"Brookmyre, Christopher - Boiling A Frog" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brookmyre Christopher)

to be the new parliament's official Internet Service Provider,
supplying connections to all the MSPs, both in Edinburgh
and their constituency offices. The stooshie was over the
fact that the Scottish Secretary had been the one who
signed on the dotted line, rather than the First Minister.
This was due to the geographical and photo-op convenience
of both the Scottish Secretary and SOL's heid-bummer
being in Frankfurt to beat the drum for Silicon Glen at
a European computer-biz exhibition. Unfortunately, the
SNP's rather deft spin was that this was 'yet another dire
example' of Westminster imposing its will on the devolved
parliament by signing deals for its facilities over the First
Minister's head.
Labour responded with assurances that all the tenders
had been solicited, received and assessed in Edinburgh,
but the SNP counter-spun that Edinburgh was doing the
donkey work while London made the decisions and took
the credit. Absolute mince, of course, and both parties knew
it, but it was all part of the game, and Elspeth played it
better than most.
Perhaps, as Beadie suggested, she actually played it
too well.
'I think your problem, Elspeth, could be that you're too
good at the job you're in. I've seen it happen. They don't
want to move you because you re so bloody useful where
you are.'
'Maybe I should jack it in and come work for you then.'
'Maybe you should, aye. An' tell you what, if I made you
an offer, they'd promote you in a bloody flash. The thought
of you sellin' the goods on that lot to a guy like me would
fair grease the wheels.'
But no. Effective as she was, she knew that wasn't the
real reason she'd been overlooked.
Elspeth was the eldest daughter of Joseph 'Uncle Joe'
Doyle, who had been a near-totemic figure in Glasgow
Labour circles throughout the Sixties and Seventies. He was
what the right-wing press liked to refer to as a 'firebrand'
socialist, the term being their euphemism for a politician
from a working-lass background, lacking formal education
and having clearly no right whatsoever to be talking to his
betters in such a disrespectful manner. Whether it had
been his earlier days in local government or latterly as
the four-times returned MP for Nettleston and Provanhill,
Joe Doyle had been a principled, uncompromising and
passionate politician, venerated by his colleagues, feared by
his opponents, worshipped by his family. Elspeth, despite
also knowing him as a warm and humorous father, had
grown up so much in awe of his political stature and
achievements that she found the idea of following in his
footsteps far too daunting. She chose a career in journalism