Polls Apart Read Free Page B

helplessly, her eyes signalling for back-up. But to confront Henry now would only make things worse between her and Richard so Anna opted for the coward’s way out; she averted her gaze and stood up to get a refill of coffee.
    Richard coughed and shuffled uncomfortably in his chair. “Pass the sports section will you, Henry?” he asked, nodding towards the object of his desire on the coffee table. “I want to find out what’s going on in the real world.”
    “All yours, Dicky,” Henry said, thrusting the supplement in his hand.
    As Anna stopped to pour herself another cup she chanced a glance in Joy’s direction, then wished she hadn’t. For in the few seconds that she studied her friend’s face she had caught a mixture of hurt, humiliation and isolation. Anna knew all three emotions like old companions. She guessed she’d let her friend down by not stepping in to defend her. But Joy would get over it, she thought. She wasn’t the type to hold a grudge.

2
Downing Street Won’t Change Me, Insists Lloyd
F riday, 20 th March, 2009 , UK Newswire – Anna Lloyd, the actress wife of Social Democrat leader Richard Williams, today declared her husband’s dream of becoming Prime Minister a fait accompli as she spoke of her future life in Downing Street.
    Talking at a press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s I TV screening of the controversial thriller Dancing with Danger in which she stars, Lloyd told reporters that a spell at Number 10 wouldn’t change her.
    “I am who I am,” she said. “Some people don’t see me as the traditional Prime Minister’s wife, but that doesn’t bother me. I won’t change just because of a new address.”
    Asked whether her husband shared her open-mindedness when it came to public image, Lloyd replied: “Richard and I are two separate people, united in one goal; to see each other live our dreams and fulfil our potential as human beings.”
    And the thirty-seven-year-old actress refused to be drawn on suggestions that she had been rowing with her husband over her decision to play a serial-killing lap dancer in her latest TV project, saying only: “My husband is as supportive of my career as I am his.”
    But Lloyd did little to appease her critics today who accused her of arrogance in her apparent assumption that she would be living at Number 10 after the next election.
    Alliance Party backbencher Lizzie Ancroft said the actress was “living with her head in the clouds”.
    “Both Anna Lloyd and her husband have a long way to go to convince the public they belong in Downing Street,” the MP added. “She is clearly already planning where to put the furniture, but the British voters are now seeing what some of us at Westminster have known for a long time – that, as on screen, this actress can only ever pretend to be something she’s not.”
    Henry drummed his fingers, furiously studying the press clippings laid out over the meeting desk in Richard’s office, positioned on the top floor of the SDP ’s Victoria HQ . Richard was meanwhile left to exchange expectant glances with Sandra Mackenzie, senior policy advisor, and his campaign organiser and deputy party leader Ray Molsley. After a few moments’ deliberation, Henry looked up towards the ceiling as he first inhaled and then exhaled a long, troubled breath. They had called the meeting to run through some changes to their manifesto but, instead of talking politics, he had again been forced to put Richard’s wife at the top of their agenda.
    Turning to his colleagues, his long frown let it be known that he was not happy.
    “We have a handful of days to go before we’re into this campaign and, once again, I’m spending my every waking moment defending this party against the flippant remarks and behaviour of one person.”
    “And there’s no prizes for guessing who he’s talking about,” Sandra chuckled, her Scots accent never stronger than when she was at her sarcastic best.
    “Well, quite.” Henry turned in his