Roadkill

Julia!

Have you seen this? Tell me what it is.

Tomorrow's press digest.

Then I've seen it. What the hell?

How did this happen? I have no idea.

That email was private! I drafted it, remember? Did you keep a copy?

It was sent on your private account to the chair of the British

Defence Group. No copies.

Then how has it been leaked to the press, Julia?

"I assure you, Trevor, whatever noises I make in public,

"I will always defend the long-term interests of

"the British Defence Group."

Well? What can I say, Prime Minister?

It's that word, "noises".

Yes. Did you choose it?

You approved it. That's not what I asked!

Makes me sound like a total hypocrite, saying one thing

in public and another in private.

And I rang Trevor, I got him out of bed.

He said no-one else has read it on the British Defence Group.

He even deleted it. That's what he said.

That leaves one possibility.

Someone has leaked it from Downing Street!

Now, I am looking at you, Julia.

I'm looking you straight in the eye.

Prime Minister, I don't have children, so I can't swear

on their lives, but ask yourself - why would I do such a thing?

It wasn't me.

OK. So, now I think I know who your mother must be.

I'm sure you've done your research.

Can't imagine you'd be here if you hadn't done background.

You're Bella Gayle's daughter.

Correct.

Do you want to...?

How is she?

Not very happy about this meeting.

Why did she tell you who I was?

I had to fight pretty hard to get it out of her.

She never wanted to say.

She was a determined woman.

Still is.

She was principled.

Even so, that's a hell of a thing to do,

to raise a child without telling her who her father is.

I thought so.

I never had the slightest inkling that you existed.

I think that's also part of the reason why

she never really wanted to contact you.

I wish she had.

Do you really?

I mean, would you have helped?

Would you have taken me on at the time?

That's a difficult question.

Why? Would you have wanted me aborted? Rose...

No, really, I'm asking you. I was a different man.

Right, is that a nice way of saying yes? I was ambitious.

And it wouldn't have made any difference anyway, would it?

Bella would have got what she wanted. She always did.

I know this is the question I'm not supposed to ask,

but why did you do it?

Why did you rob the bank?

You make it sound very romantic.

Why did you defraud the bank?

That's less romantic.

I was a high-flyer.

Fraud's quite common. It's more common than anyone knows.

High street banks try to cover it up.

They don't want their customers to realise how easy it is.

But in my case they decided to prosecute. Why your case?

Because they dislike me.

And I stole a little bit more, so...

I didn't want to give you my name when we first got in touch.

I thought maybe you'd remember the case and it might have put you off.

I'd read the coverage. I thought it was pretty racist. Yeah.

Who'd have thought a woman of colour would be clever enough to

steal that much?

What was your reason?

The people at the top of the bank were taking great big bonuses,

just reaching their hands into clients' money

and calling it a salary.

So, it was a protest? No, it wasn't a protest.

I just fancied proving something.

Proving what, exactly?

Proving that I was cleverer than them.

From what I've read, you like doing that, too.

And you?

Me? Yeah, what should I know about you?

Then or now? Both.

Uh, well, for many years, I...

...I used to buy the papers on the way to the Tube. Yeah, mum said.

And I found myself just lingering longer

and longer every day as I realised that Bella...

...was probably going to be the most interesting person I met that day.

And that's how we started.

Wait, you're meant to give your phone in.

I'm the Minister of Justice.

Sorry, I've kept you too long, haven't I?

Don't be silly. You haven't kept me.

Does that mean that you'll visit again?

How much longer are you supposed to be in here?

It's about two years, I think. Well, if I get parole.

This place is a shithole.

My friend has just died because a guard

couldn't work a defibrillator properly.

She hadn't been trained because everything here is about money.

They want to punish us on the cheap.

And I want my father to do something about it.

I promise you I'll do one thing.

I will come back and I will not let you down.

That's two things. Yeah.

Can I ask you something else?

Yeah.

Will you own up to me?

That is something I have to decide.

Dame Vanessa.

You sent for me. Yes, the minister's been making unscheduled visits.

I'm sorry? You haven't put them in the diary.

He's been going to Shephill to see a woman called Rose Dietl.

Do you know who that is? It's not my business to know.

Joy, the civil service accepts that new ministers expect to bring

fresh blood with them when they arrive,

but new blood needs to meet old blood halfway.

Am I interrupting? Not at all.

Minister. Excuse me.

I don't mean to disturb you, Vanessa,

but I was just looking over the draft of my new bill

and I'm confused.

Everything I really care about, the early parole

and the alternatives to incarceration... Yes.

...it's not there. It's just dropped off.

I don't know if I'm missing some pages

or do I detect your hand in this?

Minister, I know how deeply you feel about prison reform. Indeed I do.

But I think it's foolish to draft provisions which have no

chance of becoming legislation. Isn't that for me to decide?

This ministry takes a certain professional pride in ensuring

that our proposals are thought through, practical,

destined to end up on the statute book.

I don't see those proposals coming in to that particular category.

I'm worried that you may be working on...

...emotion. Is that such a bad thing?

In this context, yes.

If we lose faith in the idea of prison,

we move in to uncharted waters.

Dame Vanessa,

I don't know if you've noticed,

but the government is in uncharted waters.

Right now, we are looking at a no-confidence

vote in the Prime Minister.

That is what I would call uncharted waters.

I think you have been over-affected by your visits to prisons.

There's an element of personal investment.

Oh, yes, possibly, and possibly for the better.

If there were more people in this place who actually had some

intimate knowledge of what goes on inside prisons,

we might make better decisions. New policies have to be tested.

I am suggesting a pioneering trial in one or two prisons only... No!

...so that we see the effect, so that there is an evidential basis... No!

...on which any possible innovation may be based, and we make changes

that any of your possible successors will be able to defend.

Possible successors. I see what's going on.

It's foolish for civil servants not to make provision for the future.

A future that, in your case, Dame Vanessa, you devoutly desire.

Let me tell you, there is a reason why this country has never

moved in to the 21st century and it's called the civil service!

I am aware of your view, you've made that plain.

Any time any minister comes in to office with any

trace of passion or a serious idea for change,

there you are in the best traditions of your calling, ready to

throw a wet blanket over anything that might improve people's lives!

Restore the missing clauses to the bill. That's an order.

Is there anything else?

Yes.

I've had a visit and a couple of calls from the director of Shephill.

She seems to believe you have a relative in her prison. Really?

And how is that any business of yours?

Thank you, minister.

No, thank you.

And how's your boss? Bewildering.

He was furious with me for pursuing his daughter.

Now he's met her, he seems full of beans. Why?

I have no idea.

Does he thank me for getting them together? Does he buggery.

For the first time ever, I feel like he's drifting away from me,

and I don't know why.

He's up to something.

What about yours? Rattled.

She doesn't know which way to jump.

Mind you, she thinks it's going to blow over.

And is it? Oh, ask me again in a week.

Mr De Banzie asked if we'd go in round the back.

Of course. Any reason?

No reason, why do you ask?

No, I just wondered, sir.

Security, I think.

They're just over there. Right. Thank you.

Peter. Adam, good to see you. You know Trevor's joining us?

No, I did not, but always happy to see Trevor. How are you? Peter.

Well, it seems like your tormentor is dead.

Yes. Yes, I read about that in the papers.