God's Country

Part Eighty-Four

'Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.'

1 Peter 3:11

Sean Harley felt that he was making progress. He was not really expected to win Clitheroe of course. Alistair Forbes had made that quite clear right from the start. Victory would be claiming the lion's share of the centre right vote in competition with the New Conservative candidate, and the UKip candidate. Labour still ought to win, but it would be the size of that victory that would deliver any message, because defeat for them was really unthinkable. As he sat back in his seat, waiting for the Prime Minister to be introduced onto the stage, Harley considered the broader landscape.

Labour had held onto the seat in January against a massive onslaught from the Christian Democrat candidate with a much reduced majority. But that local fight, taking place in the middle of the perfect storm blowing Charles Buckingham into power, had not included any Tory candidate and UKip were suffering the backlash of causing the vote in the first place. So it had been head to head, more or less, and Labour had held on by just two thousand votes in the end. The majority just going back to November had been over ten thousand, so it was going to be an interesting result, and if Harley did well, he would be in pole position for the next by-election to come up, hopefully one that he could win in a better seat.

"Social change is not the easy option or the smoothest road," Charles Buckingham began and Harley tried to concentrate. He had a lot going on his head, not least his own speech later in the proceedings, an open party meeting in a battered old community centre. The press were there, cameras and all, as the campaign was reaching a climax and the main man was paying the town a visit to give Harley a push towards the line. "In two elections...both of which tend to feel just like yesterday to me...we have started to set out a detailed roadmap which we firmly believe will restore this great country of ours to its former glories. This by-election is not a test of those plans, although the media will try to tell you that it is. That may sound like a typical political statement from a government in this situation...trying to make you believe that we are not going to lose. But you know as well as I do that this seat has been a Labour seat for well over one hundred years, so victory...whilst our aim...is not likely."

"But I do not say this to deflect the result or because I do not care what the people think of my government's performance so far," Buckingham's tone changed, a little of his lightness of tone disappearing as he got serious. "On the contrary, I care very much...but this by-election should not be a litmus test of our national performance for one very good reason...and that is because the people of Clitheroe deserve better. Our parliamentary democracy is a wonderful thing to behold. Every constituency...six hundred and fifty of them...deliver their own result and send one lucky man...or woman...off to Westminster to represent their interests and opinions. That is a solemn responsibility I take very seriously for my own constituents, and one I know that Sean Harley would be honoured to accept, because he understands the importance of the role to the people of this community."

"However, the modern world is set against this important community role. Media pressures mean that elections are fought over whether I am a better potential leader than the Labour leader, or the policies both parties propose, which may or may not have any direct effect on the people of a town like Clitheroe." Buckingham paused and smiled into the silence. He was starting slowly and enjoying himself. He was in a good place. His personal life was as stable as he could possibly wish for, with his daughter's pregnancy the icing on the cake. His job was impossibly stressful and all-consuming if he let it be so, but it was also energising and rewarding in equal measure. He had everything he had ever dreamed of. "That is why you have been plagued with an invasion of party bigwigs from all sides of the political divide in the last few days. Because the political circus is in town, and the needs of this town and its people are not exactly centre stage, are they? Well, that is wrong...and I want to change that if I can...because this election should be about Clitheroe."