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Then it was the turn of the Party Chairman. Williams could hear the formal tone being used by Collingridge on the end of the phone, and responded in kind.
'Prime Minister, within the last hour I have had calls from seven of our eleven Regional Party Chairmen. Without exception, I am sorry to say, they think the situation is quite disastrous for the Party. They feel that we are beyond the point of no return.'
'No, Teddy,' contradicted Collingridge. 'They feel that I am beyond the point of no return. There's a difference.'
He made one more phone call, to his private secretary asking him to seek an appointment at the Palace around lunchtime the following day. The secretary rang back four minutes later to say Her Majesty looked forward to seeing him at 'I o'clock.
He felt suddenly relieved, as if the tremendous weight had already shifted from his shoulders. He looked up one last time to face Walpole.
'Oh, yes. You would have fought. You would probably have won. But this office has already ruined my brother and now it is ruining me. I will not let it ruin Sarah's happiness, too. If you will excuse me, I had better let her know.'
Walpole's forty-ninth successor as Prime-.Minister strode towards the Cabinet Room door for almost the last time and, with his hand on the brass handle, turned once more.
'By the way, it already feels better.'
Part Three
THE DEAL
MONDAY 25th OCTOBER
Shortly before 10 o'clock the following morning, the members of the Cabinet assembled around the Cabinet table. They had been called individually to Downing Street rather than as a formal Cabinet, and most had been surprised to discover their colleagues also gathered. There was an air of expectation and great curiosity, and the conversation around the table while they waited for their Prime Minister was unusually muffled.
As the tones of Big Ben striking the hour reached into the room, the door opened and Collingridge walked in.
'Good morning, gentlemen.' His voice was unusually soft. 'I am grateful to see you all here. I shall not detain you long.'
He took his seat, and extracted a single sheet of paper from the leather bound file he was carrying. He laid it carefully on the table in front of him, and then looked slowly around at his colleagues. There was not a sound to be heard in the room.
'I am sorry I was unable to inform you that this morning's meeting was to be one of the full Cabinet. As you will shortly see, it was necessary to ensure that you could all be assembled without creating undue attention and speculation amongst the press.'
He let out a long sigh, a mixture of pain and relief.
'I am going to read to you a short statement that I shall be issuing later today. At 'I o'clock I shall be going to the Palace to convey the contents to Her Majesty. I must ask all of you, on your oaths of office, not to divulge the contents of this message to anyone before it is officially released. I must ensure Her Majesty hears it from me and not through the press. I would also ask it of each one of you as a personal favour to me'
He looked slowly around the table to catch the eye of those present, all of whom nodded their assent as he did so. He picked up the sheet of paper and began to read in a slow, matter-of-fact voice. He squeezed out any trace of regret he might have felt.
'Recently there has been a spate of allegations in the media about the business affairs of both me and my family, which shows no sign of abating.
'I have consistently stated, and repeat today, that I have done nothing of which I should be ashamed. I have adhered strictly to the rules and conventions relating to the conduct of the Prime Minister.
The implied allegation made against me is one of the most serious kind for any holder of public office, that I have used that office and the confidential information available to me from it to enrich my family. I cannot explain the extraordinary circumstances referred to by the media which have given rise to these allegations, and I have asked the Cabinet Secretary to undertake a formal independent investigation into them.
'The nature of these allegations makes it impossible for me to prove my innocence of the charge of misconduct, but I am confident that the official investigation by the Cabinet Secretary will eventually establish the full facts of the matter and my complete exoneration'
He swallowed hard; his mouth was dry and increasingly he was struggling with some of the words.
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