Winston chewed on his cigar while he listened to the others talk. “If we’d known what she was, we wouldn’t have tried something so dramatic, we expected her to survive and run away crying, not make history.” The masked man muttered. “We hired a few nothings for the attack, there’s no connection to anyone, as far as anyone will ever know, it was three people from the Emerald Island with a grudge against the crown and that’s that.”
That much was good to know. Even so… “It’s still not a total failure. She ‘shot into the crowd’ and I’m sure there were people hurt when she shot those grenades. For Albion to remain a great power, it can’t be subjected to the whims of a foreign Queen, I need people to see that. Do you still have a printing press?” Winston asked.
“Aye, we went underground for a while when the war broke out, but it’s still there and ready to use again.” The masked figure answered, while Winston knew who the man spoke for, there was no question that it wasn’t the man himself, still, it was a comfortable deception for everyone involved, even in a backroom place with plenty of people who didn’t take kindly to… most anyone.
“Good. Start it up again. Get the street boys distributing what you make, hand out fliers at my rallies.” Winston took a long puff on his cigar.
“What do we print?” The masked figure asked, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, having to ‘ask’ the Secretary what to do was a power move on the man’s part, and it was awkward at best to be reminded who was really in charge.
“The press lies. The Queen shot into the crowd. She planned her own assassination. She’s an imperial plant. Oh, and based on what I’ve been able to ferret out from the Prime Minister’s people… she plans to destroy the healthcare system of the country, also she’s going to destroy private industry, raise taxes, send our young men to die without weapons for foreign powers, dismantle the military, and weaken our country’s economy by reducing their cost of doing business here. All in separate stories, of course. All at once it’s a bit much.”
“Is any of that true?” The masked figure asked.
“Do you care? You’ll get paid either way. You’ve heard my rallies. Whatever you hear me say, put it together in print and distribute it all over the country. Oh and, add a little card on the bottom that people can fill out and mail to a box if they want to receive more literature and find out how they can ‘save the Commonwealth’.” Winston huffed.
‘The only way to lead fools to their salvation is to give them foolishness to follow. I won’t let this foreign twat destroy the Commonwealth! I won’t! I’ll save this country if I have to drag it to security!’ The patriotic thought swelled in his breast, the ilk in the brown shirt across from him was greedy scum, but he was useful greedy scum.
“I can do that.” He answered.
“I know.” Winston replied and held his cigar over the ashtray, the round gray ash held firm until he gave it one clear, sharp, practiced tap and it fell away, leaving the last half of the cigar. It was excellent, rich, full bodied, and a slight flavor change came with the rich smokiness as he passed the minutes puff by puff.
“How many attended the Queen’s banquet?” Winston asked. He pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. Thanks to the radium paint he could read it clearly even in the dim light, it should have begun roughly thirty minutes ago. In his mind’s eye he could see her dismayed face as she found that there was simply nobody to greet her. The shock, the dismay, the confusion on her face… it was glorious to think about. ‘Child or not, she’s a pawn of the Kaiser.’ He thought, but realistically he knew he was just daydreaming.
“Roughly one third of the House of Lords, and one quarter of the House of Populii.” The masked figure replied, wringing his hands together.
Still less than he hoped, and more than he expected, but also not enough for her to really ram through any policies. She didn’t have the sway of Victoria, who would have everybody at her banquets and gatherings at every turn even if it was only a day’s notice. If you were in the country and she chose to host, you attended. By comparison, Queen Degurechaff had a pittance of attendees.
‘Some probably only went because they would feel bad about turning down a child’s invitation.’ That thought almost made him laugh. ‘She might get some taciturn support from a handful of people who were present when she survived the attack, but if she can accomplish nothing, then it won’t matter what she does.’
And that made him feel pretty good, though his stomach rumbled at the thought of the meal he was foregoing. ‘The things I do for the Commonwealth.’ He sighed and rose to leave. There was a barstool with his name on it, and a chance to create an impromptu rally out of some angry drunks.
‘The work never stops.’ He thought as he made to leave the meeting without so much as a farewell.
----------------------------------------
I hadn’t expected everyone to appear, but I thought respect for my office was sufficient to draw more, even if it was not a reverence for me in particular. They were standing, all of them, and I made my face go blank as I walked to the head of the table.
The table was laid out properly with silver platters and porcelain plates and bowls with intricate designs painted on them. ‘I need to make sure none of this is lead based, now that I think about it.’ There was an ugly thought. One time use wouldn’t matter, but too much and I’d have a problem.
“Be seated.” I said as I lowered myself into the chair, thankfully, Visha had thought to ensure I had something to sit on so that I wouldn’t look even shorter than I naturally was, and so I could look at everybody with something closer to ‘equality’.
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“Thank you for coming, gentlemen.” I said and waited while Visha poured my coffee. There were some surprised looks when they saw that it wasn’t tea, but I put that to the side. Her coffee really is the best, and she was working wonders with better beans than we got on the Rhine.
One thing Japan and this ‘not Britain’ had in common, was that there was a lot of socialization first, networking and conversing with your peers to get your name and ideas out there.
And with that in mind, I unleashed the power of smalltalk. Favorable small talk.
“How do you find the weather here compared to the Empire?”
“Very wet.” I said matter-of-factly. “I didn’t know it was going to be like this. But, it’s not bad, it will take some getting used to, but that’s part of going to any new place. New customs, new climate, in every sense of the word.”
“How do you find the people?”
I didn’t see who asked the question, but I did feel the tension go up.
“Well, the reception was just… explosive.” I said with a wink, and that drew a number of laughs up and down the table. “People were positively bursting to meet me. But I could do with a little less enthusiasm.”
My attempt at a joke was enough to relax their tensions, and I became more serious.
“You know, most people have actually been very decent. The people I went to see were very grateful, and hospital conditions aside, it seems as if most everybody means well. It’s all in all, a very friendly place, far more than I expected, given where I came from.” I answered, and it clearly pleased them to hear their country praised, they preened in their seats and I turned my eye toward Lord George.
“I’m sure that’s true.” He answered, “Of course, much has to be improved, the years have been difficult, unemployment, underemployment, war, hunger, the colonies are starting to agitate for independence. Everything is a struggle, rationing has gone on for years…”
“David…” A spindly man of graying hair and thin mustache seemed to speak with a tone of rebuke for his frank assessment, but I held out a hand.
“It’s alright, I need to know what’s happening here so I can be of help. I’m not Queen Victoria, who won’t hear bad news even if it’s real. I’m Queen Tanya Albert Degurechaff the first, and I tackle problems head on. The truth is, I already know a lot of this.” The table gasped and I stood up, it was time.
“I spent a lot of time with my aides going over the votes, the measures, the legislation, the economic information about the Commonwealth. And I know things are not what they could be. They’re not what our country deserves. With that in mind, I have a proposal, I call it, ‘The New Deal’.”
“Injured workers are a burden on the state, dead workers don’t produce anything for the state. Therefore we need enhanced safety regulations across all industries with a high death and injury rating. We also need doctors and nurses to care for the sick and injured, to get them back to work as fast as possible. Therefore I propose a minimum funding level for hospitals across the Commonwealth, along with education incentives for those who study medicine, all graduates who pay their way using government funds will perform five years of work as public service employees at public hospitals and clinics. By the same token, we will encourage peace with our neighbors by tying our trade deals to their military spending. The less they spend on arms, the better and lower the tariffs will be.”
I went through line by line, the cost of ignorance and lost opportunities, the poverty of public health concerns, the need for more progress in science and medicine, with our government’s research driving patent free access to every resident of the Commonwealth. I pushed debt reform that would restrict lending to verifiable assets… when you get right down to it, my sweeping reforms would drag this 19th century nation into the distant future. I was ahead of my time, and I knew it.
So I capped it off with two more pieces of information. “Of course, all of that is meaningless if we are at war. To that end, the Kaiser has agreed to come to Birmingham to negotiate with me personally. I will hammer out terms with them that get our prisoners home. I may have to make some concessions, but these are my thoughts on that.” I cleared my throat, I had them stunned, disbelieving, they hadn’t even protested yet.
“If the Republic wins, whatever is left will be a shattered ruin and they haven’t a chance of shattering the Empire. So no matter what we do, we have a powerful neighbor on the border. We’re not going to profit ourselves anything, so we slash our arms support, refuse to allow the passage of American arms, but we keep all of our colonies and they refuse to funnel money into those independence movements. A full prisoner exchange without ransoms, and instead, tariff free trade for five years… on our end. In short, we sell our goods there without taxes on the imports, while they still pay to import to us for that same period. I lived there, gentlemen, luxury goods are in high demand, it’s an untapped and very profitable market we can be the first into.”
I knew that most of the House of Lords had interests in the production of raw materials, but they were tied inextricably to the production of luxury goods, which had a mix of House of Populii and House of Lords younger and more junior members involved. I’d dangled fairly unlimited wealth in front of their noses.
“Of course such businesses have to first comply with my health and safety regulations. But then, everybody here will get an advance copy of those and so can get ahead of everyone else.” I gestured toward the Prime Minister and Visha, and the two began to walk the table, removing the papers from beneath the table where they’d been quietly held, and passing them out to every seated person.
“Put the copies in the empty places as well. We’ll leave them there till their proper recipients arrive.” I answered, I couldn’t help but smile about that. This was the cost of not coming when I called. They were going to fall behind.
“This dinner lays the foundation for the Commonwealth Confederate Party. A new formation of united interests seeking a peaceful and prosperous future. Our nation is not in the best shape, but we’re like a tightly drawn bow, our strings are taut, the arrow ready, the bow is tilted toward the sky, we have only to stop holding ourselves back, and the very sky is the limit!” The Prime Minister urged after he returned to his seat.
The written proposals included a number of cozy government projects in key districts around Albion, some of which I knew would have to be negotiated away to get what I really wanted.
“So, I must ask you this. Will you be my Confederates?” I asked the row of seated officials.
If ever a movie was made of this night, it would probably portray this moment as filled with thunderous applause, or maybe a slow and building clap that rose to a roar. The truth is, the response was muted.
But it was what I wanted. Just quiet nods, mostly, not from all, but none appeared outright hostile, there was something for everyone there after all, no clear rejections was almost as good as adoption.
The Commonwealth had a new political party that would capture the interests of many, and for my next banquet?
I expected nearly every chair would be filled.