First Among Equals Read Online Free PDF

participate in one, but
not risk both.
    Charles’s
thoughts, however, were not in Mexico City or Warsaw. They were far nearer
home, and when the chairman called for a vote, Charles didn’t register.
    “Mexico or Poland, Charles? Which do you favor?”
    “Heath,” he
replied.
    “I beg, your
pardon,” said Derek Spencer.
    Charles snapped
back from Westminster to Threadneedle Street to find everyone at the boardroom
table staring at him. With the air of a man who had been giving the matter
considej able thought, Charles said firmly,
    “Mexico,” and
added, “The great difference between the two countrie ,, can best be gauged by their attitudes to repayment. Mexico might not want to
repay, but Poland won’t be able to, so why not limit our risks and back Mexico?
If it comes to litigation I’d prefer to be against 30 someone who won’t pay
rather than someone who can’t.” The older members around the table nodded in
agreement; the right son of Bridgewater was sitting on the board.
    When the
meeting was over Charles joined his colleagues for lunch in the directors’
dining room. A room containing two Hogarths, a Brueghel, a Goya and a
Rembrandt-Just another reminder of his great-grandfather’s ability to select
winners – could distract even the most self-indulgent gourmet. Charles did not
wait to make a decision between the Cheddar and the Stilton as he wanted to be
back in the Commons for Question Time.
    On arriving at
the House he immediately made his way to the smoking room, long regarded by the
Tories as their preserve. There in the deep leather armchairs and cigar-laden
atmosphere the talk was entirely of who would be Sir Alec Home’s successor.
    Later that
afternoon Charles returned to the Commons chaniber, He wanted to observe Heath
and his Shadow team deal with Government amendments one by one. Heath was on
his feet facing the Prime Minister, his notes oa the dispatch box in front of
him.
    Charles was
about to leave the chamber when Raymond Gould rose to move an amendment from
the back benches.
    Charles
remained alued to his seat.
    He had to
listen with grudging admiration as Raymond’s intellectual grasp and force of
argument easily compensated for his lack of oratorical skill. Although Gould
was a cut above the rest of the new intake on the Labour benches, he didn’t
frighten Charles. Twelve generations of cunning and business acumen had kept
large parts of Leeds in the hands of the Bridgewater family without the likes
of Ra, mond Gould even being aware of it.
    Charles took
supper in the members’ dining room that night and sat in the center of the room
at the large table occupied by Tory backbenchers.
    There was only
one topic of conversation, and as the same two names kept emerging it was
obvious that it was going to be a very closerun race.
    When Charles arrived back at his Eaton Square home after the ten
o’clock vote, his wife, Fiona, was already tucked up in bed reading Graham
Greene’s The Comedians.
    “They let you
out early tonight.”
    “Not too bad,”
said Charles, and began regaling her with how he had spent his day, before
disappearing into the bathroom.
    Charles
imagined he was cunning, but his wife, Lady Fiona Hampton, nde Campbell, only
daughter of the Duke of Falkirk, was in a different league. She and Charles had
been selected for each other by their grandparents and neither had questioned
or doubted the wisdom of the choice.
    Although
Charles had squired numerous girlfriends before their marriage, he had always
assumed he would return to Fiona. Charles’s father, the fourteenth earl, had
always maintained that the aristocracy was becoming far too lax and sentimental
about love.
    “Women,” he
declared, “are for bearing children and insuring a continuation of the male
line.” The old earl became even more firm in his convictions when he was
informed that Rupert showed little interest in the opposite sex and was rarely
to be found in women’s company.
    Fiona would
never