WC02 - Never Surrender by Michael Dobbs

end some part of her soul would be shredded. She was a German in a foreign land, an intellectual reduced to scraping through on scraps of translation and proofreading, a mother with no child. But doing nothing would not be an option, not in this war.
    Then she remembered that Winston Churchill had said please. It was a cry of vulnerability, like a child's plea for help. It had been a long time since anyone had said please.
    She put aside the newspaper and went to the enquiries desk.
    "May I help you?" The assistant was formal, unfriendly -she disapproved of Ruth Mueller's strange reading habits, and of Ruth Mueller even more.
    "I would like some books. Something written by Mr. Churchill, please. Perhaps something he has written about his father?"
    They had expressed their collective concerns and reservations about the new Prime Minister, after which, politics being politics, they had trooped through the Division Lobby to give him a unanimous vote of confidence. Afterwards it had taken Churchill some while to leave the Chamber for, politicians being politicians, many had paused to congratulate him but not for too long. Even Chips Channon had joined the throng.
    "Not one of us," Bracken had warned, whispering in Churchill's ear.
    "Chips? Of course he is. Chips is everyone's," Churchill had replied gaily. "Don't worry about him. It's the other buggers we have to watch out for." And Churchill had forced his way through to the side of Neville Chamberlain, taking his arm, smiling, ensuring that they were seen together and offering him an ostentatious display of gratitude and warmth.
    Afterwards he had noted Bracken's quizzical eye. "That's the way it shall be, Brendan, both publicly and in private, for as long as is required. I'm haunted by enough damned ghosts, I've no need of more."
    They strode away, out of earshot and hidden behind a fog of cigar smoke. "Brendan, I have a task of some delicacy for you. I am being forced to fight on too many fronts. I have nominated the most senior Ministers in my Government, now I want your help in selecting the great mass of the remainder. I need to get on with the other war."
    "Magnificent. I always enjoy a little vengeance."
    "You will start this evening. You will do it with David Margesson."
    "Margesson? Winston, you've gone mad .. ."
    David Margesson was a name no one took lightly. He had been Neville Chamberlain's Chief Whip, his immensely powerful organizer of the parliamentary party. He had known the details of every plot and piece of parliamentary wickedness during the last decade, largely because he had initiated most of them, and none of his plots had been more vicious than that against Churchill himself.
    "Winston, barely twelve months ago Margesson was on the point of getting you deselected. Thrown out of the party. He tried to destroy your whole life he hates you! The only reason you're here today is because the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia the night before the de selection meeting. God knows, but Adolf Hitler's done more for your career than bloody Margesson! He's a comprehensive bastard!"
    "Ah, but a most effective one. Which is why you will sit down with him and reshuffle the rest of my government, allowing as many as possible of the other bastards to remain."
    "I am lost," Bracken gasped, his mind exhausted.
    "Come on, Brendan, it's your own idea: Mark Antony, embracing the conspirators in order to give himself enough time."
    "For what?"
    Churchill stopped, grabbed the other man's sleeve and spun him round until he was staring directly into his eyes.
    To survive! If we rock this boat too violently, it will sink. It may be overloaded with men not to our hearts, but if we are to let them go, slip them over the side, it had best be done as quietly as possible and at night. So mark out the troublemakers. Give them new jobs, different jobs, impossible jobs, but always some job; never forget that their love of office any office is stronger than their loathing for me. Keep them busy