Jeffrey Archer - Mightier than the Sword

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Mightier than the Sword
Buckingham's
When Harry Clifton visits his publisher in New York, he learns that he has been elected as the new president of English PEN, and immediately launches a campaign for the release of a fellow author, Anatoly Babakov, who's imprisoned in Siberia. Babakov's crime? Writing a book called
, a devastating insight into what it was like to work for Stalin. So determined is Harry to see Babakov released and the book published, that he puts his own life in danger.
His wife Emma, chairman of Barrington Shipping, is facing the repercussions of the IRA attack on the
. Some board members feel she should resign, and Lady Virginia Fenwick will stop at nothing to cause Emma's downfall.
Sir Giles Barrington is now a minister of the Crown, and looks set for even higher office, until an official trip to Berlin does not end as a diplomatic success. Once again, Giles's political career is thrown off balance by none other than his old adversary, Major Alex Fisher, who once again stands against him at the election. But who wins this time?
In London, Harry and Emma's son, Sebastian, is quickly making a name for himself at Farthing's Bank in London, and has proposed to the beautiful young American, Samantha. But the despicable Adrian Sloane, a man interested only in his own advancement and the ruin of Sebastian, will stop at nothing to remove his rival.
Jeffrey Archer's compelling Clifton Chronicles continue in this, his most accomplished novel to date. With all the trademark twists and turns that have made him one of the world's most popular authors, the spellbinding story of the Clifton and the Barrington families continues.

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“He could suggest that I stand down until the trial is over,” said Emma, “‘for the good of the company.’”

“And then the deputy chairman would become acting chairman.”

“But only for a few weeks,” said Harry. “You’d return once the trial was over.”

“You can’t afford to give Mellor that much rope,” said Giles. “Once you’re no longer able to attend board meetings, he’ll find a way of making temporary become permanent, believe me.”

“But you could refuse to stand down, Emma, even if he does become your deputy,” suggested Harry.

“I won’t be given a lot of choice if I have to spend the best part of a month stuck in the High Court, defending myself.”

“But once you win...” said Giles.

“If I win.”

“I can’t wait to get in the witness box and tell the jury some home truths about Virginia.”

“We won’t be calling you, Giles,” said Emma quietly.

“But I know more about Virginia than—”

“That’s exactly what my barrister is worried about. After a few well-chosen words from her ex-husband, the jury might even end up feeling sorry for her, and Mr. Trelford, my barrister, says Sir Edward Makepeace, her silk, won’t be shy about raising the subject of your second divorce, and what caused it.”

“So who are you going to call?”

“Major Alex Fisher MP.”

“But won’t he be a defense witness?”

“Mr. Trelford doesn’t think so. Fisher could well be as much of a liability for them as you might be for us.”

“Then perhaps the other side will call me?” said Giles, sounding hopeful.

“Let’s hope not.”

“I’d pay good money to see Fisher in the witness box,” said Giles, ignoring his sister’s barb. “Remind Mr. Trelford that he’s got a very short fuse, especially if he’s not treated with the respect he feels he deserves, and that was true even before he became an MP.”

“The same can be said of Virginia,” said Harry. “She won’t be able to resist reminding everyone that she’s the daughter of an earl. And there won’t be too many of those on the jury.”

“However,” said Giles, “it would be equally foolish to underestimate Sir Edward. If I may quote Trollope when describing another advocate, he is ‘as bright as a diamond, and as cutting, and also as unimpressionable.’”

“And I may need those same qualities at next month’s board meeting when I climb into the ring with Mellor.”

“I have a feeling that Mellor and Virginia must be working together,” said Giles. “The timing’s just a little too convenient.”

“Not to mention Fisher,” added Harry.

“Have you decided yet if you’re going to stand against him at the next election?” asked Emma.

“Perhaps it’s time to tell you that Harold Wilson has offered me a seat in the Lords.”

“Congratulations!” said Emma, leaping up from her chair and throwing her arms around her brother. “Some good news at last.”

“And I turned him down.”

“You did what?”

“I turned him down. I told him I wanted one more crack at Bristol Docklands.”

“And one more crack at Fisher, no doubt,” said Harry.

“That would be part of the reason,” admitted Giles. “But if he beats me again, I’ll call it a day.”

“I think you’re out of your mind,” said Emma.

“Which is exactly what you said when I first told you twenty-five years ago that I was going to stand for Parliament.”

“As a socialist,” Emma reminded him.

“If it makes you feel any better,” said Giles, “Sebastian agrees with you.”

“Does that mean you’ve seen him since he got back from New York?” asked Harry.

“Yes, and before you ask, he clammed up the moment I raised the subject.”

“A pity,” said Harry. “Such a remarkable girl.”

“But what I can tell you is that when I dropped into his office before taking him out to lunch, I spotted a child’s painting on the wall behind his desk that I’d never seen before. It was called My Mom, and I could have sworn it was Jessica’s hand.”

“A painting of me?” asked Emma.

“No, that’s the strange thing,” said Giles. “It was of Samantha.”

“Sloane offered you ten pounds a share?” said Ross Buchanan. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Farthings are trading at two pounds eight shillings this morning.”

“He was simply trying to find out what my limit was,” said Seb. “Once he realized I wasn’t interested, he threw in the towel and lost his temper.”

“That shouldn’t have come as a surprise. But why’s he so desperate to get his hands on your six percent?”

“And where do Mellor and Fisher fit in?”

“An unholy alliance that’s up to no good, that’s for sure.”

“There was another name in the visitors’ book that just might provide the answer. Have you ever come across someone called Hakim Bishara?”

“I’ve never met him,” said Ross. “But I attended a lecture he gave at the London School of Economics, and I was mightily impressed. He’s Turkish, but was educated in Beirut. He came top in the entrance exam for Oxford, but they didn’t offer him a place.”

“Why?”

“It was assumed he must have cheated. After all, how could a boy called Hakim Bishara, the son of a Turkish carpet trader and a Syrian prostitute, possibly beat the cream of the English public school system? So he went to Yale instead, and after he’d graduated he won a scholarship to Harvard Business School, where he’s now a visiting professor.”

“So he’s an academic?”

“Far from it. Bishara practices what he preaches. When he was twenty-nine he mounted an audacious coup to take over the Beirut Commerce and Trading Bank. It’s now one of the most respected financial institutions in the Middle East.”

“So what’s he doing in England?”

“For some time now he’s been trying to get the Bank of England to grant him a licence to open a branch of BC and T in London, but so far they’ve always turned him down.”

“Why?”

“The Bank of England doesn’t have to give a reason, and don’t forget, its committee is made up of the same breed of chinless wonders who prevented Bishara from going to Oxford. But he’s not a man who gives up easily. I recently read in the Questor column of the Telegraph that he now intends to bypass the committee and take over an English bank. And what bank could be riper for takeover than Farthings?”

“It was staring me in the face, and I didn’t spot it,” said Seb.

“When you put two and two together, they usually make four,” said Ross. “But it still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, because Bishara is happily married, a devout Muslim, who’s spent years building a reputation for scrupulous honesty and straight dealing, not unlike Cedric. So why would he be willing to deal with Sloane, who’s built a reputation for being unscrupulous and dishonest, and deals from the bottom of the pile?”

“There’s only one way I’m going to find out,” said Seb, “and that’s to meet him. Any ideas?”

“Not unless you’re a world-class backgammon player, because that’s his hobby.”

“I know what to do with a six and a one on the opening throw, but not much more.”

“Well, whenever he’s in London he plays regularly at the Clermont Club. He’s part of the ‘Clermont set’ — Goldsmith, Aspinall, Lucan. Loners, like him, who don’t fit easily into London society. But don’t take him on, Seb, unless you want to lose the shirt off your back. Frankly, where Bishara’s concerned you don’t have a lot going for you.”

“I’ve got one thing going for me,” said Seb. “We have something in common.”

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