The Ballot Author:Robert Gaines, Rowland Summerscales Parliament is dissolved, the General Election campaign is imminent. News of a 1:00 a.m. cabinet meeting is leaked to Edwin Battle, notorious political columnist, who, on arrival at No. 10, discovers the Labour Prime Minister is dead. — A hasty alliance created by the Chief Whip, Joe Hepworth, pushed through a plan to telescope a leadership ballot... more » into 48 hours. This gives Hepworth time to deploy the resources of his office to promote the candidature of his political pupil, Pam Bruce. The other major contender is Tom Westwood, the Party's most respected left winger.
A vicious struggle follows which threatens to tear the Labour Party apart. No holds are barred in the bid for power and Edwin Battle is fed by both sides with sordid details of sexual and political indiscretions which he ruthlessly exploits in a series of front page scoops.
The Ballot is a compelling story of tension and conflict between the sexes, between Fleet Street and Westminster, and between politicians of the same Party, sowing seeds of its own destruction.« less