纸牌屋（House of Cards 英文版）

　　'What do you think? Will he get away with it?'

　　If I know our Ben, he won't be relying just on industrial logic or compelling rhetoric. He will  have prepared the ground very carefully beforehand. We'll soon see how many politicians owe him  favours.'

　　The answer seemed to be that many politicians owed Landless, at least on the Government side. With  nominations closing the following day and the first ballot due in just a week, few contenders  seemed willing to risk antagonising the combined might of the Telegraph and United groups and  their substantial number of national newspapers. Within hours the endorsements for Landless grew  into a stampede of support amongst contenders as they struggled not to be left behind in finding  airtime to praise his 'enlightened and patriotic industrial leadership'. By teatime, Landless was  well pleased with his day's work and the careful planning which had gone into it. Once again, it  seemed that his sense of riming and understanding of politicians had been just right. The  Independentcould not resist the temptation to have a dig at the proceedings. 'The Landless  announcement burst like a grenade in the middle of the leadership race -which presumably was his  intention. The sight of so many senior politicians falling over themselves to kiss his hand was  reminiscent of Tammany Hall at its worst. It is salutary to reflect that these very same  politicians, just a few months ago at the time when Landless bought out Telegraph Newspapers, were  insisting that he sign a public declaration of non-interference with the editorial policies of his  newspapers. Only on the basis of that solemn and binding undertaking did they allow the purchase  to proceed. Today, in their craven attempts to placate Landless, they are acting as if they  automatically assume that alongside his personal support goes the editorial support of his many  newspapers. They seem to prefer to swim with sharks rather than honour their own undertakings.'

　　Not all the aspirants joined the stampede, however. Samuel was cautious and noncommittal - he had  too many knife wounds in his back from the previous weeks to wish to stick his head above the  parapet yet again, and he said he wished to consult the workforce of the two groups before  reaching his decision. Immediately the union representatives issued their vigorous denunciation of  the scheme. They had noted that there were no guarantees about job security in the published  document, and they had plenty of experience of Landless's quite ruthless 'industrial  rationalisation programmes'. In a careless moment Landless had once joked that he had fired 10,000  people for every million he had made, and he was an exceedingly wealthy man. Samuel realised after  his brief consultation with the unions that it would be absurd in the face of their public  opposition for him now to endorse the deal, so sought refuge in silence.

　　Urquhart also stood out from the crowd. Within an hour of the announcement he was on television  and radio giving a thoroughly polished and well informed analysis of the global information market  and its likely trends, all of which seemed to support the Landless proposal. His technical  expertise far outshone his rivals, yet he was cautious.

　　'While I have the highest respect for Benjamin Landless I think it would be wrong of me to jump to  immediate conclusions before I have had an opportunity to consider all the details of the  proposal. I think politicians should be careful; it gives politics a bad name if they are  perceived as dashing around trying to buy the support of the editorial columns. So to avoid any  possible misinterpretation, I shall not be announcing my own views until the leadership contest is  over. By which time, of course,' he said modestly, 'they may be of no interest anyway.'

　　If only all his colleagues could have taken the dignified and principled stand of the Chief Whip',  praised the Independent, Urquhart is establishing a statesmanlike tone for his campaign which  marks him out from the pack and will certainly improve his chances.'

　　Other editorials echoed the line, not least of all the Telegraph.

　　We encouraged Francis Urquhart to stand for the leadership because of our respect for his  independence of mind and his integrity. We were delighted when he accepted the challenge, and we  are still convinced that our recommendation was correct. His refusal to rush to judgement over the  Telegraph-United newspaper merger and his determination to consider his views carefully is no less  than we would expect from someone with the qualities to lead this country.