Chapter Twenty
After saying goodbye to the BBC crew, Ana and Christian made their way to the studio for tonight's Leadership debate. Ana was on edge and Christian knew it hadn't been a great idea to do the documentary on the same day as the first leaders' debate. It meant Ana's anxiety would be running much higher than it normally would do, which would likely show to the audience. She was still very tense, the slightest noise that she wasn't expecting would make her jump. Her shoulders were stiff and nothing Christian did seem to relax her. He was frowning, concerned that she wouldn't be able to get through this tonight with everything that had gone on.
Kate and the team met Ana in the dressing room and she was immediately taken to have her hair and makeup done. Christian sat back, just watching the goings-on. It was overwhelming even to him and he was just a spectator in this. It was hard to watch Ana, knowing the pain she was feeling. She'd already described to him that reliving it all was making her injuries throb. He was worried about her standing this evening if her feet were hurting
Ana seemed to take it all in her stride though. It was as though a persona started to appear the closer they got to the programme starting. Her makeup was done in a simple way, just to amplify her natural beauty and her hair was put in loose waves around the shoulders. It showed her natural softness, her beauty and her femininity. Christian had bought a selection of outfits for Gracie to choose from, Ana hadn't been bothered to look beforehand. She trusted Christian's decisions.
Kate and Rosin were going on and on about some of the policy areas that Ana needed to focus on. She was nodding away but her eyes were unfocused, her lips curled in on themselves. Christian wasn't sure how much Ana was taking in and it concerned him, was she ready for this? It was hard for him, he'd seen her break again today and if she couldn't pull herself together now then there was a risk she'd be ending her chances to be leader tonight. She was putting on a front, appearing confident to those around her but Christian knew her and knew her mind was a million miles away from this room.
Gracie chose a navy-blue dress hugged Ana's body, with a pencil skirt that fell to the knees. It had a red stripe around the waist with an ivory stripe above and beneath it.
"I need the matching jacket." Ana said as she smoothed the dress down in the mirror.
"No you don't, it's going to be warm under those lights." Gracie replied as Ana started to glare at her in the mirror.
"I need the jacket. My arm." Ana said pointing to the still healing skin flap on her arm.
"No one cares about your arm." Gracie reassured gently, she knew Ana was being self-conscious, but she didn't need to be. No one would be focusing on her arm.
"I care." Ana said quietly, she didn't want to rub her injury in someone's face. They didn't need to look at it, to Ana it was still disgusting and hideous even though the stitches had been removed it was still an angry-looking injury and the redness, a stark contrast to Ana's pale skin meant it was completely unmissable.
"Ana, you will melt if you wear a jacket." Gracie explained sympathetically. "It's going to be boiling under those lights."
Christian came over, deciding he couldn't sit back and watch Ana beat herself up with Gracie trying to get her to understand that it was ok to have her injury on show. He needed to step in and hand the control to Ana. If she wanted the jacket after he'd spoken to her then she would have the jacket.
"You look incredible." He told her, stepping in between Ana and Gracie. "This dress brings out your eyes and your gorgeous figure." He continued, hoping she would see what he was seeing in the mirror. "No one will be looking at your injury, they'll be too busy looking at those gorgeous eyes and listening to what's coming out of your mouth to focus on that. But honestly, what does it matter if they do look at it? It's a part of you. It's not ugly or gross, it's a mark that you're a survivor. It will remind people how incredibly strong and determined you are."
"Ok. No jacket then." Ana smiled softly before turning to Christian and wrapping him in her arms. It was incredible how he could make her feel like the most beautiful person in the world with just his words. He melted her heart, calmed her fears and reassured her just by speaking from his own heart.
After a quick refresh with Rosin and Emily, going over the key points of the manifesto and ensuring Ana knew the selling points that she needed to ensure she got across, she was whisked away to get microphoned and prepared to go on set. This was a live broadcast, so the timing was crucial for the programme organisers.
Christian and the other partners went to the spin room with their teams. They would be able to watch the unfolding event on monitors while they would be also using social media to follow the reactions of the public. It was apparently crucial for them to see how the public was responding so that they could ensure they had the best plan of attack going forward in following debates and interviews.
"Good evening and welcome to The Next Labour Leader. I'm David Dimbleby and tonight we're going to be scrutinising those running to become the next Labour Leader. The format will be as follows, we have selected questions submitted by the audience here tonight, all of which are Labour members or registered supporters, and who will have the right to vote for their leader. Questions will start after each candidate has given you their opening speech. Each panellist will get two minutes to answer the question, they will take it in turns going first, they will not get the opportunity to come back on a question, however, if they fail to answer it I will encourage them to do so. Let's start by introducing the candidates. We have Ana Steele, MP for Chesham and Amersham since 2013, she was the youngest female politician ever formerly of the Conservative Party she was Education Minister until 2017 the youngest ever Cabinet Minister until she crossed the house and joined the opposition. Now Shadow Cabinet Minister for Poverty and Hunger." Ana smiled softly and scanned the audience as David spoke, it was awkward that the fact she had changed parties was brought up, that would surely go against her as a leadership candidate and weaken her stance about being anti-austerity.
"We have James Weatherford, MP for Liverpool Walton since 2010." Ana tried not to snigger at the fact there was nothing else David could say about James, he didn't have a political history like she had even though he'd been an MP longer. He'd not served in the Shadow Cabinet.
"And last but not least we have Sara Cooper, MP for Blaenau Gwent since 1997 she served as Education Minister in Tony Blair's Government for the first four years of his term before being made Foreign Secretary in his re-shuffle in his second term. Now Shadow Home Secretary." Ana gulped, she had so much less experience that Sara, she was surely going to be the favourite to be leader.
Ana tried not to show her concern on her face though as she stood behind her podium. The lights were hot on her skin and now she was thankful that she listened to Gracie and chose not to wear a jacket, she'd be a puddle by now if she had done. She was standing behind a podium, in a semi-circle with the others all facing David Dimbleby who was comfortably sat behind a desk, in his element with this debate that was about to take place.
"We will start by getting each of the candidates to give you a speech on why you should pick them as leader. We'll start with James Weatherford."
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Well it's simple, the reason you should pick me as next Labour Leader is that I'm the underdog. I have less experience in Government than the two beside me, so I haven't yet been poisoned by the way things have always been done. I come at this fresh, with new and different ideas about how to make a Labour Government work. I would ensure, that those who have less experience get a chance to bring forward their ideas too. This country is tired of the same old politics, it doesn't work, it doesn't make us a better country. First off we have to undo the austerity that we're currently in, but we have to do it by remembering to live within our means. Only increase spending when we know exactly where that money is coming from. We have to think of wealth creation first and foremost, we need strong public finances to be able to deliver those things we want to do to make sure that each and every one of us can succeed. The reason we didn't win the last election was because Douglas Hall, God bless his soul, had the most incredible and brilliant ideas but no idea how he was going to pay for them. He promised all of us, that next time every idea he had would be fully costed and I agree with that, we cannot be spending money that we don't have otherwise we all end up in the foodbanks. Thank you."
Ana was surprised that he'd brought Douglas into it, brave move in her opinion. However, one thing she had noticed was that he wasn't an anti-austerity politician like most Labour politicians were. He was a centrist, like Tony Blair had been. Someone who would put himself before the people. Ana prayed that the Labour membership wouldn't fall for it.
"Ana Steele." David said bringing Ana's attention back to the floor, it was her turn now to make her big selling speech, one that she had written herself and had Rosin and Emily proof and edit. It had been rehearsed to death with Gracie though she prayed it wouldn't come across like that. She took a small sip of water and cleared her throat.
"Good evening everyone." She scanned the audience, trying to make everyone feel as though she was looking directly at them. Not too fast, not too slow.
"I'll give you just one word. Unity. For far too long this country has been divided into those who have and those who don't. We are separated by the amount of money we have at the end of each month. We are divided because of wealth, the worth of our families, our spouses and our parents. I say that this cannot go on anymore." Ana gripped tight to the edge of the podium, her knuckles turning white as she spoke. The passion was not something that was rehearsed, the passion that echoed in her voice was her love for her country, the belief she had in the system she worked in if the right people were in the right places.
"We see how much hatred there is in this Country right now, we have been divided into race, gender and religions and that is because of the wealth we have or the wealth we don't. We're being robbed on a daily basis by the current Government, robbed of fair wages, fair working hours and fair taxes. But, instead of being angry at them, the bankers and the tax avoiders we're angry instead at those who are different from ourselves, people whose skin is a different colour to ours, people who practise a different religion to us, people who are a different gender to us or people who simply love the same gender as themselves." She made sure to punctuate the important words, to make them clear and concise. Her job was to sell her vision of the UK, what she believed that her Labour Government should deliver upon.
"So much of this hatred, this anger comes from a place of inequality, it comes from seeing others getting when we do not. If we close the gap between the social classes, make social mobility more of a possibility, close the gap between those at the top and those at the bottom, those who have and those who don't, we will reduce the hatred, we will reduce the dislike of those who are different from ourselves and have a greater, happier and more prosperous society." She softened here, smiled at the thought of a united country where hatred and inequality was a thing of the past and people just lived and got on regardless of their backgrounds and beliefs. It was her dream of the future that could be with a Labour Government.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this fight will be easy, I'm not saying it will happen overnight, but trust in me and I will work to deliver for you. I will work to reduce racism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, islamophobia and anti-Semitism and any and all forms of discrimination and hate crimes. I will do this by bridging the gap in the social class structure, make real hard work actually pay and ensure that those who can afford it help us fund our public services, our NHS, our schools and our local authorities who provide services we all so badly need whether we are rich or poor. We need to be united, we have to be united as communities and societies if we are going to live in a better nation for all of us, each and every one of us deserve so much more than what we've had from nearly ten years of Tory Austerity, with me as your leader, we may just achieve that. Thank you." She gave a small nod of her head and smiled a little wider when she was finished, happy with her speech and performance. A polite round of applause littered around the room and she hoped that it was positive.
It was Sara's turn next, she spoke about being against austerity too, reversing the cuts that the Tories had made while plunging money into the education of the next generation. Her vision was that if they funded the next generation, they would be able to prosper regardless of the mistakes of the past. Ana would have liked to disagree, children from poorer backgrounds, regardless of the quality of education would not get the same chance to prosper as children from wealthier or more comfortable backgrounds. If they didn't bridge the gap in the adults, Ana felt they'd drive the children further apart.
"Ok the first question comes from Sarah Roberts from Chester, she asks 'Is there anything you would want to change in regards to the terrorism laws of this country following on from recent events?' we'll start with you Ana who was of course caught up in the Islington Bombings just over a couple of months ago."
Ana gulped, she was not impressed that this had been the very first question asked, not allowing her to relax into the swing of the programme before the hardest question of the night had come up. They hadn't been pre-warned of the specific questions but they had been told which topics they would be looking at So Ana had known something with terrorism would come up.
"I think in this country we're very fortunate to have pretty good anti-terrorism laws, they're not perfect but they do go a long way not only to protect us as citizens but to protect the human rights of the perpetrators. However, I think where our system fails us most, is that unlike in the USA the maximum prison term here before parole is an option. We were banned from having whole life tariffs by the European Court of Human Rights and I think that does a disservice to all of us." Ana had to try and not be too passionate here, this was so close to her heart right now but she had to mask her own fears and concerns so as not to appear weak.
"My main concern is how a terrorist who kills dozens of people is charged with offences that do not directly relate to the deaths and injuries that occurred. That's why I would like to ensure that victims of terrorism can get proper justice, that CPS will be able to charge each and every terrorist caught and taken to trial with the murder of everyone who dies and the attempted murder of everyone who survives who is in the vicinity of the act of terror. The power will then be given to the crown court to have these sentences run consecutively meaning that the perpetrator will serve sentences one after the other for each person they kill and each person their hurt meaning some will be sentenced to hundreds of years for their crimes and each victim gets their own justice." This was something Ana was very passionate about, the reason being those seven who had been arrested and charged and who were awaiting trial for the Islington Bombings would not be prosecuted for the deaths or the injuries they had caused. Ana felt this was unjust to her and the hundreds of people affected by the bombings. A small round of applause rippled around the studio and Ana gave a small smile and nod towards the audience once again, this was far more nerve-wracking than the opening speech had been. She had an idea of what questions would come up but nothing definitive.
"James Weatherford." David said, signalling Ana's time was up though she had finished anyway and had nothing more to say on the matter.
"There's a very fine line between protecting citizens and trampling all over citizens rights. There are some laws that we have in place that are masquerading as protecting citizens when all they're doing is trampling all over the rights of each and every one of us. We need to work together to come up with laws that will deter terrorists, that will catch terrorists without us needing to go over the rights of innocent civilians. But on top of that, we need to come down harder on the far-right. Over recent years we have given them far too much opportunity to radicalise the nation by giving them a platform to spew their hatred. We would never stand for Islamic extremists to do this, so why is it ok that we allow people like Tommy Robinson the platform he has because he's white? They're doing the same thing, spouting the same lies and hatred to turn people against each other and consequences are… Islington."
Another small round of applause rippled around, Ana wanted to disagree with him on his first point, innocent civilians wouldn't have their rights trampled all over if they had nothing to hide. Plus, it wouldn't bother them if they didn't have anything to hide. She didn't believe the powers needed extending, but they were ok as they were. Scaling them back now would possibly cause more terrorism.
"I have to disagree with my honourable friend over there." Sara started. "I was the Foreign Secretary when a lot of those powers that exist today were brought in following the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks. They were necessary to protect the public and the number of terrorist plots foiled far outweigh the amount that has happened. If we scaled back the powers now, more terrorist plots would be carried out rather than stopped. I also must disagree with Miss Steele, charging them with each individual crime won't make a difference, an attempted act of terror will see you convicted for a forty-year term, so we do give more than twenty odd years in this country. There is nothing to fear, if found guilty of an act of terrorism you won't see daylight again. I think what we need in this country is more education, teach children young about race and religion, teach tolerance and acceptance and not hatred. That's the way forward here."
A slightly bigger round of applause this time, Ana swallowed, maybe the education thing was a good idea. She'd have to remember that one and see about mixing it into her manifesto. She took a deep breath, David wouldn't come to her first on the next question, they'd all take it in turns to go first on the handful of questions that would be asked over this one-hour period. It wasn't long and Ana knew she would get through it, what she needed to do was remain calm and appear focused. If she looked strong then that would be great but not too strong because she would appear over-confident. While the others talked about what they would do to help more succeed in education Ana was thinking about everything her team had come up with and all she'd advised her on. This was incredibly difficult, it felt like a General Election bid but then knowing you weren't going to win at the end, the bottom line was when this was over they still had a few months in opposition to get through before they would be running a General Election Campaign.
After the education question, one Ana was more than comfortable on and received some hollers from the audience for her answer, they were on to the NHS.
"Recently, I got to see the NHS at it's best. Responding to a Mass Crisis. What I have to say right now, is the most important thing we need to do, and that is fund our NHS. No more privatisation, no more cutting corners and no more telling Nurses they don't deserve a proper wage for their hard work and dedication because the NHS wouldn't survive without them!" Ana was on fire now.
"We need to make sure we have enough money to pay for the doctors and nurses we need to keep our NHS flowing, we need to do this to reduce wait times. We need to modernise our hospitals, we need to make sure there are enough beds for those who need them. And, one of the biggest and most important things we need to do for the NHS, is fund the area most neglected, mental health. Did you know that under this Tory Government that families of victims of Islington are having to wait for counselling? We as victims have had to fundraise to secure counselling for ourselves but there wasn't enough money to go around for the families though we are still trying. When I was Education Secretary I went through the budgets and took money out of classroom modernisation to fund the counselling required after a horrific incident that saw Special Needs children abused by their teachers. I did this because I believed it was necessary to help them recover from trauma and the Chancellor told me he wouldn't give me a penny more to fund this. It was one of the reasons I realised I wasn't a Conservative, because to them, mental health is something we're responsible for ourselves and we don't have a right to medical support for our mental health in the way we do our physical health. They call it survival of the fittest, that if someone with mental health kills themselves that's ok, they couldn't contribute to society anyway it's better for everyone if they're dead. This cannot stand anymore." A huge round of applause roared around the studio but Ana couldn't smile, she was angry. She was angry that the Tory government was doing this to people, hard-working dedicated people who suffered trauma, depression, anxiety as well as all those people terrorised by mental health conditions which could be like cancer, constantly recurring where medications could only do so much.
By the end of the night, they'd covered a good mix of topics and Ana was relieved it was all over. It had been easier than she'd anticipated. The years of doing shows like Question time had put her in good stead for this. Her team were grinning when she returned to the dressing room to grab her things and before she could even greet Christian, who also looked mightily pleased, the team jumped into a debriefing.
"You rocked tonight." Kate said giving her friend a big hug and rocking her from side to side, Ana realised Kate had probably had way too much caffeine in the spin room.
"You were on fire." Emily agreed. "Couple of things still to work on but honestly, you did better than I expected from your first hustings."
"Well come on Phillip, what's the verdict on social media?" Ana asked, knowing her team's opinion didn't matter. What mattered was what the public think.
"As expected, they love you, they think you're awesome, but they do think you're too young for the job. Few jabs about being a former Tory but all in all it's been a pretty positive response." Phillip was beaming which meant a lot to Ana, he'd been working so hard on her social media, having taken over her private account completely while trying to run a side account promoting her as Leader too.
"What about the others?" Ana asked awkwardly, what people thought of her was only half the fight, the big question was whether others were liked more than she was.
"Lots pulled on the fact that James isn't anti-austerity which kind of goes against what most Labour members want right now. That's going to go against him big time if he doesn't figure out a better way of getting it across. Then there's some negativity around Sara being a Blairite. All in all, I think you're all pretty evenly matched right now but we've got a couple of months till ballots open, plenty of time to iron out the kinks." Phillip explained in his usual quirky positive and over-enthusiastic way. It made Ana happy though so it was great. She knew the time to worry would be if Phillip wasn't happy and over the top, that would be a pretty big sign that things weren't going her way.
"Right I'm going home to bed." Ana said catching Christian's eye, they were sparkling at her. His pride and joy was written all over his face and it made her so happy to know he was happy with her. She wanted to take him home, get him into bed and worship him.