June 1st 2017
Hilary Benn leant back in his chair, looked around the offices of the Leader of the Opposition and allowed himself a small smile.
Most politicians would admit to fantasising about the top job, but few made it there, and Benn would be the first to admit that he had really only got there by chance. Following Jeremy Corbyn’s election he had been kept on as Shadow Foreign Secretary and as the centrist and right wing members of the party started to look for a moderate to coalesce around, more and more people started dropping by his office. And as the man with responsibility for explaining away his leader’s slightly more questionable statements, his star rose even quicker than it had done before.
Labour didn’t like to oust their leaders, even the ones that didn’t really want in the first place. And in the beginning Corbyn had actually done quite well. The party had even managed to make some gains in the council elections as the Corbyn Vote Machine had enthused enough people to get the vote out. But the polls had started to slip and the EU referendum was just around the corner. A meeting of Labour for the Common Good had decided that they couldn’t risk a leader in two minds over Europe. So the knives had finally come out, Jeremy had released a statement saying he had achieved all he had wanted to, and the hunt was on for an acting leader.
Watson had been the obvious choice; he was the Deputy Leader after all. But that had been nixed quickly in the emergency cabinet meeting. He was too bullish, and the shadow of Falkirk still hung over him. It was decided they need a quiet steady pair of hands. And someone who could hold the post for a while. They’re would need to be a proper policy review before the leadership election. They weren’t going to rush into it this time, not after 2015. It was at that point, that all eyes turned towards Benn.
His eyes fell on the pipe and the pictures of his father on his desk. Tony Benn had been a great man, with some great ideas, but he had in Hilary’s opinion moved too fast, tried to change things too quickly, and had ended up on the outside. Hilary meanwhile had sworn loyalty to New Labour, kept his head down and slowly moved up the greasy poll. First Secretary of State for International Development, then Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Then various jobs in the Shadow Cabinet, culminating in his current role. But despite what he had told people, secretly he had always known that he was not only a Benn, but also a Bennite. And people were in for a bit of a surprise.
There was a knock on the door and an aide stuck her head round it. “Mr Watson to see you sir.”
“Show him in.”
Watson strolled in and took a seat on the other side of the desk. “So? What are we going to do now?”
Benn pushed a piece of paper across the desk, as the smile grew bigger. “Well. I thought we could start with the renationalisation of the energy industry.”