Part One Hundred And Fifty Five
As Neil Grayling pulled into the car park of the Old Bailey, he wondered precisely what he was doing here. Sure, the information that he had to impart was certainly necessary, but why was he doing it? The answer came to him as he pushed open the heavy swing doors and walked into the tiled foyer. During the lead up to the performance of 'The Creation' last year, he had made a number of new friends, George and John being just two of them. He could all too clearly remember the days when he had passed information to the likes of Sir Ian Rochester, memories that made him squirm with mortification. But now here he was, thankfully taking what he had learnt to the right side for a change. Neil occasionally marvelled at how much he had altered over the last couple of years, and definitely for the better.
He didn't have the first idea of where to begin looking for the Judge, so he asked a passing clerk, who turned out to be Mrs. Cooper, John Deed's clerk. "If possible," He said once ascertaining who she was. "I would like a few words with Mr. Justice Deed." "May I have your name?" Coope asked, leading the way towards the stairs. "Neil Grayling," he told her.
John was more than a little surprised when Coope told him just who was here to see him, and he asked Coope to show Neil in with rising curiosity. "Neil," He said when he appeared. "This is an unexpected surprise." "I have recently become aware of something that I thought you would wish to know," Neil said as Coope retreated, closing the door behind her. "Would you like some coffee?" John asked, gesturing to the steaming pot on the table. "Please," Neil replied as he sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs. Once John had poured them both a cup of the fortifying liquid and taken the chair opposite Neil, he said, "So, what have you to tell me?" Taking a grateful swig of the coffee, Neil began to explain.
"My immediate superior, Alison Warner, called an unexpected meeting this morning, saying that she had something particularly important to tell us. It seems that we are to get a new Home Secretary, something that, because of who it is, will no doubt impact on the judiciary as well as the prison service." "I don't like where my thoughts are taking me," John said with an expression of approaching gloom. "No, you shouldn't," Neil replied with a sardonic smile. "It's Neil Haughton." Had John not been in someone else's company, he would very likely have sworn violently at this revelation. "How on earth did he manage that?" he asked in utter disgust. "I've no idea," Neil said darkly. "But I would suspect that he now owes a particularly large favour to someone." "That is all I need," John said bitterly. "For Lover boy to start sticking his nose into things that don't concern him." Neil raised his eyebrows at John's angrily thrown out accolade. "It's a name I gave him when he began sleeping with George," John explained. "And it somehow seemed to stick." "George told me what happened with him," Neil said quietly, remembering that day, just before their performance of 'The Creation', when George had told him precisely why she didn't want Neil Haughton anywhere in the audience. "Yes," John said in bitter contemplation. "Jo had to physically prevent me from beating him to a pulp for doing that to George. He's nothing more than a dishonest, greedy thug, but then I suppose that could be said for too many of the current government." "What is his appointment likely to mean for the prison service?" Neil asked. "Lower budgets, tougher sentences, even less consideration of the conditions that prison inmates are forced to endure, possibly job cuts on the ground, and more and more red tape as he thinks up government and media friendly policies that haven't got a cat in hell's chance of working in practice." "All sweetness and light, then," Neil said disgustedly. "And be warned," John continued. "He will personally hand pick those within the service who will be working for him first, and the service second. Neil Haughton is as corrupt as they come, and your job is about to become as fraught with internal and external politics as mine will undoubtedly be. When is his appointment to be announced?" "April the first," Neil informed him. "Which is probably why Alison Warner left it till now to let us know as to the identity of our new boss, so that there are only two days for anyone to leak the story." "That's a very bad April fool if it is one," John said sarcastically. "It would be distasteful in the extreme," Neil agreed with him. "But I don't somehow think we're about to be quite that lucky." "I wonder what he's promised in order to secure this new position," John speculated thoughtfully. "Because he royally failed with the Department for Trade and Industry, One Way PLC being the case in point." "I'm sure we'll find out in due course," Neil replied darkly, wondering just how much harder his job was about to become.