by Michael Foot
The policy session turned out to be in a room that Andrew had not so far seen. The room was dominated by a rectangular and very substantial table with – he counted – 14 chairs set around. Depressingly familiar large screens sat at each end of the table. And each place at the table was equipped with an A4-sized pad and several cheap pens. At one end, a smaller table offered water, glasses and what Andrew called ‘nibbles’.
All those attending walked in within a couple of minutes of each other. Andrew made sure he sat next to Chloe and on the same side as he thought Michael would sit; a chair in the centre of one side of the table, without in any way appearing to be different, looked as though it had been set out as Michael’s.
When Michael himself walked in, there was a collective muted welcome from the others as there had been the previous evening. Michael sat where Andrew had expected, allowed people about 20 seconds to get settled, and kicked off. “Those of you who have been here before know what to expect. It’s 9.30 now. We will finish by 12.30. Everyone is welcome to come and go as they wish. Drinks – which will include fresh coffee – are at the end there. One person – for our first session me I’m afraid part of the time – will have the floor. But questions and interventions are very welcome at any time; and everyone must feel free to say exactly what they think. If you’re critical, you are rubbishing an argument or idea not the person setting it out. And, remember, we don’t have time to play the traditional British middle-class game of damning with faint praise. I don’t want to hear things like ‘that’s quite a good idea’ or ‘I rather like that’. The ideas we discuss today will be fleshed out and set out to the Electorate within months. ‘So, are these policies broadly desirable? Do they make sense? Can people get enthusiastic about them? How do we make them enthusiastic?
Session 1 is central: what we’re going to put to the Electorate, that enough of them will like and believe in: policies that will mark the Angels out as different from, and better than, the traditional parties.” The room darkened modestly and the screens came alive. Andrew noticed for the first time that a young Angel was sitting at the far corner of the room, controlling the equipment.
Michael went on. “We have to appeal to the millions of decent, hard-working people in this country who are fed up. They are fed up with the rich not paying their share. They are fed up with people at the other end who sponge off the NHS and the benefits system. They are suspicious of immigrants unless these people have come here to work and do not represent a threat to their own jobs, housing and health resources. They are sick of unpunished scamming of their credit cards or bank accounts and what they see (probably not altogether accurately) as a large pool of under-reported and unsolved local crime. Those are the triggers in their minds that we have to pull.
We have to reassure them that we care about all this, that we are nicer than the Tories and more sensible than Labour. We need to show we are willing and able to create a new social contract, though I’d never use that term in public- I doubt if one in 100 voters would understand what it meant. In which people contribute fairly but can also expect a proper safety net available to them if things go wrong. We need to show how our existing policies towards housing, young families and combatting addiction will work. We have to convince them that we have practical and successful policies to apply, as we currently do on a modest scale through our help stores, our addiction centres, and our financial advice. But we have to get them to believe that we can replicate the success at a national level if and when we get control over the huge resources the State already throws at these problems.”
Michael paused for effect. “And we have to do all that without frightening the materialistic set into thinking that we’re just another form of Corbynism out to fleece them. There’s a world of difference between fleecing the rich and making sure they don’t use every tax dodge and tax haven in the book to avoid paying their share. And, if all of that wasn’t enough, we have to do it while convincing them that our MPs will not just be another band of self-aggrandising self-satisfied people out to get what they can from the body politic. Personally, I think that will be one of the easier parts.”
Andrew did his best to keep up with the subsequent debate; he felt he owed it to the Colonel. Most of the talking in this first session was down to Michael and the Policy Section chief. The key element of what the Angels had in mind for taxes seemed to be a system with lower marginal rates (35% at the top) but with even the richest being forced to pay a tax rate of at least 30% on all their income, not just what they chose to keep in the UK and declare. Likewise, companies including the big US-based tech giants would have to pay at least 20% of profits. “No more rotten apples” as the Policy chief put it – the nearest thing to a joke in the whole morning. He spoke to a set of slides that showed just how much extra revenue could be gathered in by these means; and the meeting readily agreed that this was a great Election platform on which to fight. However, as the Policy man made clear, some of the tax benefits and loopholes that would have to go might well prove less digestible. Much he warned would depend on how seriously the other parties took the Angels before the Election – and therefore how much negative analysis they would throw at Angel proposals. Ideally, the Angels would get across the basic equity of their ideas and stay off too many specifics.
The second half of the morning was devoted to discussion of public spending, where Andrew quickly lost the thread. By lunch, he had written down only the argument that much would depend on the Angels showing how they could use existing State spending to better effect than now. As Michael put it at one point “We should have no problem with some of the ideas this will involve – like doing away with winter fuel payments to those elderly people rich enough to be paying high marginal tax rates. But some of that is small beer in the wider scheme of things. We’re going to have to be ultra-careful on things like how we propose to improve the NHS, the ultimate sacred cow for the Electorate here. There’ll be a separate and long policy brief on this nearer the time – which I’m sure you will all pore over.”
Lunch came none too soon for Andrew, who had also by then decided that he would skip the afternoon session on electoral issues, although he had been assured it would be short. He justified this (which he found anyway an unbelievably boring subject) by convincing himself that he mustn’t make it look like he was desperate to tag onto everything the Angels did. The decider for him was the weather which still looked beautiful and the news, from Chloe at lunch, that there was a nice 9-hole golf course reserved here for conference participants. Apparently the centre was often hired out for events which benefitted from such facilities.
Most of the others, Andrew realised, would go back after lunch; but they were here because they were full-time participants, he wasn’t. “Dinner will be at 7” Chloe told him, when he informed her that he would skip the afternoon session. “The swimming pool’s nice too. I might be there myself around 5.” Andrew promised to look out for her.
Andrew then passed a very pleasant and easily organised afternoon. One of the Sisters insisted on taking him to the Pro-Shop (all of 5 minutes’ walk). Clubs, suitable shoes and enough balls for even a relatively poor player like Andrew were readily available; and he enjoyed the ability to hack his way around the course on his own. He sometimes found the social side of golf a little trying, especially where the other players were highly competitive, as they typically were in the City – from which his opponents normally came.
By 5 he was at the pool-side, the sun still beating down enough to make one of the shadier areas there very welcome. There was no sign of Chloe. But several of the other Angels appeared, including Eva in a bathing costume that would not have been out of place in a beauty contest. Her hair was tied back, long black hair flowed down her back, a long and sinuous back. She was a little on the thin side he thought; but she looked good, her whole being seemed to radiate health and well-being. Andrew had always found this combination alluring and, here, it immediat
ely made him think of Chloe.
Eva dived in and swam a dozen or so lengths competently and quickly. Andrew was in the shallow end and couldn’t help but watch her with approval. Eventually, she stopped her swimming at his end, and stood up in the shallows. There was no-one else within yards of them.
“You chose wisely” she said. “This afternoon wasn’t the most interesting I’ve taken part in here. Michael has worked out that we need around 7 million votes at the Election; and, of course, these need to be concentrated in the ‘right’ places. Toby our psephologist had endless insights to offer. His people are clearly doing a vast amount of work at the Foundation to identify the couple of hundred seats we are most likely to be able to make a showing in. And, of course, Michael is very concerned to get everything as right as possible. But for those of us who just have faith, it was frankly pretty boring. What have you been doing?”
Andrew explained his own activities that afternoon. Eva looked at him thoughtfully. “I hope you don’t like being on your own too much. Perhaps you and I could tag up at dinner and afterwards? Michael doesn’t encourage too much sex at these events; but he isn’t against it either. And I haven’t had a real man for weeks now – just too busy.”
Andrew was a little taken aback by her frankness. But he quickly went on to think, as he had with Vy, that accepting the offer would be both enjoyable in its own right and could only help get him more readily accepted by the Angels. He’d been told to stay away from the Sisters; but Eva wasn’t one of those. He certainly wasn’t likely to get what he really wanted, which was Chloe in suitably amorous mood. “I’d really enjoy that” he said. “I just hope I don’t disappoint.” “Not much chance of that, I think” Eva said in reply and had the grace to look mildly embarrassed. “Remember, I downloaded your CV and, of course, Vy’s write up went with it. If you could download mine, by the way, I equally don’t think you’d be disappointed. Though it would stress that I really go for men who are both forceful and gentle – and” she added with a slight smile “I like to be on top.”
With that, she turned in the water and began swimming lengths again, vigorously. Andrew again cursed Vy and her ‘write-up’; but at least, as he got out of the pool, he did accept that his time with Vy had had consequential benefits.
Supper at 7 turned out to be good (again) and wholly informal. Andrew saw that several of the Angels had paired off and were talking to each other as though no-one else were present. Andrew had an undoubted spasm of jealousy when he saw that one of the couples was Chloe with Ariel. Now Andrew knew why he had instinctively disliked the man.
Eva left him alone until the end of the meal and then quite openly walked across to him and said, in tones that anyone nearby would hear, “Give me 10 minutes. I’m in Room 11.” Andrew duly waited, about 20 minutes he thought would send the right signal; and he enjoyed another glass of the Shiraz available. He then walked up the stairs to Room 11, knocked quietly and went in without waiting for an invitation. Eva was standing by the mirror, in a short and thin nightdress. “Make yourself at home” she said, getting into bed without further delay or any form of foreplay. “You’ll find condoms in the drawer – Michael is always so paranoid about that that I suspect the Sisters carry them 24/7 – just in case. By the way, if no-one has told you, never try and have unprotected sex with an Angel. That’s strictly reserved for only the most serious relationships – when you’ve chosen a partner for life.”
Andrew quickly stripped off and got into bed beside Eva. ‘Strong but gentle’ he kept thinking to himself; but in reality Eva was on him (quite literally on top of him) within two minutes; and, for the rest of the evening, Andrew had more on his hands than trying to stick to a mantra.
11
Andrew awoke just before the first bell would anyway have roused him. He rolled over. Eva was nowhere to be seen but he quickly found a short message on her side of the bed. Have gone for my run. CU at breakfast.
Andrew rose and slipped out of the door to his own room. He showered, shaved and dressed leisurely and informally, noting that the weather was still set fair. Breakfast was in full swing by the time he had arrived, with no sign of Eva or Chloe. As before, he ate well but, this time, alone.
Towards the end of the meal, Michael made a brief appearance. “I only want the die-hards at this morning’s session. We’re going to be looking at how we develop our local Election candidates and give them a public presence that will reassure people to vote for them. Vital work but probably only for half of you here. Lunch will be at 12.30 sharp. I would appreciate everyone being here for that as I want to send you all out with a very clear message to think over in the coming weeks.” With that, he was gone; and, over the next 10 minutes about half of those present drifted out, fairly obviously to attend the rest of the session. The rest stayed on, using their mobiles and rarely talking. Gabby’s deputy was sprawled on a chair next to him and Andrew did exchange a few pleasantries with him. The man opened by excusing his continued presence there “No point in my going to this. Michael and the others will have worked out how much their policies are likely to cost; and it’s people like me who have to find the right amount of money at the right time. Fortunately, at present that’s not an issue. I just hope I can say that in a year’s time.”
Andrew spent the rest of the morning drinking good coffee and wandering lazily round the attractive and surprisingly large grounds. Eva was still nowhere in sight; he presumed she had gone straight from her run to the morning session.
At 12.30 sharp, the bell rang and Andrew again found himself in the main dining room. Eva was there but, apart from a brief hug and kiss from her, she made no allusion at all to the previous night. Andrew wondered idly whether she had completed her review yet of his performance, which he guessed was bound to follow at some point in the near future. Chloe was there too, smiled sweetly at him and said “I believe Michael wants to see you straight after lunch. When you’ve done, come and find me; I’ll drive you back to London. We all get the afternoon off for good behaviour.” Chloe then smiled to herself, as this simple statement had clearly stirred some memory.
Michael was present at the meal but didn’t seem to be eating. Indeed, Andrew didn’t recall having seen him eat anything since the first meal on Friday night. Michael allowed a few minutes to pass and then spoke without introduction but in a voice that immediately cut through and silenced the few conversations around the room. “This is probably the last time any of us will have a relaxed and pleasant weekend like this. Until the Election is over in 13 months and 27 days. Even then, if things go to plan, most of you will still be wondering when you are ever going to draw breath and have some ‘me-time’. I apologise now. But we are about to move a mountain and that doesn’t happen without the blood, sweat and tears of a lot of labourers. And the fact is, that while we have a growing number of labourers, you are special, which is why you are here. On the inside, doing the heavy lifting.
Those of you with a Christian education should also reflect on Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard. Whether these people arrived at the beginning of the day or near the end, he had all of them paid the same rate – no hourly Minimum Wage obviously. But the point he was making is one you have to take to heart now. We need to add thousands of workers in the coming months. I hope many of them will do it for love; but people also have to live and so we will be paying many of them. And, at the end of it, if we succeed they will feel just as much part of that success as you do, though you – not them – will have done the heavy lifting. It’s just something we have to live with and not be precious about the fact that we were here first. I will know what each of you has done. I hope and pray that will be enough for you, plus the satisfaction of an amazing job. Now, go back to your bases and gear up for what will be one of the great fights of the 21st Century. You are here, we together will make history. The circle can’t be expanded enough without you.”
With that Michael left. And the other
s, after a momentary silence, started to gather up their things to leave too. A Sister appeared silently at Andrew’s side. She said quietly “Michael would like to see you now; I’ll take you to him.”
She led him out of the room and to a small room a few steps away. As when Andrew had first seen him, Michael was standing and he turned as Andrew entered. “I hope you’ve enjoyed the weekend” Michael said, extending an arm to indicate several chairs that Andrew could choose from. They sat.
Michael went on. “I’ve just been talking about how little time we have so I won’t waste any of yours. We hardly know each other yet. But I sense in you someone who could be a seriously important part of our team. You finding Chloe was serendipity that we mustn’t waste. What I (and you too) have to do now is to find ways of accelerating the mutual ‘get-to-know you’ process. To see whether you really have the qualities I can sense – and whether you want to use them for the Angels’ benefit.
What you need to see is the reality behind this movement – in particular, what ‘hard lifting’ can actually mean. Yes, we try to keep to higher principles than the other political parties and that isn’t difficult most of the time. But the world’s an unpleasant place full of some very dangerous opponents. So the Angels can’t just be fluffy do-gooders. At least a few of us have to be prepared to get our hands dirty if it’s really necessary. Are you willing to be one of those is a key question for you? Are you as good as I think you are? That’s the key question for me.
Andrew didn’t know quite what to say. But he sensed that some kind of important offer was being made to him. It sounded, at first sight, as though he had hit the jackpot, in getting the Angels to chase him rather than him having to chase them. Andrew chose his reply with care. “The Army and business life have both taught me a lot, so I think I understand your drift. What exactly are you suggesting?”