Murder Without Reason by Phillip Strang

Author:Phillip Strang [Strang, Phillip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phillip Strang
Published: 2015-06-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

‘I am pleased to announce that Anne Argento has agreed to my offer to become the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland,’ Prime Minister Clifford Bell announced at the next sitting of the House of Commons.

‘You’re aiming to throttle her,’ Ernest Bakewell, the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, shouted.

‘Resign, resign!’ the Opposition backbenchers supported their Leader in unison.

‘Order in the House,’ the Speaker demanded. ‘The comments of the Honourable Leader of the Opposition are out of order.’

‘She was after your job,’ the Leader of the Opposition continued.

‘Order in the House,’ the Speaker of the House repeated.

The media was equally difficult. For days afterwards, both the print media and the television were condemning, speculating, postulating.

‘I am an ardent supporter of the Prime Minister,’ Anne Argento protested on the evening news programme of the national broadcaster.

‘Your criticism of Clifford Bell has been extreme, both in public and in private,’ Clement Fogarty, the most incisive and penetrating political commentator and interviewer in the country, said in the broadcasting studios in London.

‘Clement, it is unfortunate that even you have indulged in the current media circus,’ the Deputy Prime Minister said.

‘Deputy Prime Minister, is it not a fact that, in the privacy of the cabinet room, you have openly accused the Prime Minister of weakness and cowardice?’

‘I do not remember seeing you at any meeting of the cabinet. Where do you get this information?’

‘I have been told that your criticism has been both excessive and vindictive. Am I not correct?’ Fogarty continued.

‘You are not correct. In a vibrant and healthy democracy, the freedom of speech, the ability to express one’s views, is paramount.’

‘Deputy Prime Minister, you are deflecting the question.’

‘I am not deflecting. The Prime Minister, as well as his deputy, are united in the need to temper the influence of the Islamic State.’

‘You have called him weak, inadequate,’ Fogarty kept up the attack.

‘Yet again you make comments based on conjecture, not facts.’

‘Are you saying that you and the Prime Minister are aligned on how to tackle the threat?’ Fogarty asked, hoping to force Anne Argento to make a slip of the tongue, a truthful statement. She knew his tricks. She was not about to be pushed into a corner that she could not extricate herself from.

‘We are united to resolve the situation.’

‘You have still not answered,’ Fogarty continued.

‘We hold differing views on the best way to resolve.’ The Deputy Prime Minister gave some ground.

‘So there is criticism of the Prime Minister?’

‘Clement, your attack on the Prime Minister and his deputy may be conducive to ensuring more viewers, but rest assured that there is no criticism on my part of the Prime Minister.’

‘Did you not say that this is war, and the Prime Minister and his continuing negotiations are going nowhere?’ Fogarty pressed on regardless.

‘You are better informed than I am on this matter,’ Anne Argento deflected.

‘You said that in a Security Council meeting.’

‘Then let us have your source in here. Then we can ascertain the truth of what I said.

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