Heaven's Door

by Michael Knaggs

  “Shame. This is one of the good guys, whatever the official record will say about him.”

  They left and the duty nurse pulled the curtain around the bed.

  *

  “I wish you wouldn’t spring things on me like that, Tom. I don’t like being backed into a corner.”

  Committee Room 14 was empty except for the two men. The prime minister was an inch or so taller than Tom, with a bulky frame, and a round face under dark brown hair which was combed to the side with a ruler-straight parting. As always, he was fashionably dressed in an Italian suit and silk shirt and tie, and carried his surplus weight well.

  “I just felt with all the positive feedback we are about to give,” Tom replied, “this would pre-empt anyone saying, ‘Okay, so far so good, but what next?’ We don’t want to look like we think the job’s done …”

  “The job is done, Tom. The job being the successful implementation of the New Justice Regime. What happens next within that regime is part of the new process of law.”

  “I can’t see how this can possibly hurt us, though. It was in our manifesto, so no-one can say …”

  “Actually, it wasn’t part of the manifesto, if you remember. It was mentioned in the manifesto as a future possibility – no more than that.”

  “So you’re saying … well, what exactly? The Cabinet agreed to go with it. They’re expecting it now. Are you going to reconvene?”

  “No, we’re going with it and if the whips do their job in the intervening four hours or so, we won’t get the wrong reaction from at least our side of the House this afternoon. But you’ve got Latiffe to thank for that – he swung the meeting, not you. And if the initial reaction of our own cabinet members is anything to go by, this could knock the shine off the massive positivity of the NJR feedback.”

  “Then why did you …”

  “Agree to it? Because in principle it’s the right thing to do. It’s just the timing I’m not entirely comfortable with. And the spontaneity, if I’m honest. No testing of the water.”

  “And how did you propose to do that, Andrew? The usual way? Leak it through the press and prepare a disclaimer just in case? And this time it would have to be me that resigned, I suppose?”

  Andrew glared at him. “Don’t get carried away with your own importance, Home Secretary. That was not what I meant, and you know it!”

  “Yes, my apologies,” said Tom. “I guess I’ve never lost the cavalier instincts which brought us to power. We seemed to be another Party then.”

  “We were another Party,” said Andrew. “We were the fucking Opposition Party trying to become the government! Can’t you understand the difference?” He rose from his seat to signal they had finished. “Look,” he added, “I’ll raise this in the House at the end of your report. You just finish as planned after the feedback. That way I can cut off any discussion today and leave it for debate next Monday. Any more surprises?”

  “None, Prime Minister. Oh, except that I was going to call for special prayers tomorrow for the Exiles. That’s if …”

  “As you please,” said Andrew. “But let’s not forget that those bastards are getting exactly what they deserve and exactly what we promised them.”

  *

  Calum checked the time on the large wall clock in the monitoring area. It was 12.55 pm and they were exactly three hours into their journey.

  “Well, gentlemen,” he said, turning to his two guests, “time to call on the captain, I think. You can ask him about the weather,” he nodded at Mike Needham.

  They climbed the stairs to the deck and Calum noted that the wind had increased and the waves were slightly higher than before. Captain Douglas McLeod waved for them to join him on the bridge. Calum and Douglas were very much alike in appearance. Both large men in their early fifties, with broad muscular shoulders and arms, and barely any surplus weight in the places it normally starts to accumulate at that age. Even their uniforms were similar – both dark blue, although Douglas’s sported white flashes on the cuffs and shoulders. He also had the captain’s compulsory full grey beard.

  Calum introduced Lawrence and Mike.

  “So you’re the guy who designed Alpha,” Douglas said, smiling at the smaller man. “Have you seen it in situ at all?”

  “I’ve spent most of the last two years of my life on it but I haven’t seen the finished article fully functional yet.”

  “Well, you’re in for a treat,” said Douglas. “And talking about a treat…”

  He pointed across to the island on their left no more than a mile away. Two rows of brightly coloured houses were reflected in the calmer water of the bay. A dozen or so small boats languished in the harbour along with a large ferry taking on vehicles and early season tourists. Above and behind the houses stood a sandstone hotel, which looked like an old castle, and beyond that some low tree-covered hills.

  “Tobermory. Beautiful, isn’t it?” he said. “And that,” he pointed ahead, “is Ardmore Point, northernmost tip of Mull. After that, well, it’s more or less the Atlantic Ocean. We’ll be slowing down when we get into open sea, but we’re right on schedule.”

  “Mike wants to know if it’s likely to be rough,” Calum said, with a faint smile.

  “No, smooth as a mirror,” said Douglas, smiling back in a way that left the three men wondering whether he meant the exact opposite.

  *

  “Afternoon, Tom.”

  Tom looked round with a start. He was sitting out on the Terrace, having just finished a cold lunch of smoked salmon and salad, and was staring absently out across the river. The generously proportioned figure of Gerald Portman, ex Home Secretary, now Shadow Chancellor, beamed down at him and gestured towards one of the empty chairs next to his table. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all,” said Tom.

  “Le jour de gloire est arrivé, n’est-ce pas?” Gerald was of medium height, but everything else about him was larger than life. He carried most of his weight in front of him, stretching the material of his pinstripe suit and white shirt. His tie and his general manner were as flamboyant and pleasing as ever.

  “Not sure how glorious it is,” replied Tom, who had been picturing in his mind the scene on the transfer vessel and coming up with some uncomfortable images.

  “I thought this was your dream, Tom. Not having second thoughts, I hope. I mean, it’s a bit late …”

  Tom laughed.

  “Not a chance, Gerald. After you completed the easy bit, I have nothing but smug satisfaction for the way we finished the more demanding part of the job. But it would be churlish not to acknowledge your contribution. So if you want to call it glorious, I’ve no objection.”

  Gerald chuckled.

  “That’s more like it, I thought you’d gone all melancholy for a moment.” He stood up. “Well, I guess you weren’t sitting here all alone on the off-chance you’d get picked up by a Shadow Cabinet Minister. You must have a few things still to think about. And anyway, it’s bloody cold. So I’ll leave you in peace and go and finish rehearsing my spontaneous one-liners.”

  Tom laughed.

  “Go, by all means, but please not on my account. I can’t do any more now in the next half-an-hour. If you like, I’ll send for a hot water bottle and a blanket, and we can go in together in a few minutes.”

  “Okay, I’ll be brave,” he said, sitting down again.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Mr Speaker, Members of the House. Today is a historic day in the annals of British law and British government. A day which represents a landmark in the age-old conflict between good and bad, right and wrong.”

  Andrew looked up and around at the array of dark suits and white shirts representing the standard uniform of the House, interspersed with the pastel colours and brighter shades of many of the women members.

  The Commons Chamber is much more austere than that of its Lords equivalent and the rest of the Palace of Westminster. The oak panelling is plain and the benches, as well as other furnishings, are green. The windows
are of plain rather than stained glass. The Chamber is also surprisingly small; far too small, in fact, to accommodate the 650 or so members whose right it is to attend, even when including the galleries high above and behind the main seating where the government and Opposition benches face each other across the floor of the House. Due to the prevailing level of members’ absence from the House, this restriction is not normally a problem, except on occasions such as Prime Minister’s Questions, major debates and Budget Day, when MPs will stand at the sides wherever they can find the space.

  Andrew noted with satisfaction, if not surprise, that today the Chamber was packed to capacity, as was the public gallery to his right, with its glass security screen separating the members from the watchers.

  “Three years ago,” he continued, “an incident occurred on a residential council estate in the London Borough of Marlburgh. It was, sad to say in those more violent times, not so remarkable in itself even though it involved the slaying of three young men. What was remarkable, however, was the chain reaction it set in motion across the country and, more recently, in continental Europe as well. We are here today to reflect on what are, in effect, the ultimate consequences of that incident. But let us be clear; the existence, and initial success, of the New Justice Regime has not just happened as the result of some natural chemical process; it has involved an enormous – and courageous – effort, on both sides of this House, to achieve it.

  “So, Mr Speaker, having already stolen more of my colleague’s thunder than I intended, I ask the Home Secretary, the Right Honourable Tom Brown, to address the House with the main item from the Orders of the Day.”

  Tom rose as Andrew sat down.

  “Mr Speaker. Thank you, Prime Minister. And please don’t worry; I have plenty of thunder left.”

  There was a ripple of amusement on both sides of the House.

  “During the course of the next forty minutes or so, I will share with you details of the financial impact to date of the New Justice Regime, its influence on crime figures around the country, and plans for further developments going forward. I am also delighted to be able to report on the favourable feedback we have received during that period from our European partners following some intense debates centred around Human Rights when we first unveiled our plans. As you know, they have since not only accepted our new provisions as complying with redrafted EU requirements, but many member states have actually adopted them – or derivatives of them – to deal with comparable issues in their own countries.

  “However, this is not an occasion for unreserved triumphalism. Because the first point I will cover in this report is something we all hoped could be avoided – the expulsion of the first group of Life Exiles. As I speak, one hundred and fifty offenders under the new legislation are leaving these shores behind and heading into the Atlantic to Platform Alpha for a very different and totally isolated future. We must accept that this necessary act represents, if not a failure in the system, at least an indication that we still have some way to go.”

  He paused and looked around the chamber to see members on both sides of the House nodding their agreement.

  “Between the hours of 7.00 am and 9.30 am today,” Tom continued, “these one hundred and fifty young men embarked on a prisoner transfer vessel at the Lochshore high security facility on Loch Fendort. As you know, we have a senior Home Office representative on board monitoring proceedings and he has been reporting progress to me at regular intervals since the operation began. They left the loch at 9.55 am and when I received the last report from the vessel – at 1.15 pm – they were just leaving the northern end of the Sound of Mull on their way to their final destination. I have been assured that they are on course to arrive at the appointed time of 7.00 am tomorrow morning.

  “The House is aware of the logistics involved at that stage and I do not propose to go into great detail again. But very briefly, they will disembark onto the satellite platform and will be transferred from there across to the main platform. It is expected they will all be in situ by 10.00 am tomorrow. I will, of course, be pleased to address any queries and provide further details if necessary during the session arranged for questions at the end of this report.”

  Tom paused, lowering his head. There was complete silence. He looked up, sweeping his gaze slowly around the Chamber.

  “I have asked Mister Speaker if the Chaplain would break with tradition and include these people in our prayers tomorrow, if the House agrees.”

  There was a hushed but almost universal, “Hear, hear” from all areas of the Chamber.

  “Thank you,” said Tom “I hope we can break with another tradition and have a full turn-out for those prayers.”

  He swept his eyes round the silent Chamber before continuing.

  “It is only natural that we should feel sympathy for the ones who have fallen by the wayside, but the story of the twelve months of the NJR is one of unparalleled success. The country gave this government a clear mandate twenty-one months ago when it elected us on the promise of reclaiming all localities for the benefit of their communities. There would be pain – we made that very clear – in order to achieve this and we would need to be strong when that pain manifested itself in our own and other people’s suffering.

  “We, this government, this House and this country, have kept faith with that notion in pursuit of our collective vision of the future. So let there be compassion, but no shame; let there be some sorrow, but much rejoicing; let there be awareness of the sacrifices, but no deflection from the goal. And, most of all, let there be no turning back.”

  There were more cries of “Hear, hear” this time, loudly and enthusiastically from the government side of the House, but also accompanied by nods of assent from the Opposition, notably Gerald Portman, who seemed to be nodding from the waist with the whole upper part of his body. Tom continued.

  “So let us consider how life has changed since the New Justice Regime was officially launched exactly three hundred and sixty days ago today.”

  *

  At exactly 3.40 pm, Tom concluded his address, to enthusiastic shouts from his own Party and more-than-polite murmurings of support from the Opposition benches. Gerald Portman even engaged in a silent mimed hand-clap as the Home Secretary sat down.

  The Speaker addressed the House.

  “The next item on the Orders of the Day is Questions to the Home Secretary. Can we proceed in the customary orderly way?”

  Several MPs on both sides of the House raised their hands. The Speaker nodded towards Gerald Portman, who rose deliberately to his feet, beaming around the Chamber.

  “Mr Speaker. Our thanks to the Home Secretary,” he boomed, “for that succinct and informative report, from which we can all take, I think, considerable comfort and much satisfaction – not to mention a degree of self-congratulation. I would like to ask the Home Secretary, however, if the government has any plans for the provision of more carrots in the treatise of the issue of urban disorder, to supplement the plethora of sticks being applied to the problem.

  “The excellent work – and tangible results – achieved by the previous government was intended as a long-term contribution to addressing this challenge by providing the perpetrators with meaningful choices. It was never meant to be the ‘quick fix’, which his NJR sets out to be. Can he assure us that, in all the excitement with which he has thrilled us over the last year or two, he has not abandoned the concept of establishing alternatives to the lives of crime and disruption which many of our young people seem to be born into and who simply follow what must appear to them to be a predetermined path?”

  Tom was on his feet before Gerald had even started to sit down.

  “Mr Speaker, I thank the Right Honourable Member for his question. First let me say that there is nothing wrong with a quick fix. If something needs to be fixed – can be fixed – properly fixed – and permanently fixed – then the quicker the better, I say. So if he says the NJR is a quick fix, then we thank him for his compliment. T
he point he makes about carrots and sticks I would answer by reminding him of the many times members of this Party congratulated the previous government on their actions in tackling the issue of crime on the streets by providing those choices he mentioned.

  “However, it is our contention that enough is enough – for the time being, at least. What I mean by that is that the efforts of the previous government went as far as they could in providing those choices. We have provided the incentive to adopt those options. It is right that the carrot comes first, then the stick. I’m tempted to say it was almost like teamwork.” He smiled broadly around the House. “If not a football team, working together, then a relay team, working in sequence. But interdependent in the pursuit of success.”

  Tom sat down and several other members raised their hands. A tall elegant woman in her early fifties on the Opposition side, catching the eye of the Speaker, was next to rise to her feet.

  “Mr Speaker, could the Right Honourable gentleman, the Home Secretary, explain the rationale behind the timing of the transportation of the Exiles to Platform Alpha? Why has it been necessary to travel overnight when, if my understanding is correct, the vessel is capable of making the journey within daylight hours?”

  Tom stood up again.

  “Mr Speaker, let me first correct the Right Honourable Member’s mis-understanding. The scheduled transit time from Lochshore to Alpha is twenty-two hours, so the journey could not be completed in daylight. PTV1 is theoretically capable of covering the distance in less time, but only at the expense of the comfort of the passengers and the efficiency and safety of the vessel.

  “The choice of today’s departure time was to ensure we will be disembarking the prisoners as close as possible to seven o’clock tomorrow morning. Ideally, around five o’clock would be the optimum time, as this is when it would be most easy to handle them with minimum risk of resistance and possible violence. However, we felt it important to ensure it was daylight when the operation took place, and 7.00 am was chosen for that reason, sunrise being at around 6.45.