First Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer

Trade Union
Conference and add any suggestions he might have.
    Raymond read
the note again, delighted by the recognition it acknowledged.
    He began to
hope he might be the first of the new intake to be invited to join the
Government front bench.
    Simon Kerslake
looked upon the defeat of Maudling and his own failure to be offered a post in
the Whip’s office as only temporary setbacks. He soon began to work on a new
strategy for gaining his colleagues’ respect.
    Realizing that
there was a fifteen-minute period twice a week when someone with his oratorical
skills could command notice, he turned all his cunning against the Government
benches. At the beginning of a new session each week he would carefully study
the agenda and in particular the first five questions listed for the Prime
Minister on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
    Supplementary
questions were required to have only the loosest association with the subject
of the main question. This meant that although Ministers were prepared for the
first question, they could never be sure what supplementaries would be thrown
at them.
    Thus, every
Monday morning Simon would prepare a supplementary for at least three
questions. These he worded, then reworded, so that they were biting or witty
and always likely to embarrass the Labour Government. Although preparation
could take several hours, Simon would make them sound as though they had been
jotted down on the back of his agenda paper during Question Time – and in fact
would even do so. He remembered Churchill’s comment after being praised for a
brilliant rejoinder, “All my best off-the-cuff remarks have been prepared days
before.”
    Even so, Simon
was surprised at how quickly the House took it for granted that he would be
there on the attack, probing, demanding, harrying the Prime Minister’s every
move. Whenever he rose from his seat, the Party perked up in anticipation, and
many of his interruptions reached the political columns of the Newspapers the
next day. The Labour Party had become painfully aware of Kerslake’s
contribution at Question Time.
    Unemployment
was the subject of that day’s question. Simon was quickly on his feet, leaning
forward, jabbing a finger in the direction of the Government front bench.
    “With the
appointment of’ four extra Secretaries of State this week the Prime Minister
can at least claim he has full employment in the Cabinet.”
    The Prime
Minister sank lower into his seat, looking forward to tho recess.
    No one wits more delighted than Simon when lie read in the Sun4ay
Express Crossbencher column that “Prime Minister Wilson may dislike Edward
Heath, but he detests Smnon Kerslake.” Simon smiled. pleased to find that real results had come from his own efforts, not from outside
contacts.

PART TWO
    Junior Office 1966-11972

5
    T HE BRITISH CONSTITUTION remains one of the great mysteries to
almost all who were not born on that little island in the North Sea, and to a
considerable number of those who have never left its shores. This may be partly
because, unlike the Americans, the British have had no written constitution
since Magna Carta in 1215 and since then have acted only on precedent.
    A Prime
Minister is elected for a term of five years, but he can “go to the country”
whenever he thinks fit, which inevitably means when he considers he has the
best chance of winning a General Election. If the government of the day has a
large majority in the Commons, the electorate expects it to remain in power for
at least four of the five years. In such circumstances “to go early” is
considered opportunistic by the voters and for that reason often backfires. But
when a party’s majority in the House is small, as was the case with Harold
Wilson’s Labour Government, the press never stops speculating on. the date of the next election.
    The only method
the Opposition has for removing the Government in under five years is to call
for a vote of “noconfidence” in the House of Commons. If the