"They're burn marks... in all probability a bomb." "Sammy Shourar - he was on the plane with Charles Flyte." "He may have been working for the Iranians." "What you missed was the bottle." "First it was in the baggage truck and then it wasn't and then it was." "'Did it damage it, falling off like that?" "'" "I propose to buy up the remaining shares and transform the bank into an engine of prosperity." "Is that you" " Bosnia, 1992?" "It's a good story" " Tom Dawkins, The Army Years." "Give me your version." "There is no story." "He needs to know what we found." "In other news this morning, the markets have responded positively to the Prime Minister's announcement that the Indian government will underwrite sterling." "The pound rallied, gaining more than two pence against the US dollar." "This could be construed as a personal success for Tom Dawkins, although he has been criticised by environmental campaigners for reneging on existing international agreements." "All right, ladies and gents." "Thank you." "Stand back." "Behind the tape." "Thank you." "I'll be right back." "Well?" "What do you know?" "A burglary, perhaps." "Signs of a struggle." "Someone's been tearing the place apart looking for bugs, or... .. removing them." "Was he bugged?" "If he was, I didn't know about it and it wasn't by us." "Then by who?" "It may have been another agency targeting me through him." "Hoping he'd be... indiscreet." "About..." "Nightlight?" "'Nightlight was a fuck-up, Tom." "'And it was my fault, as I'm sure you know. '" "Some people think it led to the death of an MI6 officer the following year." "Now, they are wrong, but..." "Jesus Christ." "They wouldn't have gone this far, not for that." "The bugging, maybe, but not this." "Then what?" "'It could be this photo he died for." "'Did you give it to him?" "'" "Is that his blood?" "We think it's from one of Syed Khan's picture messages." "So you didn't give it to him?" "No." "'If not you, then who?" "'" "We may have a problem." "The Times called." "This is what they'll be running tomorrow." "Tom served in the British Army in Bosnia with the UN." "Peacekeeping." "Now, according to this article, he crossed into an area he shouldn't have been and he broke UN rules of engagement to free an Army translator taken prisoner by an armed gang." "What's wrong with that?" "The translator was killed, plus three other civilians and a member of Tom's company." "Civilians?" "You said it was an armed gang." "Criminals." "Not combatants." "Well, in my book, that's heroism, not a war crime." "Well, he covered it up." "It's bad judgment then, bad judgment now." "Felix, you just don't like it that he actually does something." "He's acting like some crazed Marxist!" "Championing small businesses?" "Marxism?" "Nationalising a bank?" "!" "Bringing PetroFex to book and standing up for the people of Scarrow." "Shooting civilians?" "Are they saying that?" "I've just told you everything I know." "Someone needs to speak to Tom." "Ros..." "It's you or me, isn't it?" "I'm sorry?" "When he goes." "Tom." "If." "I've done a poll." "He's swimming against the tide." "He's not happy." "Get Ellis Kane here." "Now." "You see why I didn't want to stand." "Because the story would get out." "It's a distraction, Tom." "Nothing more." "Show you're vulnerable on this and the Government will suffer." "Shrug it off, move on." "That's leadership." "Did you shoot civilians?" "No." "No." "So, it was a mistake, 20 years ago." "Doesn't mean you're making a mistake now." "A mistake?" "It was a bloody mess." "So move on." "Tony Fossett is dead." "We're sleepwalking into a war with Iran." "The whole thing is starting again!" "You stepped up, Tom, when the country needed you." "You're in the firing line." "That's your job." "It was then and it is now." "We don't know what happened to Tony Fossett." "What I can tell you is, he wouldn't want you crying in the lavatory." "He'd want you out there, making waves." "It might have been an idea to tell me about the skeleton in your cupboard." "Are you telling me you didn't know?" "Of course I didn't know." "And I recall giving you some advice about Ellis Kane." "But I didn't say anything to her." "So where could it have come from?" "They are big, rough lads at the MoD, Tom." "And they've had a very hard time from Government lately." "They've lost their Nimrod fleet, their aircraft carriers, they've had budgets and troop numbers cut to ribbons." "If they're starting to feel a little bit unmanned... they'd be more than capable of feeding a smear story to a well-placed journalist." "Ellis Kane's here." "Tell me he's joking." "Are you going to tell me what the fuck you think you're playing at?" "Are you going to pretend I didn't give you a chance to give me your side of the story?" "And why would I do that?" "Yeah." "Why would a journalist want to help?" "You can't sit on festering secrets like that and then hope to take on the world." "I bloody..." "I told you something was out there." "I asked you to give me your side of the story." "You said, "There's nothing there." "There's nothing to give. "" "Well, fuck you, Tom Dawkins." "You're not the only one trying to find their way in the world." "Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?" "Oh, fuck off!" "The great hotshot journalist too big for your own story, and now nobody wants to speak to you." "Is that what I am?" "That's what people say to me all the time." "Then what are you?" "I'm the fucking Prime Minister!" "I received an anonymous email." "A report you'd written about an unsanctioned mission to rescue your translator from Bosnia." "You entered an area barred to the British Army... .. and five people ended up dead in the firefight, including the translator and the man you took with you," "Corporal Aiden Farlowe." "You redacted the report." "I allowed myself to be persuaded to redact that report." "You do a thing like that... .. supposedly for the best." "Oh." "You act on advice." "You try to persuade yourself that it's for the greater good." "And you also know that it's going to save your arse." "And it dogs you." "It dogs you from that day to this." "You were rescuing your translator." "I was sleeping with her." "Ah." "Thought you'd gone." "I'm going." "You mustn't take it personally." "I've had targets die." "It's hard." "But they never knew you - don't forget that." "And you never knew them." "I think I need to take some time off." "The people on those lists..." "are there for a reason." "It's our job... to monitor them." "No more than that." "Take a couple of days." "Somebody fucked up." "Other than you, you mean?" "Fossett was Dawkins' closest friend." "And the black box." "What's happening with that?" "Forget about the flight recorder." "It's never coming back." "And... once they've seen that, no-one will ask about it again." "Nothing dodgy about this dossier." "Happy now?" "Fossett had some of this information?" "Where did he get hold of it?" "We're presuming Dawkins." "I'll call you." "Give me a secure line to GCHQ." "Hello!" "Um, yeah, that's right." "She does." "Right." "'Excuse me, Prime Minister." "'You don't know me, but my name is Agnes Evans... '" "Go through the Press Office like everybody else." "The Iranians have interned 30 UK nationals." "They're describing them as spies, which is ludicrous." "What are they?" "All the oil companies keep a skeleton staff in Iran for the day when sanctions are lifted." "So they're oil men?" "So they're oil men?" "UN sanctions forbid Western oil companies from operating in Iran, so, suddenly, the Iranians are saying they must be there under false pretences." "Hard-liners banging the drum pre-election." "They know their time is running out." "They're not the only ones." "They want us to jump up and down, make threats and behave like the warmongering imperialists they've cast us as." "I suppose they do, yes." "To which our answer should be what?" "I know what you want me to say, Tom." "You want me to say, "Violins and camomile tea," but I'm not..." "You're not going to start telling me how the world works, are you, Ros?" "Then stop trying to reinvent it at our expense!" "And if you're going to sell the family silver to the Indians, consult the bloody Foreign Secretary!" "Or even the Chancellor!" "There's a consensus growing out there that you're going to burn bright, but brief." "And you need to make a decision about Iran." "There are 312 MPs in this party." "And they've delegated us to make the decisions that matter." "What are you saying, Felix?" "Felix isn't saying anything." "Are you, Felix?" "Thank you, John." "I needed your support on that one." "And that doesn't worry you?" "Mm." "Sami Sharour visited Tehran on at least a dozen occasions in the last three years." "He was also seen visiting this mosque." "Now, the imams there are known for their particularly anti-Western stance." "The, er, guy on the right is very close to the Iranian leadership." "A madrasah in New York known for its radical views." "He visited it several times in 2011." "And you think this Sharour was on Charles's plane?" "Oh, we're certain of it." "Despite the fact that he wasn't on the passenger manifest?" "The plane was owned by PetroFex." "He worked for the company." "As I understand it, he was a late addition, like Charles Flyte." "If he wasn't on the passenger manifest..." "That's him there." "On the picture that Syed Khan took." "Who's had access to these pictures?" "Well, only one has been made public." "And why the hell is this only coming out now?" "The company are cagey about his presence there because of his connection with the drone fuel team." "Which was what?" "He headed it up." "Now, the circumstances of the crash..." "With so little information emerging, it has taken a little bit longer than we'd hoped." "How long have you known?" "Well, we've been following several different leads." "It has taken a while, I know..." "You're suggesting that he was somehow an agent of the Iranian government." "Now, his family originated in Syria." "Sharour was born there, grew up in the US, but they've retained very close links with Iran," "Sami in particular." "It does look as though, given an opportunity to harm the Prime Minister, he took it." "This will tip us into war." "We have to keep control of the details until we're absolutely certain of the facts." "Well, naturally, the Americans are aware." "The agreement on shared intelligence." "I don't recall anybody adhering to that when it came to the drone strike." "Oh..." "It's secure with them." "It better be." "Ros, can you give us a moment?" "I think the time for violins and camomile tea may be over." "I saw another copy of one of those pictures today." "Did you?" "Did you?" "Oh, yes, I did." "Covered in blood." "Tony Fossett's?" "So how did he get hold of it?" "I'll look into it." "Down past the newsagent's and it's round..." "Essentially, the Americans are saying that... that no-one could accuse you of belligerence or intemperance if you retaliated." "Meaning?" "Targeted strikes against their nuclear programme." "How long have we been looking for clear justification to take those facilities out?" "But, Ros... a strike like that only guarantees the hard-liners an election victory." "We play right into their hands." "Do you know the mistake George W made after 9/11, Tom?" "He squandered the world's goodwill by moving out of Afghanistan and into Iraq." "When the news about Charles's assassination gets out, you'll have a window of forgiveness in your hands and, to quote the US Secretary of State, it's a very powerful item when paired with some Tomahawk cruise missiles." "Oh, God..." "But they're right, aren't they?" "If Sharour's an Iranian agent and he killed Charles... .. then we have to act." "Yes." "If you send cruise missiles into Iran, the Iranians will send something back." "Not to us, maybe, but almost certainly Israel." "And if the Israelis respond in kind, you'll need the balls to see it through." "Well, without the flight recorder, it comes down to a question of judgement." "Yours." "She hasn't been able to delete the conversation, but she has done her best to lock it up and scramble it." "But you can access it?" "It'll be a first if I couldn't." "Who the hell is this?" "'I can't talk now." "I need to see you. '" "I can tell you what happened to Tony." "And to Charles Flyte." "'But I can't talk now." "'There'll be someone monitoring this phone. '" "Well, you're not Tony." "And where Tony is tonight, he won't be doing any talking." "OK?" "350 years of continuous trading and shifting your fucking assets is bringing my bank to its knees." "Don't blame me, Michael." "I run the company, not the country." "Always the last to know." "Last to know what?" "Look sharp, Sir Michael." "Room for one more inside." "What are you doing here?" "Didn't you get my message?" "I was wondering if you knew where Tony Fossett was." "He's dead, love." "Your guess is as good as mine." "I mean... where his body is." "You come in here once before, didn't you?" "Do you know where he is?" "He said I could trust you." "Tony Fossett said that?" "He's at my cousin's place in Southgate." "Gotcha." "I've decided you're on my side." "Everyone else might have given up on me, but I've still got, well... .. you." "Where is she now?" "You're wondering if this fella here, Sami Sharour..." "Gravesend." ".. was on the fatal flight with our ex-Prime Minister." "First, Scarrow." "Now Sharour." "Things are getting out of hand." "You're the public face of this company, Paul." "You're going to have to take one for the team." "So this is all of you, is it?" "You all agree with this?" "You all agree?" "Well, fuck the fucking lot of you!" "Thank you." "Just a precaution." "I can't talk now." "I need to see you." "I can tell you what happened to Tony." "And to Charles Flyte." "At this point, she was at Hungerford Bridge." "'There'll be someone monitoring this phone. '" "Well, you're not Tony." "And where Tony is tonight, he won't be doing any talking." "She's not in Gravesend." "She dropped the phone in a boat." "She's wherever Tony Fossett is." "So you were bugging Tony Fossett?" "Yes." "Yes." "Why?" "We're not told." "Trigger words?" "Nightlight." "Go on." "I may have got him killed." "I'm so sorry." "I know he was your friend." "I just wanted to help him, but now..." "How?" "Do you know who Sami Sharour is?" "Yes, of course." "I thought he was involved in Charles Flyte's death." "I passed the information on to Tony." "Why?" "You'd lost faith in him." "And you know this because...?" "I was eavesdropping... on your private conversations with him." "If it was your information that killed him, then he died in vain." "I already knew about Sami Sharour." "But I was wrong." "It wasn't Sharour." "Tony saw that." "And I wanted you to know what he saw." "He said if we'd seen it, others must have too." "What others?" "They've come for me." "What?" "Hold it!" "Is she in there?" "Is she in there?" "They're busy." "Prime Minister, you are in great danger!" "Stay right where you are." "We're intelligence officers." "You'll have ID, then." "Prime Minister, step away from Agnes Evans." "Who sent you?" "We're from MI6." "Our information is that she may be armed." "I'm not here to hurt you." "Stop right there!" "No more than a minute." "I want your hands in the air and your MI6 authorisation codes now." "They don't want me talking to you." "You think this is why Tony was murdered?" "I know it was." "I heard it." "They wanted his phone... and they wanted these photographs." "He thought whatever was in that container brought down the plane." "It got damaged." "An accident." "He said it was like him." "It fell off the wagon." "Agnes Evans," "I'm arresting you for offences under the Official Secrets Act." "You do not have to say anything, but anything that you do say could be used in evidence against you." "Oh, for Christ's sake, take it easy!" "Prime Minister, if I could just take..." "Prime Minister, if I could just take..." "No, you damn well won't!" "So... can you run the story?" "Well..." "I can." "But... do these really prove what he's saying?" "Write the story, Ellis." "Tom... .. you're doing the right thing." "You know Felix is muttering about a vote of no confidence?" "At a time like this." "Is he crazy?" "Mmm." "What are the Iranians saying?" "Well, they deny any link with Sharour or... the death of Charles Flyte, naturally." "But there's evidence out there, and the press are digging, here and in the US." "MI6, CIA." "It begins to look pretty compelling." "Yes, well, what I've got's pretty compelling too." "Mmm." "Ellis Kane's going to be a lone voice on that one." "Still fighting my corner, John?" "Mmm." "Go to bed, Tom." "Everyone's waiting for your decision on Iran." "I think we all agree the future is what is important." "This country needs companies like PetroFex and RCB." "Nations and corporations both need to be run responsibly... .. for the greatest benefit of the stakeholders and with leadership... .. equal to the task." "I believe we've secured the future of our companies." "Now... we need to do what we can for our friends in Government." "Sir Michael." "So what's going on?" "So how did this get out?" "And, Tom, Ellis Kane was arrested last night." "On what charge?" "Offences under the Terrorism Act." "You're joking!" "Possession of material and photographs." "This is all bullshit." "It's misinformation." "They just want me to go to war." "Does this entire country want war with Iran?" "Is that what they're saying?" "That all I have to do is say the word, and everybody's happy?" "Because that would be the easiest thing in the fucking world!" "It's the day of reckoning for Tom Dawkins and members of his Government who are split over his stance on Iran and its alleged involvement in the death of Charles Flyte." "So, are you coming in or not?" "Pff..." "Good." "I hope you know what you're doing." "Thank you." "I want Ellis Kane released today." "Now." "'She was in possession of documents. ' Yes, that I gave her." "You want me arrested as well?" "It would make life a lot simpler." "Look, Laura, there's a strong possibility that your opposite number at MI6 has been sitting on crucial information about the death of Charles Flyte that points away from Iran." "And Ellis Kane has that story." "She's one of the good guys, Laura." "Like you." "And while you're at it, you can release Agnes Evans as well." "I'd like youbto consider this - the deadline debacle with PetroFex, the bandying about of state secrets during the drone strike, the allegations of war crimes, the humbling of our great nation he brought about by offering to exchange emissions for rupees." "And now he's appeasing the Iranians, despite a clear link with the murder of Charles Flyte." "Tom!" "Tom..." "I'm sorry they buried your story." "But there's something else, there's someone you need to talk to." "I'm afraid I haven't got time right now." "We're in a hole." "Stop digging." "They killed our fucking Prime Minister." "Accept it." "The majority of people in this country do not want war with Iran." "These are the only numbers that really matter." "You have a choice." "Come into the chamber now and announce retaliation against Iran or come in there and resign." "And what if I don't?" "Well, then, right after the debate we're coming back in here and every man jack on that list will raise his right arm and throw you out of that window." "Paul Clark's here, sir." "I think you should hear what he has to say." "Do you know why we always find ourselves deep in the shit, Tom, you and me?" "We just didn't go to the right schools." "For fuck's sake, Clark." "They're gonna do to you what they did to me." "They're gonna cut you off at the knees." "They all want war, you see." "That's your problem." "Gets you out of jail with the banks." "Conflict starts over there, capital will flee the region like there's no tomorrow and this is where it will come." "Our banks will be drinking it up." "And the oil companies, the markets, the multinationals, the Americans." "Works on just about every level, wouldn't you say, Felix?" "I'd say that if somebody kills your Prime Minister, you strike and you strike hard." "Sharour is no terrorist." "The only reason he went to Iran so many times is cos I sent him." "And that mosque in New York, he used to drag his nephew out of there by his ear." "Just thought you'd like to know." "What's the matter, Felix?" "Facts don't fit the strategy any longer?" "Facts?" "From Paul Clark?" "Ha-ha!" "I'll see you in the chamber." "How are you feeling?" "You can do this, Tom." "Step out of the shadows and be the man." "You've brought it all within reach." "You want to throw it away now?" "Everything you've ever wanted to achieve standing in the wings can still be done, but not if you duck this." "Is that what you think I'm doing?" "Ducking?" "The principled stand." "The Man In The White Suit." "Talking it up and never really engaging." "D'you wanna change the world, Tom?" "You have to live in it first." "Honourable Members of this House, the Prime Minister." "The Iranians did not kill our Prime Minister." "Order!" "Order!" "Let the Prime Minister speak!" "Order!" "PetroFex did." "Order!" "Order!" "Let the Prime Minister speak!" "It seems the company was transporting a sample of the new drone fuel in the plane the Prime Minister was using - the same drone fuel that we now know accounted for the ferocity, though not the onset, of the explosion at Scarrow" "which killed 19 people and injured 94." "The container was damaged in an accident at Houston Airport in Texas and probably came into contact with the catalyst in the hold when the plane passed through an electrical storm." "Am I certain of this information?" "No, I'm not." "Order!" "Am I certain that Sami Sharour blew the plane up, acting on Iranian instructions?" "No, I'm not." "Am I sure that a shadowy coalition of the markets, the banks, big business and Americans will go into meltdown if peace breaks out?" "Again, no, I'm not." "But I put this to you - are we going to toss away countless British and Iranian lives on the strength of information we're less than sure of?" "You tell me." "Because you're going to have to vote on this." "So let's put ourselves on the line here for once, like Agnes Evans did and Tony Fossett did." "Let's forget party allegiance, forget vested interests, forget votes of confidence." "Let each and every one of us think only of this - is this war justified?" "Hear!" "Hear!" "Is it what the people of this country want?" "Order." "Is it going to achieve what we want it to achieve?" "And if not, then what next?" "Order!" "Well, I tell you what I think we should do." "We should represent the people of this country." "Not the lobby companies that wine and dine us or the banks and the big businesses that tell us how the world goes round, not the trade unions that try and call the shots, not the civil servants nor war-mongering generals... or the security chiefs." "Not the press magnates and multimillionaire donors demanding dinner at Number 10." "Not the whips, not the party line, nor the status quo." "The people of this country," "I put it to you, do not want another war." "Of that I am sure." "Sure enough to stake my political career on it." "Order!" "Tom, please, enough." "No, John, it's not enough." "It's not nearly enough." "I'll tell you what enough should be." "Enough would be learning from our past and not bulldozing our way into another unwarranted, illegal war." "Hear, hear!" "Enough?" "Order." "I say enough would be returning democracy to this house and to the country it represents." "To that end," "I take the unprecedented step... .. of calling for a vote of no confidence in my own Government." "What the hell's he doing?" "!" "Order." "If you want war with Iran and you want business as usual, go ahead." "Vote against me." "But if you are prepared to take back responsibility and to take a step into uncharted territory for something that you really care about..." ".. something that you believe is right... .. join me and vote against this Government." "Order!" "Order!" "Order!" "All right, stand back." "When I first met you, I didn't think you had it in you." "You know what?" "I think maybe you'll do it." "I think maybe you really will." "I don't know." "You get to the top... .. and you realise... .. it's really only the middle." "Come in." "Welcome back, sir." "Thank you." "It was you that brought those cowboys here!" "Your Government!" "So what are you gonna do?"