Free WC02 - Never Surrender by Michael Dobbs Page A

continued, waving his bourbon. "On the other hand, if all you've got is Winston, then I'm not surprised you drink." He smiled from behind round tortoiseshell glasses. "I'm sure I'm not telling tales out of school with you three when I tell you that even Halifax is complaining," he added. "Ridiculous working hours, sometimes up till two or three in the morning. This toil and sweat nonsense may sound fine, but what the hell can you achieve in the middle of the night with a man who's been drinking whisky since breakfast?"
    "Joe, how did you get to be a diplomat?" Butler enquired provocatively.
    "Funny thing, heard that Winston's been asking how the hell you got to be a Minister."
    The response brought a flush to Butler's cheek. He expected to be sacked his views about Winston and his policies were far from a private indulgence but he still hadn't heard, and he found the uncertainty offensive.
    "We live to play another day, Joe."
    "Not if Winston gets going, you won't."
    "You may well be right. But the game isn't over yet."
    "So I hear. Fact is, one of the Whips told me that two-thirds of the party would have Neville back like a shot, given half an excuse."
    "And most of them think that Winston is just the sort of person to provide it," Colville added.
    "Not won over by his charms, then, Jock?" Kennedy enquired.
    "May I put it this way, Mr Ambassador? I've never known a Prime Minister to come into office with so many people expecting him to fail even wanting him to fail."
    "They don't want this war. It's what I've been saying all along!" Kennedy exclaimed. "Gentlemen, you go ahead with this fight and you're gonna get beat. Look what happened in Poland. Look what's happening in the Low Countries. Just heard from our embassy in Holland that the Luftwaffe is turning Rotterdam into the back side of hell. It's chaos over there."
    "Do we have a choice but to go ahead, Joe? I fear Herr Hitler might insist," Butler prodded.
    "What are you fighting for, Rab?" Kennedy barked back. "Hitler doesn't want to touch England, he doesn't want your empire. Leave him alone in Europe and by Christmas he'll be sipping tea and chomping through cream cakes with your King, all friends together. Why you ever got involved in this damned war I'll never understand."
    It was a view that was also close to Butler's heart. "But we are involved, whether we like it or not. What can we do?"
    "Play the Italian card. Hitler listens to Mussolini. Wrap up a couple of your Mediterranean islands as a gift for II Duce and he'll whisper whatever you want into Uncle Adolf's ear. Otherwise you're gonna end up at war with them both."
    The three Englishmen stood mournfully.
    Kennedy finished off his drink in one huge swallow. "Still, can't stand around here all evening. Got other diplomatic duties to perform, strengthening the Entente Cordiale with the assistance of a little French lady I know." He smiled and tried to straighten his tie. "Musketeers, it's been a pleasure." He waved and was gone.
    "I know I'm a bit of a snob," Channon began, 'but I can't help feeling he's right."
    "Of course he's right," Butler snapped irritably.
    "And what do you think, Jock?"
    "You see this suit I'm wearing?" It was offensively blue and exceptionally bright. "From the fifty-shilling department of Monty Burton's. Rather cheap and sensational, I'm afraid, but entirely suitable for this administration." He plucked a loose thread from his lapel. "I don't expect it will prove to be much of an investment."
    The public library in Pimlico was open until seven that evening. It had a ground-in, sweet-and-sour aroma of beeswax and half-burnt coke, but it suited Ruth Mueller. She did not want to get back to her rented room before eight. By that time the family who lived below would have finished their dinner; it was bad enough having to go hungry without smelling the rest of the world at the trough.
    Unlike her room, the Pimlico library was warm and quiet, but it was the books, of course, that had first