Party Games by E J Greenway Read Free Book Online Page B

making his leadership a success.
                “We’ve not managed to talk much since you won.  Personally, I mean.”  Jeremy said in a low voice.  The man had a baby son and a new, demanding and high-profile job – Rodney wasn’t surprised to notice his exhaustion.  “How are things?  At home?”
                “We’ve finished going through the last of Mum’s things and probate’s finally finished on the will.”
                “And Jenny?”
                Rodney hesitated.  “She’s gone.  For good this time.”  He felt there was no point sounding sentimental about it.  “At the weekend.  We tried to work it out, but it just wasn’t...mutually beneficial.”
                “Oh, I’m sorry.”
    “No, don’t be.  It was never going to work long term.  She’ll probably go back to the bosom of the Labour fold, if they’ll have her.”  Perhaps Rodney was making the loss of his girlfriend sound like a policy u-turn.  Perhaps the beautiful Jennifer Lambert, the estranged daughter of Rosie Lambert, the brash editor of the Labour-supporting tabloid The Morning Engager , had been right when, two days after the leadership ballot, she accused him of simply thinking of her as being an “inconvenience” in his rise to the top. He quite obviously felt something – although she had no idea what – for “that sly bitch Culverhouse”, but he was apparently “too damn emotionally retarded” to admit it.  They had quarrelled all night until, through utter exhaustion, he nodded off as she continued to rant and pack bags.   The last thing he remembered was hoping she wouldn’t try to claim his extensive DVD collection as ‘ theirs ’. Next thing he knew, she was out of his house and out of his life. 
                Jeremy looked uncomfortable.  “Well, I suppose she was a bit....you know....”
                “Arrogant?  Very aware of her own beauty and not afraid to flaunt it?”
    Jeremy smiled awkwardly, but Rodney couldn’t help but laugh.
    “She’s her mother’s daughter alright, even if they never speak.  She was never going to be the dutiful partner, let’s face it.  We were stifling each other, and our politics were worlds apart.  Just imagine her standing next to me at Party Conference, doing that pout of hers and cursing such ‘Tory scum’.”
    It was Jeremy’s turn to laugh.  Colin Scott walked past the two men, his BlackBerry obviously a welcome distraction from uncomfortable conversation.
    “I just don’t know what to do about Colin.” Rodney said quietly once his new deputy was out of earshot.  “Maybe I’ve made a mistake.”
    Jeremy shook his curly head.  “Look, I’ve known him a long time now.  Just give him a bit of time to cool off, he’s shrewd enough to know he needs to snap out of it sooner or later.” 
    Rodney often found Jeremy’s soft Lancashire lilt reassuring.  “But it’s the ‘snapping’ bit I’m worried about.  I’ve seen it in his eyes, he bloody hates me.  Nothing I can do or say can fix that.  You saw it yourself at Oxford, how the man bears grudges like badges of honour, and I’m still shocked just how dirty he played his campaign.  He wants revenge, I just don’t know whether it will be served tepid or stone cold sober.”
    Jeremy wrinkled his lips.  His mobile was ringing but he chose to ignore it.  “As I say, he may come round.  Give him a year, and if he’s not converted by then, well...he can be reassessed, as it were. It’s only been a week, and even in the face of conclusive statistics he had convinced himself and his handful of supporters that he would win, so he’s bound to be raw.”
    “And if he starts to be disloyal?  Gather support again? Drip his usual poison amongst the usual suspects?”
    Jeremy looked pensive.  Rodney could sense him wrestling with his Christian conscience.  “You’ve been given a clear mandate by the