of the electorate and make sure we keep our jobs, we tend to keep to the straight and narrow.
The overwhelmingly positive reaction to Mrs. Brampton’s proposal was atypical. There were only a few who questioned any part of it, and I had the sense that the rest of the house just found those interventions annoying. That makes me think that it has a really great chance, but what we all have to do now is show our support in practical ways, so that, when the bill returns, it can pass quickly into law.
‘So, how do we do that?’
‘Well, Imogen, it’s already clear from your question in the debate that you should be one of the contributors to the proposal at committee level, particularly with your degree in Ecology. What you need to do is run down the corridor to whatever committee room Mrs. Brampton has purloined and have a chat with her. The same applies to anyone else who feels strongly enough about the proposition.
Just to take a straw poll around the table, how many of you support the plan?
Including Henry Halliday there were eleven of them and all but two raised a hand. The dissenters were Indra Chowdary, Portsmouth, and Caroline Goubault, Swaledale.
‘Can I ask Indra and Caroline why you wouldn’t support the proposal?’.
Indra was the first to answer.
‘It’s not that I’ve got anything against it, it’s just that, as I understand it, we’ve got several more days of debate to consider any number of other ideas. Some of those ideas may relate to places like Portsmouth. We don’t have a lot of country estates in my neck of the woods, but we do have a lot of other problems.’ At the end of the day I will probably vote for it, if my constituency wants me to, but we’ll have to wait and see.’
‘Caroline,’
It goes against the grain. I don’t have a problem with landowners, I’d like to be one myself, and I think that once you start picking away at them it won’t stop until the whole thing has been wrecked. I work in a shop. I don’t have to, but I enjoy it and it keeps me in touch with my community. My husband is the manager for the Overhill Estate, so I guess I’ve got an interest in this. I think there is probably plenty of other land that could be used before you start having a go at private landowners. Also, I’ve kept my maiden name, Goubault, even though I’m married, to remind myself of my French heritage. The Goubault de Brugiere family were aristocracy before the revolution, and we know what it is like to lose everything.
‘Wow,’
‘Well it looks as though Caroline will be joining the opposition and Indra is a floating voter but how about the rest of us signing up to support this plan.’ Asked John Parker.
‘I’d really like to play a role. We’ve got lots of estates and big farms in Suffolk that could afford to lose some land, and plenty of builders who would love to get stuck in to something creative that didn’t mean having to put up with the building inspector as we now know him.
‘Years ago there was a building inspector in my area, one of three or four who covered the work. We had to phone up before ten in the morning if we needed an inspector to come out and sign off a trench or a bit of steelwork. Whenever any of us made the call we had our fingers crossed that it would not be Jack Higgins, because he always spelt trouble. He was an angry man whose pleasure in life was to put other people down by exerting his authority. You all know the sort. One day one of my friends called him out and, when it became clear that Jack was not going to be reasonable, lost his temper and laid him out. After the dust had settled we all waited for the inevitable enquiry and visit to the magistrate’s court, but it never happened. It turned out that he had a very bad marriage and it couldn’t stand the enforced two weeks off work. His missus walked out. When he got back to work he refused to press charges and, from that day, rejoined the ranks of the human race.’
‘Sorry about that, it probably doesn’t add much to the debate, but I always thought it was a great story.’
It was agreed that the ‘Estate Group’, as they would now refer to themselves, would, there and then, go off in search of Mrs. Brampton’s committee room, led by Henry, only just ahead of Imogen both physically, as they strode off, and in his determination to get stuck in.
Joan Brampton was soon found in committee room fifteen, given over to her by the house managers as an office from which to manage the progress of her proposal. The room was a hive of activity with a number of small groups talking animatedly, and Joan with her head down over a sheaf of papers.
Harry already knew Joan from the two years each had spent in one another’s approximate vicinity but had never worked closely with her. He quickly introduced the group, as like’minded MP’s, who would be very pleased to help Joan’s proposal in whatever role would be most helpful.
‘Thank you very much for your offer. Although I’ve already had a lot of messages of support, and you can see around you some of the volunteers that have already been playing a role in working up the idea, you are the first members to arrive on my doorstep. It would be lovely to have you on board. Henry may already have told you what a big day we all think this is. We’ve seen it coming for the past year but, given that my proposal only came out of the ballot of members a few days ago, there’s an awful lot of work to do to build it up into a complete project.
The most important thing we need to do is to put some numbers to the proposal. By the way we’ve chosen to call it P. One, for short. P for planning, but also for parliament, and one because it’s the first truly new proposal that we have been able to consider.
What will help us is to find a way to make P.One self-financing in the medium term and to be able to demonstrate this in very clear and simple terms to the electorate. It is certain that any proposals for expenditure coming from the Chancellors release of funds will be subject to referendum and we must prepare for that. It’s also true that there are bound to be other proposals competing for funds, so we’ve really got to do a good all-round job.
Perhaps you would all like to meet up in this Office on Thursday afternoon, two o’clock. There’s no debate planned for that afternoon and you’ll probably all want to get back to your constituencies on Friday. We can thrash it all about and share out some responsibilities if you’re in agreement.’
The next couple of days were busy for all. A variety of other proposals were debated in the chamber, including one for the creation of local community enterprises alongside an information, advice and training function that would help in their creation. The raison d’etre for this proposal was that it would be better for communities to supply many of the jobs and services that their members currently had to travel to, than to have to find the money to run their cars in a regular commute.
This proposal caught the eye of the ‘Estate group’, particularly because it could be seen to complementary to P. One. Perhaps the proposals could be linked in some way or exist in a beneficial symbiosis.
Thursday afternoon came around soon enough, and the meeting in committee room fifteen came to order. Joan Brampton chaired.
‘Welcome to P. One, everybody. The purpose of this meeting is to agree how we may all contribute to the working-up of P. One into a knock-em-dead winner. You’ll all by now be aware that the Press and Television have been lining up to take sides on the project. We’ve already seen some pretty outspoken comments from ‘the usual suspects’ but there has also been some more thoughtful commentary. It seems to me that, on average, the jury is out and may be sympathetic in the end, if we do our job well. Internally I’ve received a lot of encouragement from the Chancellors office, but laying great emphasis on value for money. We’ve been in an austerity economy for so long now it’s become a bit of a habit. A good habit, mind.
The House manager has also signed an expenses order for P. One, giving this office a budget for expenses and professional services that