‘Wouldn’t look good for your reputation, especially not at the moment,’ Tom said. ‘You’ve just publicly distanced yourself from Holly’s campaign after supporting her a few weeks ago. It looks like you got the publicity you wanted, and then dumped her to pursue your own career interests, plain and simple. It really doesn’t matter what story Miles fed to AllFeed; you’ve done enough to ruin your own reputation. And if there’s one thing the voters round here won’t stomach, it’s a lack of integrity.’

Charlie walked over to the chair in front of his own desk and slumped in it, utterly defeated. ‘You’re right,’ he said bleakly. ‘I screwed it up myself. This thing with Miles is just the icing on the cake. If you’ll pardon the pun.’ He turned his gaze back to Tom. ‘So, what do you suggest I do, Tom? How do we get out of this mess?’

‘You have to learn something first,’ Tom said.

‘What’s that?’

‘This is an important job you’ve got, Charlie. Everything you say, everything you do, every time you speak to a constituent, make a statement to the media, speak in the House, it matters. You can’t just go freestyling your way through it, especially not when you’re dealing with emotive issues like the CF medication one.’ Tom sighed. ‘Ten years ago, before social media and people getting their news from the Twittersphere, it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but now the traditional media outlets are often the last to pick up on a story. It’s usually trending on Twitter before it’s even a twinkle in a newspaper editor’s eye. You’re under scrutiny the whole time.’

‘I know that, Tom, and I’m sorry,’ Charlie muttered. He felt like he was standing in the head teacher’s office from his old secondary school in Yorkshire, getting a massive bollocking. Which, in a sense, he figured, he was. Although he was the Member of Parliament and Tom was his agent, he now realised that the titles meant nothing; not when it came to toeing the party line and being seen to do the right thing.

‘So, in summary, not only has the media made you look like you were using Holly and her family to boost your own profile, but now you’ve split up with her and gone against her campaign, you look like a callous, heartless bastard for choosing your career and selling them out. Add that to Miles trying to discredit your tenure here and you could not be in more shit if you’d fallen in the slurry pit of George Barker’s dairy farm.’

‘Governments make U-turns all the time,’ Charlie muttered stubbornly.

‘And get called out on it by the press and the voters,’ Tom retorted. ‘You’re not going to just be able to walk away from this.’