The Churchill Commando by Ted Willis

Author:Ted Willis [Willis, Ted]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2017-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

1

There are times when those who hold ministerial office feel beleaguered, when everyone in sight appears to be either hostile or helpless, when each telephone call brings a problem and each problem spawns another. The world looked that way to the Home Secretary at this moment, he felt both angry and depressed. Moreover, as if the fates were determined to make his harassment complete, he had developed a sniffling cold and sore throat over the weekend and his normally clear, mellow voice was now little more than a painful croak.

It was now 6.15 p.m., on Monday. Over three days had gone by since the kidnapping of Fraser and Gladstone and there was still no news of any significance. The Churchill Commando had sprayed their familiar symbol on the side of the police van, leaving no doubt that they were responsible, but there had, so far, been no statement from them, no communique. From their point of view, the operation appeared to have been a complete success; the County police had mounted a comprehensive search of the area without any tangible result.

The Home Secretary had just listened to part of the early evening radio news programme of the BBC and it had brought him little comfort. The final editions of the London evening papers were on the desk before him. The main stories were devoted to the kidnapping, but there were several other related items which concerned him almost as much. Groups of the so-called Churchill Movement seemed to be springing up everywhere; the Evening Standard estimated the number at well over a hundred, the BBC had put it even higher. It had been a busy weekend. The Churchill Commando had been mercifully inactive since the coup on Friday morning, but the citizens groups had more than made up for this.

There was report after report. In a small coastal resort in Cornwall a group of local citizens had descended upon a colony of hippies, and driven them from the area. In Manchester, a meeting called to promote reform of the laws governing homosexual behaviour had been wrecked by a hostile audience and two of the speakers beaten up. In several places pickets had appeared outside cinemas showing pornographic films and defaced posters and photographic displays; the Evening News carried an interview with the owner of one such cinema in which he complained that his customers were being intimidated to such an extent that business had dropped by eighty per cent in two days. In Bristol, a man of thirty-five, the father of a large family, who had boasted publicly that he had not worked for five years and that he was quite happy to live on social security and welfare benefits, had been tarred and feathered and dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of the city by a group of unknown assailants.

In one or two places, there had been attacks on members of the immigrant community, an ominous development which suggested that other prejudices were seeking an outlet. All in all, the picture was one of growing national disorder, of rising fury and violence.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.