At that moment in the wealthy suburb of North Park, 'located', as the estate agent had it, 'between the natural advantages of Heath and Green', Sophie Topping had just made a cup of tea for herself and her husband Lance, who was working in his study. He had done this every Sunday afternoon since becoming an MP in the recent bi-election. Sophie wasn't sure how he could concentrate on constituency paperwork with the football blasting out from the television in the corner and she suspected that he sometimes nodded off to the excited yet soporific commentary. For fear of discovering him slumped with his mouth open, she always knocked before taking in his tea.
'I'm just finalising the places for Saturday', she said, handing him a blue china cup with what he called 'builders' tea in it.
'What?' he said
'The big dinner'
'God, yes. I'd quite forgotten,' said Lance. 'All under control?'
'Yes I think it'll be a night to remember'
Sophie retired to her desk and looked at the list of names she had printed out from her computer. At first, she'd meant to have an intimate evening with a few powerful people ... but when she got down to it, there seemed no end to the number of important people she and Lance knew - and wanted the leader to know they knew.