Where Serpents Slither

Chapter Four

A/N: The Palace of Westminster and Houses of Parliament.

Strang waited while Moore replenished their glasses from the second decanter.

'Things looked bad for the nation's wellbeing and with it the plans for Boris's future succession as PM. David called another meeting that night once the leave majority was verified. At three–thirty in the morning of the 24th the 'four' sat down in these chairs to seek what advantage there might be in the disadvantage of the negative result. David decided to resign that day and remain as caretaker PM until the Tory conference in September, by which time the new leader and PM would be chosen. A leadership contest would be held meanwhile. The extent of the Leave campaign's success across the country was extraordinary.'

'Damn 'Braveheart' vote, that's what it was.' Armitage slapped his knee angrily.

'Quite so Henry. Only three areas showed up with a majority for 'remain'; London, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Everywhere else voted to leave the EU. Scotland would now, almost certainly seek another independence referendum to allow it to stay in the EU. Northern Ireland would be put in the position of having to erect border posts between it and the Republic of Ireland, raising the very real prospect of violence flaring up across the province once again.'

Loud murmurs of agreement rose from the three listeners.

'David raised several other issues that could result from our departure from the EU. Scotland, for example, could hardly be denied its wish to remain in the EU, the attainment of which would necessitate a second independence referendum and the shifting of Trident from Scottish soil.'

'Damn Jocks, always wanting only what's good for them without a thought for others in the Union. They get more than anybody else in the UK out of the Barnett formula.'

Strang glanced sternly at Bamforth. 'Quite so Giles. However unfortunate the result, David saw advantages in the calamity of the vote.

Ideas flowed that night and a plan drawn up. It was a design of multiple purposes. Its first priority was to deal with the Brexit vote, repair the rift in the conservative party and halt the advance of UKIP into conservative and Labour territories by removing its raison d'être. The plan would prevent the eruption of violence in Northern Ireland by removing the necessity of erecting border posts between Ulster and Eire and in a stroke avoid putting the Irish Peace Process into jeopardy.'

'What about Scotland, Gilbert?'

'I'm coming to that Giles. The share of the national debt and the removal of the Trident submarine force from its Scottish base are the major obstacles to overcome should Scotland seek independence from the UK.'

'And the currency problem. What currency will they use?'

'That point has also been considered Arthur. It best suits the plan's ultimate goal if we continued to allow an independent Scotland the use of the pound as their national currency.'

The Cabinet Secretary raised his hands to quell the hubbub of indignant objections rising from his colleagues.

'Bear with me on this, all will become clear. In the event of Scottish independence the Faslane base will close and move to England. On grounds of mounting costs, there is already a plan to close down the Vickers yard at Barrow in Furness as a ship building enterprise. We can then re-establish it as a naval submarine base. Barrow is an ideal site for a new naval dockyard to husband the Trident force. It has a highly skilled corps of employees with state of the art equipment and facilities. The Navy could almost sail in and take it over with scant modifications.'

'But how do we pay for it. The reason we have not renewed Trident already is the lack of the £25 billions to do so?'

'Good point Henry and we know how hard you are working in the Defence Department to keep the spotlight away from this fact until the budget deficit is rectified in 2020.'

'Will not happen now. Brexit makes the Chancellor's budgetary forecasts unachievable. So who will pay for the move to Barrow? The Scots won't.'

'Quite right Arthur. The Scots will not pay, but perhaps the Americans will. They need us to have Trident for their own defence purposes and in these circumstances we can say to them in disappointment, but with our honour intact. "Because of Brexit we cannot renew Trident unless you help us financially. We can continue our Trident partnership only if you provide us with the weapon system free of charge. For our part we will provide the submarines, the base and the human resources to work it."'

'Has anybody senior in government sounded out the White House on this?'

'Yes Arthur, David has spoken to President Obama, who listened closely to the arguments presented to him without accepting or dismissing them outright.'

Sir Arthur grunted his displeasure. 'I knew nothing about this.'

'Quite so. Now there is the problem of an Independent Scotland's share of the national debt to consider. A thorny subject if ever there was one. For reasons that will become clear later, please accept without question that it will be in Scotland's best interest for the HS2 high speed rail  project to proceed to completion with an added extension to Glasgow.'

'Good Lord,' Armitage expostulated, 'we don't have the cash resources to renew Trident, but you are now saying we have twice as much as Trident would cost for this wretched rail system. Where is the money coming from, might I ask?'