Fifty-First State Read Free Page A

Julia and Joshua were partners on
Westminster Unplugged,
the weekly TV show about Parliament, chaired by the skinny and sardonic Hugh Patterson, previously editor of two national papers. Their sharp comments, and the way they flirted with each other and ragged the presenter like naughty schoolchildren was enjoyed by a small but devoted audience.
    William liked them. He also thought there was nothing more than friendship between them – something he was also paid to know. From what he knew Julia was married to a surgeon who worked in Houston, Texas. They were running a long-distance marriage. There was a little girl. Joshua Crane was also married. William had never seen his wife.
    William suppressed a yawn. Julia and Joshua’s companion at the table, Lord Gott, had disappeared hours earlier and he wished the couple had gone with him, instead of hanging on and on gossiping and laughing.
    â€˜Should we do the National Government on the programme?’ Julia asked Joshua.
    â€˜We featured it two months ago,’ Joshua pointed out.
    â€˜Well – what about the prospect of another election?’
    â€˜You’re getting tired. We did that then, too. Hugh Patterson wouldn’t let it happen.’
    â€˜How can we stop talking about it? It’s
the
topic. There’s no choice now. We must have a National Government.’
    â€˜You’re out of office. You would say that, wouldn’t you?’ Joshua told Julia. They both knew that the only way forward was an all-party government, with Labour and Liberal Democrats in the Cabinet. But Joshua’s Party Leader, the Prime Minister, would never agree to it. The Liberal Democrats and Labour, being out of power, were in favour. Frederick Muldoon, though, was in power and not planning to surrender any of it.
    â€˜Come on, Joshua. Everything’s been stalled for years. It’s like living in the Weimar Republic. A National Government’s the only way and you know it.’
    Joshua, who had to support his PM, whatever he thought privately, said nothing.
    Julia turned and caught William’s eye. ‘I’m sorry, William,’ she called over. ‘Give us the bill and we’ll go.’ She turned back to Joshua. ‘They’re saying the Queen’s in favour of it.’
    â€˜Right,’ Joshua acknowledged without enthusiasm.
    The business of the bill worked out nicely. It was Julia’s turn to pay – William took a bit off the bill because he liked her. It was Joshua’s turnto tip, so he gave William nearly double what William might have expected. Everyone was happy. Outside the restaurant, as they waited for their taxis, Julia said, ‘That policeman rang me up again.’
    Joshua laughed. Julia’s suitor was a joke between them. A month earlier the spring tides had brought a foot of water into the House of Commons. The proposed billion-pound barrage in the Thames Estuary had never been built. So the water came up and Julia had fallen off a duckboard leading from the car park to the entrance, into the arms of a waiting policeman, who had twice rung her to ask her out for a drink.
    â€˜Has the committee come up with an answer?’ said Joshua. Julia’s friend Alison was on the committee – known, of course, as the Canute Committee.
    â€˜They’re talking of allowances for Commons’ staff for protective footwear,’ Julia told him.
    â€˜Wellington boots?’ Joshua said.
    â€˜That’s right.’ The first taxi – Julia’s – arrived. It was hydrogen powered. Julia insisted on using oil-less, in spite of the problems with reliability the taxi fleets sometimes had. In this eco-friendly vehicle Julia would return to her small terraced house in Whitechapel.
    Joshua, getting into his own petrol-fuelled cab, asked the driver to take him to an address in Battersea. But just after they had started up he leaned forward and requested the driver go to Chelsea.
    William