He pointed to the big TV screen above the bar.
‘Look at that!’ he exclaimed. ‘I do believe the British prime minister is about to call a general election in the UK, three years ahead of time.’
‘Good heavens!’ Selkirk exclaimed. ‘Hasn’t she already got a mandate?’
‘Hardly a working majority,’ Popov said. ‘Just listen to her speech.’
‘You’ve seen it already? You know what she’s going to say?’
Popov laughed. ‘Come on, Mickey! What kind of a show do you think I’m running?’
The two men took their drinks inside to watch the British prime minister, standing on the pavement outside Number 10 Downing Street, at that very moment about to make the most important announcement of her career.
There was obviously a bit of a wind in London that morning. The prime minister’s hair from time to time blew across her forehead but she brushed it back.
‘I have just chaired a meeting of the Cabinet,’ the prime minister began, ‘where we agreed that the government should call a general election, to be held on June 8th.
‘I want to explain the reasons for that decision. What will happen next, and the choice facing the British people when you come to vote in this election.
‘Last summer, after the country voted to leave the European Union, Britain needed certainty, stability and strong leadership, and since I became prime minister the government has delivered precisely that.
‘Britain is leaving the European Union and there can be no turning back’.
Selkirk noticed that President Popov had been following a script on his mobile phone, all the time the PM was speaking.
Popov nodded, evidently pleased that there were no departures from the CHECK ON DELIVERY text he had in front of him.
Mabel Killick was coming to the end:
‘The Liberal Democrats have said they want to grind the business of government to a standstill.
‘The Scottish National Party says they will vote against the legislation that formally repeals Britain’s membership of the European Union.
‘And unelected members of the House of Lords have vowed to fight us every step of the way.
‘Our opponents believe that because the government’s majority is so small, our resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course.
‘They are wrong.
‘They underestimate our determination to get the job done and I am not prepared to let them endanger the security of millions of working people across the country.
‘Because what they are doing jeopardises the work we must do to prepare for Brexit at home, and it weakens the government’s negotiating position in Europe.
‘That is why I am calling for a general election on June 8th.’
When the PM had finished, Popov put his phone away, smiling with satisfaction. ‘Word perfect. Couldn’t have put it better myself,’ he said.
President Popov was in a reflective mood. ‘We may have thought Brexit was in the bag last June, Mickey, but we still needed to nail it. And that’s what Mabel Killick has done today. Of course, I will give her all the help she needs. I expect you will too. But frankly, I’d say, that at this point in time, she has it in the bag!’
Ching Ze-Dong was puzzled. His instructions had been very clear. ‘If Popov refuses Selkirk’s offer, use spider. If he accepts offer, leave spider in box.’
Oh dear, Ching thought, what should he do? The instructions might have been precise, but the problem was he couldn’t work out what answer Popov was actually giving in response to Selkirk’s intriguing proposal.
When Selkirk had offered him the job of president and CEO of Selkirk Global, Popov had just said, ‘Interesting. Very interesting indeed.’
But what did that mean? Did it mean ‘yes’, or did it mean ‘no’?
Ching took the little wooden box from the crate in the storeroom and shook it gently. Yes, the spider was still there. Just as well they had given him two, he thought.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Mrs Killick was well pleased by the slant the media put on her decision to call an election. ‘Strong and stable PM seeks personal mandate!’ The Daily News thundered. The London Echo printed a full-page photo of the PM with the caption ‘The New Iron Lady!’ The Selkirk Press went to town, offering unsubtle suggestions about the priorities she should pursue, apart from clinching Brexit. ‘Slash foreign aid’ and ‘Scrap environmental burdens’ being two of the most prominent.
Fred Malkin, as Conservative Party chairman, had been one of the very small group of people who knew in advance about Mabel Killick’s decision to call for a general election. He and his team would have a crucial job over the next few weeks before the vote on June 8th.
The day after her Downing Street announcement, Mrs Killick visited Conservative Party headquarters in Matthew Parker Street, Westminster, to rally the troops.
Ushered into a first-floor canteen by Fred Malkin, she told a cheering crowd of party workers, ‘We can’t take victory for granted. The Leader of the Opposition – what’s his name? – anyway, that miserable little worm – may dredge up some support somewhere. It will be our job to force him back into the gutter where he belongs.’
Later, she had a quiet word with Malkin in his office.
‘I know I took most people by surprise, Fred,’ she said, ‘calling the election when I did. That must have thrown out your financial calculations. How is the party off for funds? Do we have enough money to fight the election? I’m told that the Labour election war-chest is pretty full with all the new members they pulled in last year, and the same goes for the Lib Dems. How are we going to find the money? Apparently we need an extra £10 million at least just to get to the starting line.’
Malkin pulled a face. ‘Well, I agree. We hadn’t been planning on a 2107 election. We were going to build up a fighting fund for 2020, three years from now, when – under the Fixed Term Parliament Act – the election should have been called.’
‘So what are we going to do? Put out a special appeal?’ the PM asked.
‘I’m not sure that is going to work, Prime Minister,’ Malkin replied. ‘There are a lot of people out there who don’t seem to be as keen on having this election as you are. They seem to think they’ve had enough elections to be getting on with. I’m not sure how we are going to raise the funds.’
Mabel Killick hadn’t studied the Referendum dossier for nothing. She well remembered the message that Jeremy Hartley’s office had sent to Fred Malkin when they were discussing how much the Conservative Party would need to be paid if the Prime Minister promised to call a Referendum on Europe:
‘PM is prepared to settle for latest proposal, so we will aim to include appropriate reference in Bloomberg speech. Our friends are talking in terms of 10, possibly 12 M.’
‘What about the funds President Popov is alleged to have sent the Conservative Party?’ Mabel Killick asked.
Fred Malkin sighed. ‘Let’s be clear about this. As far as Jeremy Hartley was concerned, the exchanges he and I had about possible “cash for policy” donations to Conservative Party funds were totally fictitious. We included those exchanges in the Referendum dossier as part of the wider strategy of getting Edward Barnard on board as the chairman of the Leave campaign.’
‘Okay, I accept that Jeremy Hartley is totally in the clear,’ Mabel Killick replied, ‘but what about you, Fred, in your role as Party Chairman? You didn’t by any chance spot an opportunity to do a bit of freelance fund-raising for the Conservative Party? Set money aside for a rainy day? Like an early election, perhaps?’
‘Good heavens, Prime Minister!’ Fred Malkin exclaimed. ‘How could you suggest such a thing?’
CHAPTER FIFTY
Friday June 9th, 2017. 3:00a.m. Moscow time.
Igor Popov, president of the Russian Federation, and Galina Aslanova, newly appointed Director of the FSB, sat side by side on the sofa watching television in the den of the President’s dacha outside Moscow. Though it was well af
ter midnight, neither had the slightest intention of going to bed. The news that night was simply too riveting.
Over in London, Louise Hitchcock, the BBC’s star political reporter, was assessing the results of the UK General Election where the polls had closed just hours earlier.
‘Though all the votes have not yet been counted, Prime Minister Mabel Killick’s election gamble looks to have backfired,’ she said. ‘It seems clear that the Conservatives’ hope of a landslide victory, or even a substantially increased majority, have evaporated, leaving the party scrabbling to hold on to power. Though the Conservatives are set to emerge as the largest party, the UK is heading for a hung parliament with no single party having an overall majority.’
‘What does she mean by “hung parliament?” ’ President Popov asked. ‘Who are they going to hang?’
‘They’ll probably want to hang Mrs Killick,’ Galina Aslanova said. ‘They may not do it straight away, but sooner or later the knives will come out.’
‘And will Miles Pomfrey, the Labour leader, take over? He seems to have done much better than expected,’ Popov asked.
‘Not necessarily,’ Galina replied. ‘There may have to be another election later in the year, but for the time being it looks as though Mrs Killick will try to cling on to power.’
President Popov poured himself another glass of Glenmorangie. ‘You know, Galina, I rather like what I’m hearing. Of course, I would have preferred Mrs Killick to win. Achieving Brexit was one of the main goals of Operation Tectonic Plate, as we know, and she was very determined to do it. But there are different ways of skinning a cat.’
He walked across the room and took down one of the hunting rifles from the rack on the wall. Raising the rifle to his shoulder, he took aim at the priceless Gobelin tapestry, which hung over the hearth. He pulled the trigger and loosed off an imaginary round.
‘The exit wound often causes the most damage, doesn’t it? Last night’s election results in Britain, as I understand them, will help us ensure that the Brexit process does indeed cause the maximum possible damage. Remainers, like Tom Milbourne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, will be encouraged by last night’s ambiguous election results to put a spoke in the Brexit wheel whenever they can. That is fine by me. The chaos and confusion will last for months, if not for years, and it will not be limited to Britain. Europe will be thrown into turmoil too.’
While Popov had been speaking, Galina Aslanova’s mood had sensibly lightened. She had been worried that Popov would be angry that his crucial Brexit scheme had, momentarily at least, been thrown into doubt. But the reverse seemed to be the case.
‘Do we have any preferred candidates as possible successors to Mabel Killick?’ Popov mused. ‘What about our friend Edward Barnard? He’s a safe pair of hands, surely. Much cleverer than he lets on. I think he knew right from the start I never darted that tiger. Or what about Harry Stokes? That would be fun!’
Popov pointed the remote at the TV to switch channels.
If June 8th had been a big day in Britain, with its startling General Election, it had been a big day in the United States too.
The huge TV on the oak table beside the fire showed Jack Varese addressing a rally in Pittsburgh, with Eddie Turner, Pittsburgh’s Mayor, standing next to him.
‘President Craig,’ Varese’s voice boomed across the crowd, ‘has just pulled out of the vital Paris Agreement on Global Warming. He says he was elected to represent the people of Pittsburgh, not Paris. But Eddie here tells me the people of Pittsburgh want to stick to the Global Warming Treaty, not torpedo it. Is that right, Eddie?’
When the Mayor shouted, ‘Darn right!’ the crowd erupted in approval.
‘Well, we’re going to impeach him, aren’t we, for endangering the planet?’ Varese shouted.
The crowd erupted again. ‘Lock him up! Lock him up!’
‘That won’t make any difference,’ Popov commented as he watched the screen. ‘Craig’s not going to listen to Jack Varese or Eddie Turner.’
‘What about Rosie Craig? Won’t he listen to his daughter?’ Galina said.
Popov shook his head. ‘There’s too much at stake. Craig wants an ice-free Arctic as much as we do.’
While Jack Varese worked up a head of steam sufficient to drive a small turbine, Popov switched channels again.
CBS’s Eric Longhurst was commenting on developments, not in Pittsburgh, but in Washington. ‘At a hearing that riveted Washington and millions across America, FBI Director Wilbur Brown, branded President Craig a liar. He said he believed he had been sacked because of the FBI’s investigation into Moscow’s meddling in last year’s presidential election. Brown’s explosive testimony lasted over three hours.’
Popov turned the TV off. ‘Pah! Fake News! God, how I hate it!’ he exclaimed. ‘They’ll be writing Fake Books next!’
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The large Amur tiger lazed in the sun on the banks of the Ussuri River. From time to time he raised his head and licked his balls. Just to check they were still there. They hadn’t seen much action recently. Female tigers on the Chinese side of the frontier seemed to be few and far between. He looked upstream, then he looked downstream, then – to be sure – he looked upstream again. The coast seemed to be clear.
The tiger got to his feet, sticking his hindquarters into the air first, then pushing up on his front paws. He ambled down to the river and sniffed at the water. At this time of year, the flow in the Ussuri was sluggish, but still it was cool and refreshing. He would enjoy the swim. And there would be more females too on the Russian side. That was obvious. It wasn’t just the grass which was greener the other side of the river.
Later that day, Jang Ling-Go, director of Forestry and Wildlife in China’s Heilongjiang Province, received a message from one of the rangers. ‘Amur tiger seen crossing Ussuri into Russia at 11a.m. today. This is visual sighting, but please check with GPS too.’
Jang Ling-Go switched on the bio-monitoring tracking system.
Within seconds he had picked up the slow-moving pulsing blip that denoted the Amur tiger 127’s progress as it left the river and headed back into the immense birch forest of Russia’s Far East.
The steady pace of the moving dot indicated that this was a tiger with a very clear idea of where he wanted to go.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STANLEY JOHNSON is a former politician, environmental campaigner, journalist and author of twenty-five books including ten thrillers, one of which, The Commissioner, was made into a feature film starring John Hurt. Stanley won the Newdigate Prize for Poetry and has awards from Greenpeace and the RSPCA. He recently received the RSPB Medal as well as WWF’s Leader of the Living Planet Award, both awarded for services to conservation. He is an Ambassador for the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species, and Hon. President of the Gorilla Organization.
In the run-up to the EU Referendum in 2016, he founded and co-chaired Environmentalists for Europe. Stanley Johnson was one of the first presenters of More 4’s The Last Word and he has also appeared on Have I Got News For You, The One Show, Pointless and, most recently, The Fake News Programme.
A Point Blank Book
First published by Point Blank, an imprint of Oneworld Publications Ltd, 2017
This ebook published 2017
Copyright © Stanley Johnson 2017
The moral right of Stanley Johnson to be identified as the Author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
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ISBN 978-1-78607-246-7 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-78607-360-0 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-78607-247-4 (ebook)
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations,
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es, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination
or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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