t ever Chancellor, but that’s three hundred thousand
pounds of anyone’s money.”

Simon was
speechless.

“Well, say
something,” said Ronnie.

“Frankly I’d
forgotten the share existed,”

Simon finally
managed.

“Well, I think
I can safely say,” said Ronnie, parodying one of Mrs.

Thatcher’s
favorite phrases, “that’s not a bad investment for a pound, and one you will
never regret.”

As his first
budget debate as Chancellor drew near, Raymond found twenty-four hours each day
were not enough, even without sleep. He went over the budget changes he
required with the Treasury mandarins, but it became more obvious as each week
passed that he would have to make sacrifices. He was sick of being told that
there would always be next year, feeling he had waited far too long already.

As the weeks
passed, compromises were reached and cutbacks agreed on, but Raymond managed to
cling to the changes about which he felt most passionate. The morning before
the budget, the mandarins handed him his speech. It ran to one hundred and
fortythree pages and they estimated it would keep him at the dispatch box for
two and a half hours.

At ten past
three the next day Raymond appeared on the steps of Number 11 and held the
famous battered budget box, first used by Gladstone, high above his head.
Dressed in a morning coat, he looked elegant and relaxed as photographers took
the traditional picture before he was driven to the Commons.

By
three-fifteen, the chamber had taken on
the took
of an
opening night in the West End, for what members were about to experience was
pure theater.

At three
twenty-five Raymond entered the chamber to be greeted by cheers from his own
side. Every place in the Commons except his had been filled.

He looked up to
see Joyce in the Strangers’

Gallery, and
smiled. At three-thirty, when the Prime Minister had finished answering
questions, the Chairman of Ways and Means rose from his chair and called:
“Budget statement, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer.”

Raymond rose
and placed his speech in front of him. He addressed the House for the first
hour and a half without divulging any of the fiscal changes that he would be
making, so abiding by the tradition that no irreversible decisions could be
considered until the Stock Exchange had closed. Raymond took a sip from the
glass of water by his side when he had turned page seventy-eight. He had
finished with the theory and was now rea – y to start on the practice.

“Old-age
pensions will be raised to a record level, as will allowances for single-parent
families and disablement grants. War widows’ pensions will go up by fifty
percent and war bonds will be honored at their full face value.”

Raymond paused
and, taking a faded sheet from his inside pocket, read from the first speech he
had ever delivered in public. “No woman whose husband has sacrificed his life
for his country shall be allowed to suffer because of an ungrateful nation.”

The cheering
after this statement lasted for some considerable time, and Raymond turned over
the last page of his prizewinning essay before returning to his prepared
speech.

Once the House
had settled down again, he continued. “Taxes on salaries of more than thirty
thousand pounds a year will be raised to eighty-five percent, and
capital-gairis tax to fifty percent.” Several Conservatives looked glum. The
Chancellor went on to announce an expansion program in the regions to stimulate
employment. He detailed his plan by region, to cheers from different sections
of the House.
fie
ended his speech by saying, “Our purpose
as the first Labour Government in ten years is not to rob the rich and give to
the poor, but rather to make those who live in comparative ease pay taxes that
will alleviate the plight of those in genuine need. Let me tell those of you
who sit on the benches opposite that this is only a fifth of what we intend to
achieve in the lifetime of this Parliament, and t)y then Britain can hope to be
a more equal and just society. We intend to create a generation in which class
is as outdated as debtors’ prison, a generation in which talent, hard work and
honesty are their own reward, a democratic society that is the envy of the East
as weli as the West. This
budget.,
Mr. Speaker, is
nothing more than the architect’s plan for that dream. I look for-ward to being
given enough time to build the reality.”

When Rayniond
resumed his seat after two hours and twenty minute& – the length of time it
takes to run a world-class marathon – he was greeted by cheers and the waving
of agenda papers frorn the benches behind him.

The Leader of
the Opposition was faced with the almost impossible task of an immediate
response, and she couldn’t hope to do ntore than pick up one or two weaknesses
in the Chancellor’s philosophy. The House did not hang on her every word.

Party Leaders 1988-1990

MARGARET THATCHER was the first
to realize changes would have to he made in the Shadow Cabinet after the
success of Raymond Gould’s first budget.

She moved Simon
to tackle Home Affairs and Charles to counter the formidable problems now raised
by Raymond Gould at the Treasury.

Charles, as
Shadow Chancellor, quickly gathered around him an impressive young team of
economists, bankers and accountants whom he recruited mainly from the new
intake on the back benches. Raymond soon discovered that his task of pushing
legislation through became that much harder.

Raymond’s
success continued, however, even if it was at a slower pace than that for which
he had hoped. Labour won the first two by-elections occasioned by member
deaths. The byelection results only started a fresh round of rumors that Denis
Thatcher was pressing his wife to retire.

The former
Prime Minister sent a letter to the chairman of the 1922

Committee, letting him know
that she would not seek
reelection as Party Leader. She explained that she would be over sixty-five at
the next election and had already led the party for fourteen years, the longest
period for any Conservative since Churchill, and that she now felt she was
ready to pass the Leadership on to new blood.

The moment
everyone in the Party had said the usual phrases about the retiring Leader
being the greatest since Churchill, they proceeded to look for the new
Churchill. The political journalists predicted that only two candidates had a
real chance – Charles Hampton and Simon Kerslake.

Charles went
about his campaign in the thorough manner in which he approached everything,
appointing lieutenants to cover each intake of new members since 1964. Simon
had selected Bill Travers to organize his, backup team. Travers, like any farmer,
rose early each morning to gather in his harvest.

Both Simon and
Charles were nominated within the first twenty-four hours of the necessary
seven days, and by the weekend none of the rumored third candidates had
appeared in the lists, which convinced the press it would be a two-horse race.