‘Then you’d be out of office quicker than a mouse up your trouser leg,’ Holly said. ‘And absolutely no use to us at all. Politically, at least. You know how Stavenham is about its politicians. They’ve only voted one way in the past twenty-five years.’

‘Then let me help. I know I messed up by backing off; my father always moaned at me that I thought too much and did too little, but this time I want to act. I want to make things count. Please, Holly, put your faith in me one more time.’

‘What do you propose to do?’ There was just a flicker of hope in Holly’s eyes, now, and Charlie seized on it, quickly.

Charlie smiled. ‘What if I told you I was going to begin by tabling an Adjournment Debate on it? That your influence on me, and the media, might just be the thing that swings the drug company to lower the price and come back to the government with a deal?’

‘Then I’d say you were probably lying. Again,’ Holly snapped. ‘Besides, government has been talking for months. What difference can it make?’

‘Go with me for a second, please.’ Charlie took a deep breath. ‘If I can get some time, some real time, on the floor of the House, if I can get this debated, it might just be the step that we need to put those wheels in motion.’

‘That sounds very noble and high-minded, Charlie, but am I right in thinking that, by making your first proper speech all about CF drug funding, you’ll be trying to secure your future in the Ministry of Health, and that it’s got nothing to do with Harry, or me, or anything other than your own bloody self-interest?’

Charlie jerked as if she’d hit him. ‘You know how much I’m risking by going out on a limb with this. The Secretary of State’s decidedly ambivalent about it. One week she’s warning me off, and the next she’s telling me I’ve got the PM’s attention. As far as I can see, my career in the ministry will effectively be fucked either way.’ He reached out and she finally allowed him to take one of her hands in his. Her hands were freezing cold, and he had to resist the urge to pull her into his arms before they both ended up with hypothermia.

‘But it could all be for nothing,’ Holly said. ‘And then we’re back where we started. And Harry…’