First Among Equals (14 page)

Three weeks
later political history was not made, for the Conservatives captured Parliament
with an overall majority of thirty seats. Her Majesty the Queen invited Edward
Heath to attend her at the Palace and asked him to form a government. He kissed
the hands of his sovereign and accepted her commission.

Simon Kerslake
managed a four-figure majority for the first time when he won Coventry Central
by 2,118.

When Fiona was asked
by the old earl how many votes Charles had won by on this occasion, she said
she couldn’t be certain, but she did recall Charles’s telling a journalist it
was more than the other candidates put together.

Raymond Gould
suffered an adverse swing of only 2 percent and was returned with a 10,416
majority. The people of Leeds admire independence in a member, especially when
it comes to a matter of principle.

W
HEN SIMON AWOKE on the Friday morning after the election he felt
both exhausted and exhilarated. He lay in bed trying to imagine how those
Labour Ministers, who only the previous day had assumed they would be returning
to their departments, must be feeling now.

Elizabeth
stiffed, let out a small sleepfilled sigh and turned over.

Simon stared
down at his wife. In the four years of their marriage she had lost none of her
attraction for him, and he still took pleasure in just looking at her sleeping
form. Her long fair hair rested on her shoulders and her slim, firm figure
curved gently beneath the silk nightgown. He started stroking her back and
watched her slowly come out of sleep. When she finally awoke she turned over
and he took her in his arms.

“I admire your
energy,” she said. “If you’re still fit after three weeks on the trail I can
hardly claim to have a headache.”

He kissed her
gently, delighted to catch a moment of privacy between the lunacy of election
and the anticipation of office. No voter was going to interrupt this rare
moment of pleasure.

“Daddy,” said a
voice, and Simon quickly turned over to see Peter standing at the door.

“I’m hungry.”

On the way back
to London in the car Elizabeth asked, “What do you think he’ll offer you?”

“Daren’t
anticipate anything,” said Simon.

“But I would
hope-Under Secretary of State for the Environment.”

“But you’re
still not certain to be offered a post?”

“Not at all.
One can never know what permutations and
pressures a new Prime Minister has to consider.”

“Like what?”
asked
Elizabeth.

“Left and fight
wings of the Party, north and south of the country – countless debts to be
cleared with those people who can claim they played a role in getting him into
Number Ten.”

“Are you saying
he could leave you out?”

“Oh, yes. But
I’ll be damn livid if he does.”

“And what could
you do about it?”

“Nothing.
There is absolutely nothing one can do, and every
backbencher knows it. The Prime Minister’s power of patronage is absolute.”

“It won’t
matter that much, darling, if you continue driving in the wrong lane.”

Raymond was
astonished. He couldn’t believe that the opinion polls had been so wrong. He
didn’t confide in Joyce that he had hoped a Labour victory would bring him back
onto the front bench, having languished on the back benches for what seemed an
interminable time.

“There’s
nothing to it,” he told her, “but to rebuild a career at the bar.

We may be out
of office for a very long time.”

“But surely
that won’t be enough to keep you fully occupied?”

“I have to be
realistic about the future,” he said slowly.

“Perhaps they
will ask you to shadow someone?”

“No, there are always
far fewerjobs available in Opposition, and in any case they always give the
orators like Jamie Sinclair the lead. All I can do is sit and wait for another
election.”

Raymond
wondered how he would broach what was really on his mind and tried to sound
casual when he said, “Perhaps it’s time we considered having our own home in
the constituency.”

“Why?” said
Joyce, surprised. “That seems an unnecessary expense, and there’s nothing wrong
with your parents’ house. And, in any case, wouldn’t they be offended?”

“The first
interest should be to my constituents and this would be a chance to prove a
long-term commitment.

Naturally, my
parents would understand.”

“But the cost of two houses!”

“It will be a
lot easier to contemplate than when I was in Government, and it’s you who have
always wanted to live in Leeds. This will give you the chance to stop commuting
from London every week. After I’ve done the rounds why don’t you stay in Leeds,
contact a few local real estate agents and see what’s on the market?”

“All right, if
that’s what you really want,” said Joyce. “I’ll start next week.” Raymond was
pleased to see Joyce was beginning to warm to the idea.

Charles and
Fiona spent a quiet weekend at their cottage in Sussex.

Charles tried
to do some gardening while he kept one ear open for the telephone. Fiona began
to realize how anxious he was when she looked through the French window and saw
her finest delphinium being taken for a weed.

Charles finally
gave the weeds a reprieve and came in and turned on the television to catch
Maudling, Macleod, Thatcher and Carrington entering Number 10 Downing Street,
all looking pensive, only to leave all smiles.

The senior
appointments had been made.

The Cabinet was
taking shape. The new Conservative Prime Minister came out and waved to the
crowds before being whisked away in his official car.

Would Heath
remember who had organized the young vote for him before he was even the Party
Leader?

“When do you
want to go back to Eaton Square?” Fiona inquired from the kitchen.

“Depends,” said
Charles.

“On what?”

“On whether the phone rings.”

Simon replaced
the phone and sat staring at the television. All those hours of work on
Environment, and the PM had offered the portfolio to someone else. He had left
the television set on all day but didn’t learn who it was, only that the rest
of the Environment team had remained intact.

“Why do I
bother?” he said out loud. “The whole thing’s a farce.”

“What were you
saying, darling?” asked Elizabeth as she came into the room.

The phone rang
again. It was the newly appointed Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling.

“Simon?”

“Reggie, many congratulations on your appointment-not that it came
as a great surprise.”

“That’s what
I’m calling about, Simon.

Would you like
tojoin me at the Home Office as Under Secretary?”

“Like to – -I
would be delighted to join you at the Home Office.”

“Thank heavens
for that,” said Maudling.

“It took me a
dickens of a time to convince Ted Heath that you should be released from the
Environment team.”

Simon turned to
his wife to let her know his news. “I don’t think there is anything that could
have pleased me more.”

“Want to bet?”

Simon looked
toward Elizabeth, his face showing complete puzzlement.

“Oh, poor
thing, you’re so slow,” Elizabeth said. She patted her stomach.

“We’re going to
have a second child.”

When Raymond
arrived back at his London law chambers, he let his clerk know that he wanted
to be flooded with work.

Over lunch with
the head of the partnership, Sir Nigel Hartwell, he explained that he thought
it unlikely that the Labour Party would be in government again for some
considerable time.

“You’ve only
had five years in the House, Raymond, and at thirty-six, you must stop looking
upon yourself as a veteran.”

“I wonder,”
said Raymond, sounding uncharacteristically pessimistic.

“Well, you
needn’t worry about briefs. Law firms have been calling constantly since it was
known you were back on a more permanent basis.”

Raymond began
to relax.

Joyce phoned
him after lunch with the news that she hadn’t yet found anything suitable, but
the real estate agent had assured her that things would open up in the fall.

“Well, keep
looking,” said Raymond.

“Don’t worry, I
will,” said Joyce, sounding as if she were enjoying the whole exercise.

“If we find
something, perhaps we can think of starting a family,” she added tentatively.

“Perhaps,” said
Raymond brusquely-

Charles
eventually received a call on Monday night, not from Number 10 Downing Street
but from Number 12, the office of the Chief Whip.

The Chief Whip
was calling to say that he hoped that Charles would he willing to soldier on as
a junior whip. When he heard the disappointment in Charles’s voice he added,

“For the time being.”

“For the time
being,” repeated Charles and put the phone down.

“At least
you’re a member of the Government. You haven’t been left out in the cold.
People will come and go during the next five years, and you certainly have time
on your side,” said Fiona gamely. Charles had to agree with his wife, but it
didn’t lessen his disappointment.

However, returning
to the Commons as a member of the Government turned out to be far more
rewarding than he expected.

1’his time his
party was making the
decisions,
and the priorities
were laid out when the Queen delivered her speech from the throne in the House
of Lords at the opening of the new Parhament.

Queen Elizabeth
traveled early that November morning to the House of Lords in the Irish state
coach. An escort of the household cavalry accompanied her, preceded by a
procession of lesser state carriages in which the King Edward crown and other
royal trappings were transported. Charles could remember watching the ceremony
from the streets when he was a boy. Now he was taking part in it. When she
arrived at the House of Lords she was accompanied by the Lord Chancellor
through the sovereign’s entrance to the robing room, where her
ladies-in-waiting began to prepare her for the ceremony.

At the
appointed hour, Mr. Speaker, in his full court dress, a gold-embroidered gown
of black satin damask, stepped down from his chair.

He led the
traditional procession out of the Commons and into the House of Lords. Followed
by the Clerk of the House and the sergeant-at-arms bearing the ceremonial mace,
then the Prime Minister, accompanied by the Leader of the Opposition, next,
both front benches with their opposite numbers, and finally, as many
backbenchers as could squeeze into the rear of the Lords’

Chamber.

The Lords
themselves waited in the Upper House, dressed in red capes with ermine collars,
looking somewhat like benevolent Draculas, accompanied by peeresses glittering
in diamond tiaras and wearing long formal dresses. The Queen was seated on the
throne, in her full imperial robes, the King Edward III crown now on her head.
She waited until the procession had filled the chamber and all was still.

The Lord
Chancellor shuffled for-ward and, bending down on one knee, presented to the
Queen a printed document. It was the speech written by the Government of the
day, and although Her Majesty had read over the script the previous evening,
she had made no personal contribution to its contents, as her role was only
ceremonial on this occasion. She looked up at her subjects and began to read.

Charles Hampton
stood at the back of the cramped gathering, but with his height he had no
trouble in following the entire proceedings.

He could spot
his elderly father, the Earl of Bridgewater, nodding ofl’during the Queen’s
speech, which offered no more or less than had been promised by the Tories
during the election campaign. Charles, along with everyone else from the
Commons, was counting the likely number of bills that would be presented during
the coming months and soon worked out that the Whip’s office was going to be in
for a busy session.

As the Queen
finished her speech, Charles took one more took at his father, now sound
asleep.
How Charles dreaded the moment when he would be
standing there watching his brother Rupert in ermine.
The only
compensation would be if he could produce a son who would one day inherit the
title, as it was now obvious 121

Rupert would
never marry. It was not as if he and Fiona had not tried. He was beginning to
wonder if the time had come to suggest that she visit a specialist. He dreaded
finding out that she was unable to bear a child.

Even producing
an heir would not be enough if all he had achieved was to be a junior whip. It
made him more determined than ever to prove he was worthy of promotion.

The speech
delivered, the sovereign left the Upper House followed by Prince Philip, Prince
Charles and a fanfare of trumpets.

From the first
day of his appointment in June, Simon enjoyed every aspect of his work at the
Home Office. By the time the Queen’s speech had been delivered in November, he
was ready to represent his department in the Commons, although Jamie Sinclair’s
appointment to shadow him would insure that he could never relax completely.

As the new Tory
administration took shape, the two quickly locked horns over several issues and
were soon known as “the mongoose and the rattlesnake.” However, in informal
conference behind the Speaker’s chair, Simon and Jamie Sinclair would
good-humoredly discuss the issues on which they were crossing swords. The
opportunity to be out of sight of the press gallery above them was often taken
by the opposing members, but once they had both returned to the dispatch box
they would tear into each other, each looking for any weakness in the other’s
argument. When either of the names Kerslake or Sinclair was cranked up on the
old-fashioned wall machines indicating that one of them had risen to start a
speech, members came flooding back into the chamber.