Chapter Twenty-Three
Ana and Christian arrived outside the conference centre. This was it, the end of the road. Voting had closed and was in the process of being counted and soon they will know if it was her or James who would be leading the party into the next general election. As the car came to a stop Christian gave Ana's hand a squeeze, the nervous energy was just rolling off her as she adjusted her colour block dress. Another one of Christian's choices, the bottom part was black then it was a grey triangle in the middle and the breast was white with a very deep v neckline, something Ana rarely wore. Ana loved this piece, Christian had ordered it specially for today to go with a simple pair of black court shoes.
When they got out of the car, the media were quick to take their photo but they didn't shout and call out. Christian took Ana's hand and waved just like she did. It was quite a calm atmosphere at the moment and Ana walked in past many people who wished her luck for the result.
Christian was probably more nervous than Ana at this point. He'd watched her grow into the possibility of being leader over the contest period. And while she continued to claim she didn't want the job, after Sara had dropped out he'd seen the determination appear in her. It was because James did not stand against austerity politics, he did not believe, as she did, in the fair distribution of wealth. What she wanted to do was keep Doug's legacy alive, and she'd realised early on only she would be willing to do that. Christian, therefore, knew, that if she lost this leadership contest, she would be devastated. Not only because she'd lost but also because everything Douglas had taught her and stood for would be lost too.
The whole parliamentary party and many labour members were present and still hanging around outside the conference hall chatting away. They all glanced towards them as they walked, but Ana knew who she was going over to.
"Hey Ana." Rosin smiled coming over and giving Ana a warm embrace. "You nervous?" She asked. Ana shook her head, she wasn't nervous, she just wanted this to be over with. "Have you got your speech?"
"Yup." Ana replied silently hoping that she wouldn't need to use it.
"Christian when they announce we need to take our seats, I will take you to the front where you will be sitting beside Ana but Ana and James will come in via a different door after all the presentation speeches." Rosin kindly explained how things were going to go. The pair nodded, grateful to her. "Then you will sit together until we know if it's Ana or not. In the meantime; I'm going to have a feel around, see if any of the counters have been giving any hints."
"I'm going to be so glad waking up tomorrow and this will all be over." Ana said as Rosin walked away from them.
"Ana you're going to wake up tomorrow and your whole life is going to have changed." Christian chuckled, did Ana really think things would just go back to normal after this?
"Christian that only happens if I win." Ana replied. "That's not going to happen."
"Ana…" Christian sighed turning her towards him. "I know that you don't believe in yourself but you've run an amazing campaign, you've got this in the bag."
Ladies and gentlemen please take your seats, conference is about to begin.
"I love you." Christian said giving Ana's head a kiss. "Believe in yourself."
"What if I don't want to?" Ana asked but Christian, while looking at her with utter confusion, didn't get the chance to answer as Rosin came to their side again.
"Right Christian let's go." Rosin smiled. "Good luck Ana, we'll see you in there."
Ana was signalled over by one of the organisers over in the corner. She took a deep breath and made her way over, knowing she was going to be stuck in a room with James now watching the conference on the monitor until they were called in to receive the result of the vote.
"How do you think it's going to go?" James asked as soon as Ana sat beside him on the small leather couch.
"I don't know." Ana shrugged, she genuinely didn't. It was a two-horse race, a fifty percent chance, it really was either one of theirs to win.
"It feels surreal doesn't it? To think one of us will wake up tomorrow being the party leader." He said staring at the floor, Ana was for the first time seeing how much the pressure had got to James too. He looked like this campaign had tired him out.
"Well, at least it's parliamentary recess." Ana chuckled. "So there's two weeks to get a hang of the job."
"There's that." James chuckled. "Well let the best person win." He said offering her his hand. She shook it knowing that if god forbid she won, she'd have to give him a shadow cabinet position as a consolation prize.
"Guys, this way please." A lady called from the stage door. Ana and James gave each other a polite smile before making their way to the door, this was it when they left the room they were about to enter, they would know which one of them had won.
"I give you, the leadership candidates James Weatherford and Ana Steele"
They walked out into the auditorium from a side door along to the Christian Aguilera song Fighter. They smiled as the press practically pounced on them from the front of the stage, going wild for pictures of them. James took her hand, which angered Christian who was on his feet clapping with the rest of the audience members. Why was he touching her? There was no need, right? Ana just smiled and waved politely until she was able to get her other hand to Christian, where he was able to pull her into his side.
The clapping went on for about a minute before everyone took their seats once more and the music faded out. Ana kept hold of Christian's hand, needing his comfort now all eyes were on her and James. Sitting right behind her was Rosin and Emily and behind them was Kate and Phillip. Gracie wasn't here today, she had other things to do but that was ok. She was with them in spirit.
"Ok conference." Mark Johnson, the chair of the national executive committee said from the podium at the centre of the stage. Ana squeezed Christian's hand in her grasp. She wasn't sure at this point if she was praying for the win or praying she wouldn't. "I'm now going to announce the result of the Leadership of the Labour Party. I will announce the result for each candidate, as this is a two-horse race, it is only a one round announcement with the candidate with the highest number of votes becoming the Leader. The full details of the result will be available on the Labour Party Website following this event. The number of eligible voters, five hundred and twelve thousand, three hundred and two. Number of eligible votes cast in this election four hundred and eighty-nine thousand four hundred and seventy-five. The number of spoiled papers was a hundred and eleven. James Weatherford one hundred and sixty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-seven votes which represents thirty three percent of the vote." A polite applause rippled around the room and Christian squeezed Ana's hand as Rosin squeezed her shoulder tight.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
"Ana Steele, three hundred and…" Ana didn't hear the rest as the place erupted into loud cheers. She looked at Christian her doe eyes wide and frightened. Christian beamed, Ana had only gone and bloody won it. James was already giving her an awkward side hug as she continued to glare at Christian, her eyes asking all the questions she couldn't.
"Ok conference… conference…" Mark shouted but he couldn't be heard, the cheers were still going. "Please conference we still have some formalities to deal with. Media please sit down for a moment so everyone can see thank you. Ana's hand came to her mouth, she couldn't believe it. "This represents sixty-seven percent of the vote. I am therefore delighted to announce Ana Steele as Leader of the Labour Party."
The place erupted again as Ana stood, she was trying not to cry but the tears were escaping anyway as she turned and hugged Christian. He kissed the side of her head, trying to ignore the media clambering over them for pictures. He clutched her face in his hands and smiled broadly, reassuring her without words that she was amazing and incredible and she had done it.
"I love you." She mouthed before turning to Rosin and taking her hand. "Thank you." She mouthed but Rosin shook her head, not willing to take credit.
"Go." Christian said, nudging her towards the stage, she needed to go now and make a speech to conference, show them that they had chosen the right leader. It was a fight to get to the stage, after getting through the media everyone nearby wanted to congratulate her. Emma was first, the deputy leader who hugged her tight. She'd had Emma's support from day one and she knew if she had to blame anyone for this it was her. They put on quite the show for the cameras, Emma rocking her from side to side excitedly. This was a win for Emma too, of course, she'd put her own neck on the line putting Ana forward. Then it was the Mayor of London who stepped up to congratulate her but he just shook her hand politely.
"It is my honour to invite Ana Steele, the first female Leader of the Labour Party to address conference!" Mark shouted over the noise. Ana laughed as Beyoncé's who run the world echoed out of the speakers as she made her way to the stage, having to fight her way through more of the media to get there. She probably looked a little worse for wear when she finally got to shake Mark's hand and receive his warm embrace.
"I knew you could do it." He whispered right into her ear, ensuring the cameras wouldn't see it. She pulled away and smiled, trying to appear like this was the best news ever though she wasn't so sure it was.
They continued to clap as she took to the podium, the music barely drowning them out as she waved and smiled politely, trying to appear enthusiastic while she also wiped the tears that had fallen from her eyes. Tears she knew were not just tears of joy. They were tears of adrenaline but they were also tears of sorrow as she hoped John and Doug were looking down on her now.
"Good afternoon conference!" She called into the microphone, bringing people to silence though they didn't sit down yet. "Can I start by saying a huge congratulations and thank you to everyone across the country who took part in this election, nearly half a million people took part and it's absolutely incredible so thank you. I also want to say thank you to James Weatherford, a worthy competitor and my sincerest commiserations." Ana said signalling over to James, there was a polite round of applause for her words and James gave her a polite smile and nod. "I also want to say a huge thank you to Christian, my wonderful other half who has been my rock throughout not only this campaign but my life in politics." Ana smiled. "Of course, huge thank you and congratulations to the General Secretary, the NEC and all the amazing staff and volunteers across the Labour party who held events and gatherings for the candidates and did amazing work in making this such a large scale and positive event. It truly is an incredible sign of the dedication and passion of our party and I hope that it is something we can show the world again when we take to the streets at the next General Election in May. Also, I want to thank Katherine Kavanagh, Rosin Lloyd, Emily Ross, Phillip Calder and Gracie Brown my amazing team to whom I wouldn't have been able to even start let alone finish this campaign. I'm so grateful to each of you for being a part of this journey with me and I hope you'll all stay with me for the journey that's to come." Ana signalled at her team who whooped and hollered as the crowd cheered once more.
"Don't think these tears are ones of joy though conference, these are tears of 'what the hell have I done' and 'what the hell just happened' ok." Ana laughed as she took a tissue from the box in front of her on the podium, one that was there usually to wipe sweat off brows, Ana was grateful to have them to wipe her cheeks. "I've just realised I've left my speech somewhere and I don't know where so I'm going to have to improvise." Ana chuckled nervously, because that was the truth, she wasn't sure what she'd done with it and unlike a man she didn't have a jacket with an inside pocket.
"You've got this." Christian mouthed at her, making her nod and smile, she did have this. Jesus, she'd got this far so she could definitely do this.
"I want to say a big thank you and congratulations to Emma Phillips, our deputy leader who has also been our acting leader while this has all been going on. Thank you and I'm so excited to work with you and show the world what two strong women can do together." Whoops filled the auditorium again, everyone excited at the prospect of having two women in charge at last. It was about time Labour had a female leader. "Emma, you've welcomed me into this party with open arms, supported me and cared for me and I am truly grateful to you for that. You are a hard-working, dedicated and strong woman who has shown passion and compassion throughout your time in Parliament, I am truly excited for our future together." Ana smiled broadly, she was ok doing this without paper in front of her, she could manage. "The way you have managed the party since the tragedy of Islington is something truly remarkable and we are all grateful to you. Talking of Islington, we cannot go by today and not remember our fallen comrades. The reason we are standing here today, is because of the devastating loss of Douglas Hall our former leader and of course our friend John Flynn too. I'd like to ask conference to stand for a moment and join me in silence to remember them." Ana said quietly. Conference did as directed, everyone stood and bowed their heads for a moment and remembered John and Douglas. She'd never have been in this position without them, not just because Douglas died but the way he had brought her into the party and made her welcome. "Douglas Hall was a remarkable leader I'm sure you will all agree, he brought me into the party, his meeting with me nearly three years ago is why I took that walk across the House. He helped me realise that my blood was Labour red all along. In the process, he asked John Flynn to mentor me and that is what John did, between them they taught me what it meant to be a comrade here and for that I salute and thank them with all of my heart. May they rest in peace."
Ana had to take another second to compose herself as everyone sat down once again and gave another polite round of applause, this speech was going to take a while to get through but there was so much that needed to be said.
"We have had an amazing three months of campaigning and an incredible election. But the hard work can't stop, if anything, we need to step it up a gear now. We are less than three months away from a General Election, we're already in full swing across the country but we cannot rest. The Conservative Party are weak, they've ruined the country with austerity, they've destroyed the trust of working people, they've caused public outrage by how they handled the Islington Bombing. We need to show the country now that they can trust in us, that if they put their faith and hope in us we will deliver for them. The party membership has made it clear by putting their faith in me, we need to end austerity now and that is what we are going to promise to deliver. Our manifesto will need some work over the coming weeks, Douglas hadn't quite finished it but we will so we can deliver what he wanted and what we want to the people of this country and ask them to mark X in the box for us this coming May. Thank you everyone, let's get working, we can do this. We will have a Labour Government entering Westminster this year but until then, I look forward to holding Elena Lincoln our Prime Minister and her Government to account. Thank you once again. Let's do this!" Ana smiled before stepping out from the podium. Once again conference jumped to its feet and cheered and clapped as she bowed her head towards them, she was their servant now and that was important to her.
James came up to join her first and shake her hand again, they posed for a couple of pictures before he moved aside for Christian. He wrapped Ana up in his arms and spun her around, not caring that the world was watching them. She kissed him softly, needing to feel him near her before they turned to the media once again to take more photos. They were going to have to appear like a power couple now. After Christian, Ana posed with Emma Phillips and once again Beyoncé's who run the world was blasted through the speakers.
After the pictures, members of the NEC, Christian, James and his partner and a few other important people came back onto the stage for the party anthem. They all sang along to The Red Flag as red and white confetti was dropped from the ceiling as if it was some party. Ana knew it was going to be hell trying to get out of the conference hall and true enough the moment she stepped off the stage she was bombarded by members for selfies. Christian looked tense, clearly not liking how people were mobbing her. He quickly got on his phone while Ana was smiling away taking pictures. It was less than five minutes before Taylor arrived, he'd been outside with the car but now Ana was leader there would be security with her everywhere she went and Taylor would be responsible for getting her out of the conference hall and safely to the car.
They still had to take lots of photos but Taylor and Christian together were able to get Ana moving much faster than Christian would have been able to do alone.
"We're going out round the back." Taylor said guiding Ana to the back of the conference hall and through the doors to the atrium.
Once there it became a quick march through to a side door which would allow them to exit in peace. Ana held tight to Christian's hand as they walked in silence, just wanting to get out of there in one piece before they could relax. Taylor had already moved the car, he'd been listening on the radio for the announcement and the moment he knew Ana had won he'd taken the car round the back, the media and protestors were out front and she didn't need to face them when she had already faced them in the hall.
In the car Ana dove onto Christian, her lips locking onto his hungrily. She fought him for dominance, something she never did and Christian pulled her onto his lap. Taylor waited politely outside the car, having caught a glimpse through the window of the passionate moment the duo were sharing.
"What was that for?" Christian asked as Ana pulled her lips away and dropped her forehead to his, panting away.
"I just needed something normal." Ana chuckled breathlessly. "Jesus Christian what the fuck just happened?"
"You've just become one of the most powerful women in the country." Christian chuckled. "You deserve it, you're going to do incredible things."
"Christian in less than three months I could be Prime Minister." Ana said her face paling. "I'm not even going to get the opportunity to get used to this new job before I could be facing a promotion."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, for now, let's just get home and let me make love to the Leader of the Labour Party."
"Leader…" Ana said as she climbed off him. "Shit Christian I genuinely didn't want this job."
"You will do amazing Ana. I don't understand why you didn't want it."
"I don't either." Ana sighed as Taylor climbed into the car. "I guess I wanted it but not right now. I feel like I still had so much left to do and learn before aspiring for this. Do you think Islington is why this happened to me?"
"What as in why they voted for you?" Christian asked and Ana nodded sheepishly. "Yes, but not because you were a victim of the bombings, I think it was because you refused to be a victim, because you helped people, because you supported people and because you shouted loudly about the injustices surrounding it all. People respect you for that, love you even. They call you the People's Politician."
"What like Princess Diana was the People's Princess?"
"Exactly like that." Christian said taking her hand in his and running his thumb over her knuckles. "The public adore you, they have done since they saw all that footage of you running around injured taking care of other people. They respect you for that." He explained.
"People's Politician?" Ana asked again, she was horrified at the thought.
"It's been on the front page of almost every newspaper, do you still not read the papers?"
"No. Kate does that for me." Ana shrugged, maybe now she would have to pay a lot more attention to the media because of her position, it was important she knew everything, and she didn't know she'd been called the People's Politician.
"Someone said it on the news in the aftermath of the bombing, after you had your breakdown on BBC. It's stuck ever since, whenever you've been referred to in the media they've been throwing that in there, reminding people how amazing you are every time they write about you."
"It's like some sick joke, the way the PM behaved after the bombing was a bit like the way the Queen responded to Diana's death. People's politician… well as long as I don't end up like Diana I guess it's ok." Christian's lips curled as he suppressed a laugh but Ana's giggles meant his broke through too. "Holy cow I have got so much to think about now, I have to have my Shadow Cabinet chosen in the next twenty-four hours. I've got to go and see the Queen, to be made a member of the Privy Council, it's going to be crazy!"
"You'll be fine." Christian reassured, seeing Ana was getting upset at the thought of everything she had to do. "Rosin and the gang will be by tomorrow morning to support you. You will never have to make a single decision on your own again if you don't want to. You'll have a whole team by your side and you'll have me, whatever you need I'm there."
"Christian…" Ana melted and fell into his side. He kissed her head, stroked his hand through her hair. It was going to be a stressful few weeks, being this close to a general election with so much to sort as the new Leader of the Opposition… Ana was going to have an incredibly tough time but he was sure it would be worth it and he'd be there to support her every step of the way.