|
Both were reckoned to have a reasonable chance of success. McKenzie had been prominent in selling the popular hospital scheme, and had managed to ensure that blame for its postponement had been heaped entirely on the Treasury and the Prime Minister's Office.
Woolton had been running hard behind the scenes ever since his conversation with Urquhart at the party conference, having lunched almost every editor in Fleet Street in the previous month. By emphasising his Northern origins he was hoping to establish himself as the 'One Nation' candidate in contrast to the strong Home Counties bias of most of the other major contenders - not that this had impressed the Scots, who tended to view the whole affair as if it were an entirely foreign escapade. Woolton had been hoping to delay his formal entry into the race, wishing to see how the various rival campaigns developed, but the weekend press had been like a call to arms and he decided he should delay no longer. He called a press conference at Manchester Airport to make the announcement on what he termed his 'home ground', hoping that no one would notice he had flown up from London in order to be there.
The weekend press also incited into action those candidates who had already declared themselves. It was becoming clear to the likes of Michael Samuel and Harold Earle that their gentlemanly campaigns with their obscure, coded messages were rapidly running into the sand. With the advent of new candidates, their appeals needed to be freshened up and their cutting edges toughened.
Under the pressures of an extended campaign, the candidates were becoming increasingly nervous - so the press at last got what they wanted. When Harold Earle repeated his environmentalist criticisms, but this time choosing to attack the record of Michael Samuel by name, the gloves came off.
Samuel retorted that Earle's conduct was reprehensible and incompatible with his status as a Cabinet colleague, as well as being a rotten example for an Education Secretary to set for young people. In the meantime, Woolton's loose language at Manchester concerning the need to 'restore English values with an English candidate' was vigorously attacked by McKenzie, who was desperately trying to rediscover his lost Gaelic roots and claiming it was an insult to five million Scots. Trying to find a unique line as always,' the Sun interpreted Woolton's words as a vicious anti- Semitic attack on Samuel, which had Jewish activists swamping the air waves and letter columns with complaints. A rabbi in Samuel's home constituency called on the Race Relations Board to investigate what he called 'the most atrocious outburst by a senior political figure since Mosley'. Woolton was not entirely unhappy with this overreaction,- 'for the next two weeks everyone will be looking at the shape of Samuel's ears rather than listening to what he's saying,' he told one close supporter.
By Wednesday afternoon, Urquhart felt the situation had developed sufficiently well for him to issue a public call for 'a return to the standards of personal conduct for which our Party is renowned and without which collective Government becomes impossible'. It was echoed loudly in the editorial columns, even as the front pages were splashing the latest outburst of internecine bickering.
When, therefore, on Friday afternoon Mattie walked in to Preston's office asking him if he wanted a fresh angle on the contest, his response was generally unenthusiastic.
'Christ, I shall be glad when we can get back to real news,' he blustered. 'I'm not sure we can afford to devote any more space than we're already doing to the back-stabbing.'
This bit of back-stabbing,' she said defiantly, 'is different.'
He was still looking at a mock-up of the following day's front page rather than showing any interest in Mattie, but she was not deterred.
'The leadership election was caused by Collingridge's resignation, which in turn was caused in the end by allegations that he or his brother had been fiddling share deals through a Paddington tobacconist and a Turkish secondary bank. I think we can prove that he was almost certainly set up.'
Preston at last looked up. 'What the hell are you talking about?'
'He was framed, and I think we can prove it.'
Preston could find no words to express his astonishment; his jaw dropped so low that with his large glasses Mattie felt she was talking to a goldfish.
'Here's what we have, Grev.' Patiently she explained how she had checked the computer file at party headquarters and discovered the distribution file had been tampered with.
84/134 首页 上一页 82 83 84 85 86 87 下一页 尾页
|
