John was up earlier than normal on a Saturday morning, and took his way to a nearby newsagent. He walked with a slow leaden tread, as he knew the bad news that there was waiting for him yet duty forced him to see the worst. This was the day when the news would break of the appointment of the new Commissar for Home Affairs. Certainly Mimi was far keener on the early morning Saturday walk than her master and she pulled strongly at her lead to hurry him up.
Flicking through the newsstands, the sight of them hurt his eyes. Sure enough, the Sun that trashy and viciously right wing paper screamed its approval of the dreadful news.
"Neil sweeps clean." It said in large block capitals. Furtively, John scanned the front page. He felt more embarrassed in even glancing at the rag than if it were an adult magazine. At least it was honest." Illegal immigrants, dangerous criminals had better beware. There is a prison cell awaiting for each and every one of you." As expected, what there was of the article carried onto page 2 and, flicking a casual gaze at the nubile woman posing on the opposite page, he slid the paper into the rack. There was nothing there that he hadn't seen before, he reflected in lordly disdain.
He picked out the Times as more up market but as supportive of the government. It was more likely to fill in the blanks that he needed to see. A key phrase caught his eye as he ran his eye over the article.
"This country demands that those guilty of crimes are banged to rights. I have no time for fuzzy minded liberals, wherever they are, whose sympathies are more for the criminals than the victims of crime. The permissive society and those who have encouraged it has been partly responsible for half the crime on our streets. I shall sweep away the obstacles of outdated bureaucracy to secure a zero tolerance attitude to crime. Institutions of law and order need to be modernized, to be dragged into the twenty first century quite as much as the welfare state."
"That means us." John murmured. This was an open declaration of war against him, first and foremost but it boded no good news either for Joe Channing, Neil Grayling, George, Jo and ultimately Karen and Nikki. He paid for the paper, rolled it under his arm and chose to take a longer walk than was normal. Mimi was overjoyed that the human who was her master went away from his accustomed path. It suited John as well, as he needed that fresh air to clear his head.
When John returned to his flat, he switched on the TV. He stuck only a couple of minutes of it to switch it off. If only Houghton could be switched off as easily as his image on the screen, he groaned inwardly, seeing that self satisfied political nobody spout forth. The man struck him as even more obnoxious on the screen than when he had seen him last, possibly because the sycophantic interviewer fawned on him, instead of challenging him as he had done on many an occasion.
It took half an hour of lying on the settee, listening to a classical CD until duty called on him to reach for the phone to call George.
"John. This is a welcome surprise." That very aristocratic drawl greeted him as he nervously phoned her. He wasn't sure if George would have heard the news and so he had to be prepared either way. By the sound of her cheerful mood, she definitely hadn't.
"I just thought I'd phone you up on the off chance, just to see how you're getting on."
"Darling, nothing you ever do in life is ever on the off chance"
"It's just that I've been very busy and not seen you awhile. I've been very remiss in not asking how you're going on"
"Well, thank heaven, I'm back in the comfort of my own home and getting down to some work as best as I can. I'm even getting used to getting dressed in the morning so long as I don't look too closely."
"I'm so very glad about that." John said fervently.
It was now that she thought there was something odd about John's manner, and she chose to pursue the first obvious possibility.
"Have you done anything in the last week that is very reckless and foolhardy, even by your standards?" George asked in razor sharp inquisitive tones.
"No no, George. I am completely and totally innocent this time"
"Then what is it"
The irritated tone in George's voice signalled to John that he should let her have the bad news straight.
"George, I think you ought to sit down before I tell you why I'm really phoning you. Don't argue with me, just do it."
Somehow he sensed that she had obeyed that urgent tone in his voice.
"There's no easy way to tell you. The news has broken that there's been a cabinet reshuffle and Houghton is the new Home Secretary"
"Is this supposed to be an April fool, John?" George said at last. She wondered if her own hearing was also playing her similar tricks.
"I don't think that the government, the BBC, the Sun and the Times are joking, George. I really wish that they were"
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone, but John deduced that, as the line was still connected, George was still holding the phone and was still upright.
"But they can't, they mustn't…….That man is the most idiotic choice of Home Secretary you could possibly hope to find"
"No doubt that is the reason they choose him. I mean, it makes no sense by their standards to pick a capable candidate." Came John's dry reply.
"He'll be positively drooling at the thought of all that power. Let's face it, there isn't anything else that gets him going as far as I can remember"
"Well, that sounds par for the course"
The phone line fell silent again, as the full implications started to crowd into George's fevered mind.
"This just makes me feel ill." George's slightly shaky voice responded." It puts him far too close to my orbit. As far as I'm concerned, he can go ahead with his grubby little money making schemes to massage his pathetic ego, but I just want to let him go his way and I'll go mine."
"No such luck for all of us. I've just read the papers. He's the authentic Hanging Judge and he feels that there are too many liberals gumming up the wheels of justice."
"No, no, no, John. I mean personally. I quite see that he will stick his ill informed nose into things of which he is totally ignorant, but there's more to it than that. I just don't want him anywhere near my life"
"It's on the news, George if you wish to watch it"
"No fear. I can imagine what he'll say and that's enough for me. You promise me one thing, John. You must resist the temptation to punch him on the nose or I'll never forgive you. Right now, I'm going to lie down in a darkened room for an hour"
John knew what lay behind her domineering style. This was her way of expressing her desire to protect him, and was her way of dealing with the situation."
John held the phone in his hand and dialed Joe Channing. His role as the bearer of bad news was getting to be a familiar experience.
"Ah John, I was going to phone you but you beat me to it. I've just picked up the Telegraph and I couldn't believe what I've read. The fools, the imbeciles in letting such a weasel like him in charge of the Home Office. They must want their brains examining."
John was immensely relieved that Joe had gone for his constitutional and for his long established habit in immersing himself in the paper on a Saturday morning. He had phoned up, just at the point when the other man's incandescent rage has subsided to manageable proportions.
"I get the feeling that the government have got us in their sights. It's not just the matter any more of crossing swords with the Attorney General and small fry like Sir Ian and Lawrence James." John said calmly.
"They might as well have nominated Genghis Khan for a posthumous award for the Nobel Peace prize" Joe rumbled on loudly.
"We're all in for a rough ride from what the papers are saying."
There was a long pause as Joe's sharp mind was closely studying John's manner. It was John who had pitilessly dissected Houghton's many character shortcomings long before he and George has seen through the bounder. While he was letting rip and cursing the man with every expression that came to hand, John was being the calm, philosophical one. It was almost as if John had had longer time to digest the full implications. A light dawned in his mind as he revised his original statement and concluded that John definitely had been tipped off in advance.
"You seem pretty cool and calm about the matter. Have you had advance information on this?"
Joe could almost hear John faintly smile down the line at him.
"Let's say that we live in an age when the apparatchiks have their network of spies, informants and petty agents to do their dirty work. I cannot continue to play the rules of cricket in not having friends in a wide walk of life who can give me advance warning. I was told of this on Thursday, and got my anger and rage out of the system by kicking the waste bin round my chambers, and imagining that it was Houghton's head"
John could hear Joe's chuckle of laughter down the line. There was something about John's cool and calm frame of mind that steadied his own impetuous, fiery nature.
"At least we can talk freely on the phone. You never know, he'll add us to the list of dangerous subversives and have our phones tapped. I'll be first on the list." John joked lightly.
"Good God, it had better not come to that. This is Britain, the land of traditional freedoms."
"While we have them." Came Joe's laconic reply.
There was another pause while Joe digested this possibility. John wasn't being as witty as he thought he was.
"Have you talked to anyone else about this, John"
"I told George of this. I'm not sure if she took it particularly well." John said doubtfully.
"I shall go over to George and visit her. She needs cheering up." Joe promptly decided. Both men knew that this was Joe's way of repaying the way that John had performed so nobly in breaking the news of George's cancer. Besides, he grinned impishly to himself, the news about that frightful man had brought out a stubborn, combative streak in him. He may be getting old but his brain was as sharp as ever and, besides, there was nothing he liked better than a good fight.