First Among Equals - books

not in books. He
also lacked a glamorous socicty wife-- though he hoped
that would not be the
case for much longer. He had no money to speak of, but he
had scraped
together enough from his employment at BBC to move from
his tiny flat in
Earl's Court to a small house on the corner of Beaufort
Street in Chelsea.
Lavinia now stayed the night more often, but he hadn't
been able to convince
her to reside there on a more permanent basis.
"You don't have enough closet space for my shoes," she
once told him.
It didn't stop Simon from enjoying her company and
remaining aware of her
feel for politics. Over dinner the night he had seen
Maudling she demanded
to know, "But why do you support Reggie Maudling?"
"Reggie has a great deal more experience of government
than Heath, and in
anv case he's more caring about those around him."
"But Daddy says Heath is so much more professional,,"
said Lavinia.
"That may be the case, but the British have always
preferred good amateurs
to run their government," said Simon.. And no better
examnle of that than
your father, Simon thought to himself.
"If you believe all that stuff about amateurs, why
bother to become so
involved yourself?"
Simon considered the question for some time before
taking a sip of wine.
"Because, frankly, I don't come from the sort of
background that
automatically commands, the center of the Tory stage."
"True," said Lavinia, grinning. "But I do."
Simon spent the following days trying to work out the
certain Maudling and
certain Heath supporters, although many members claimed
to favor both
candidates, according to who asked them. These he listed
as