Game Ten

Game Ten (Simon & Shuster 1994) started from the idea that something strange might have happened in the 1992 General Election when the nation went to bed at the end of polling day with exit polls suggesting a Labour victory, to wake up to the news of a Tory majority after unexpected swings in a small number of marginal seats. The Intelligence writer, James Rusbridger, later found dead in odd circumstances, told me that our secret ballot was not as sacrosanct as we believe. He claimed knowledge of past elections when the intelligence services had been able to identify those who voted for candidates they regarded as on the extreme left. He thought it quite possible that the election's outcome could have been manipulated by the addition of relatively small numbers of ballot papers in those key marginals. Enter Freedom's Friends, a US-coordinated group of multinational businessmen with an interest in manipulating world politics to their advantage.

Once again, the central character is a TV journalist, Claire Merrick who finds herself turning from hunter to hunted with the police and the darker forces of Freedom's Friends on her heels. Researching a rocky headland also featured in the writing of this book. I had decided to set the showdown on the Mull of Kintyre. Loading two of my children and a tent into the car, we set off to explore it. On the way, the tent was destroyed by a Scottish tempest. The following day, Kintyre was hidden in the thickest fog imaginable. We could have been back home for all the good it was. Soaked and seeking refuge, we took shelter in the house of an old friend fifty miles away. Her walls were covered in a huge collage of photographs taken by her partner. 'What's that?' I asked, suspecting I knew the answer. 'It's his latest project,' she said. 'The Mull of Kintyre from all angles.' Perfect.