This Honourable House Read Online Free PDF Page B

slept my way to power, when nothing could be further from the truth, he suggests that I have no grounds to campaign as I do. What balls that is.’ She sat down heavily on the bed, her mouth puckered.
    ‘But can’t you see,’ Mark ventured carefully, ‘how much worse it would be if he did have some material? Me, for instance.’ He wiped his fingers, wet from the condensation of the glass, over her hot cheek. The airless room smelt headily of sex.
    Diane shook her head. ‘Campaigners like me are needed. You don’t have to have suffered the aggression of a drunken husband to know that it’s not the best environment to bring up children. Sods like Betts, who isn’t partnered either so far as I’m aware and who tends to fall over dead drunk at press bashes, have absolutely no right to criticise or to try and silence me. That’s why this rubbish isso unfair.’
    Mark rolled away from her, preparing his body and hers for the moment at which they must part. He said, ‘I saw your mother at the count. She seemed a bit out of it. How’s she coping with your new status?’
    Diane shrugged. ‘It gives her a new reason to moan. It’s a pain, being an only child. My mother would like me to be in daily attendance on her, and she’s the sort who believes the only role for women is a caring one. She still doesn’t think I’ve got a proper job. This politics lark will wear off, she says, and I’ll see sense. I’ll go home to Manchester and wait on her hand and foot. Except I won’t.’
    ‘But there’s nothing much wrong with her, you told me.’
    ‘No, but she’s ailing – she’s always ailing, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, except make appropriate noises. At such moments, God help me, I can begin to believe the victim theory of violence. Some people seem to invite it. My father was a weak man and a creep, but she must have driven him crazy with her whining. I suspect he died of despair, not a heart attack. As soon as I could, I got out. Up the ladder and over the wall. And here I am.’
    Not for the first time, the young MP reflected that Diane Clark found it much easier to offer the milk of human kindness to strangers en masse than to members of her own family. It was a common enough trait in the political world. Not unexpectedly, it led to allegations of hypocrisy; such a charge, had the Globe made it in that form, would have been far closer to the truth than Betts’s tirade. Yet Diane’s efforts on behalf of battered wives and damaged children had been a lifelong commitment, impossible to deride as a pose. The tabloids, however, were not interested in the thoughtful investigation of a complex personality. They were seeking scandal, and in Diane’s case would not have far to go to find it.
    ‘So what are you intending to do?’ Mark slid out of bed and gathered up his clothes. He pointed cautiously at the newspaper clipping.
    ‘God, I’ve no choice. I singed ears with a couple of quick phone calls, then made an appointment to see Lord Godman, the QC. We’ve had an exchange of letters so far, with no apology. He agrees that the sentiments are clearly defamatory, and if I decide to issue a writ for libel, he’ll act for me.’
    ‘You might be better to forget it. It was weeks ago already. You’ve more significant fish to fry than Mr Jim Betts or his editor. Plus, this side of the election we need all the allies we can get. Not enemies. Before, the media accepted our version of events when we attacked the government. Now that we’re in charge, their guns have swivelled about and are pointed in our direction. We’re the targets now.’
    He pulled on shorts and trousers and busied himself fastening his belt.
    Diane stood up and, as if suddenly ashamed of her nakedness, pulled a sheet around her. She kissed her lover’s damp forehead. ‘One of the things I like about you, Mark, is you talk such sense. Unfortunately, this particular article is so nasty that it could do me real harm. The