House of Cards (26 page)

I'm
afraid
I
am
going
to
have
to
ask
you
to
cancel
all
your lunch
arrangements
today.
I've
had
the
word
that
shortly after
‘I
o'clock
this
afternoon
we
are
to
expect
a
very important
statement
from
Downing
Street.
It's
absolutely confidential,
I
cannot
tell
you
what
it
is
about,
but
we
have to
be
ready
to
handle
it.
It's
a
real
blockbuster.'

By
11
a.m.,
five
journalists
had
been
contacted
by
various press
officers
in
party
headquarters
to
apologise
for
not being
able
to
make
lunch.
All
of
them
were
sworn
to secrecy
and
told
with
various
shades
of
detail
and
speculation
that
'something
big
was
going
on
in
Downing Street'.

Charles
Goodman
of
the
Press
Association,
using
the formidable
range
of
contacts
and
favours
he
had
built
up over
the
years,
quickly
discovered
that
there
had
been
a meeting
of
all
Cabinet
Ministers
at
Downing
Street
that morning,
although
the
Number
Ten
press
office
had nothing
to
say
on
the
matter.
Too
many
official
schedules for
10
a.m.
had
been
hastily
altered
for
anyone
to
be
able
to hide
the
fact.
On
a
hunch
he
then
phoned
the
Buckingham Palace
press
office,
which
also
had
nothing
to
say
-
at
least officially.
But
the
deputy
press
secretary
there
had
worked with
Goodman
many
years
before
on
the
Manchester Evening
News,
and
confirmed
entirely
off
the
record
and totally
unattributably
that
Collingridge
had
asked
for
an audience
at
‘
1
p.m.
’

By
11.25
a.m.
the
PA
tape
was
carrying
the
story
of
the secret
Cabinet
meeting
and
the
unscheduled
audience expected
soon
to
take
place
between
the
Prime
Minister and
the
Queen,
an
entirely
factual
report.

By
midday
IRN
local
radio
was
running
a
sensationalised lead
item
on
their
news
programmes.

The
news
at
noon
is
that
Henry
Collingridge
will
soon be
on
his
way
for
a
secret
meeting
with
Her
Majesty
the Queen.
Speculation
has
exploded
in
Westminster
during the
last
hour
that
either
he
is
going
to
sack
several
of
his leading
Ministers
and
inform
the
Queen
of
a
major
Cabinet reshuffle,
or
he
is
going
to
admit
his
guilt
to
recent
charges of
insider
trading
with
his
brother.
There
are
even
rumours that
she
is
going
to
sack
him.
Whatever
the
outcome,
it seems
certain
that
in
just
over
an
hour's
time
somebody
in Government
is
going
to
be
very
unhappy.'

In
fact
it
took
less
than
a
couple
of
minutes
to
infuriate

Henry
Collingridge
for,
when
the
Prime
Minister
looked out
of
his
front
window,
the
other
side
of
the
street
was obscured
in
a
forest
of
television
cameras
around
which was
camped
an
army
of
reporters
and
press
photographers.

He
was
purple
with
rage
as
he
slammed
the
door
of
his office
shut
with
a
noise
which
echoed
along
the
corridor. Two
passing
messengers
witnessed
his
fury.
‘
What
was that
he
was
muttering?'
asked
one.

'Didn't
quite
get
it,
Jim.
Something
about
"oaths
of office".

When
Collingridge
walked
out
through
the
front
door and
into
his
car
at
12.45,
he
ignored
the
screams
of
the
press corps
from
the
other
side
of
the
road.
He
drove
off
into Whitehall,
where
he
was
pursued
by
a
camera
car
which
in its
eagerness
to
chase
him
nearly
crashed
into
the
rear
of the
Prime
Minister's
police
escort.
There
was
another crowd
of
photographers
outside
the
gates
of
Buckingham Palace.
His
attempt
at
a
dignified
resignation
had
turned into
a
three-ring
circus.

As
he
watched
these
frenzied
scenes
on
live
television, Benjamin
Landless,
alerted
more
than
two
hours
earlier
by Urquhart,
contented
himself
with
a
broad
smile
and
a second
bottle
of
champagne.

The
Prime
Minister
had
asked
not
to
be
disturbed
unless
it was
absolutely
necessary.
After
returning
from
the
Palace, he
had
retired
to
the
private
apartment
above
Downing Street,
wanting
to
be
alone
with
his
wife
for
a
few
hours. Somehow,
those
official
papers
no
longer
seemed
so pressing.

The
private
secretary
apologised.
'I'm
terribly
sorry, Prime
Minister,
but
it's
Dr
Christian.
He
said
it
was important.'

The
phone
buzzed
gently
as
the
call
was
put
through. ‘D
r
Christian.
How
can
I
help
you?
And
how
is
Charles?' It's
about
Charles
I'm
calling,
Mr
Collingridge.
As
we have
discussed
before,
I
have
been
keeping
him
very
isolated
and
away
from
the
newspapers
so
that
he
wasn't disturbed
by
all
the
allegations.
But
we
have
a
problem. Normally
we
switch
his
television
off
and
find
something
to
divert
him
during
news
programmes,
but
we weren't
expecting
the
unscheduled
programme
about
your resignation
-
I'm
deeply
sorry
you've
had
to
resign,
by
the way,
but
it's
about
Charles
I
am
most
worried.
I
have
to
put his
interests
first,
you
understand.'