Plot summary

The British Prime Minister and the US President infer that they want to embark on a war in the Middle East. Simon Foster, the British Minister for International Development, states off the cuff in a radio interview that "war is unforeseeable". He later tries to recant this statement to a hoard of news reporters with another statement: "to walk the road of peace, sometimes we need to be ready to climb the mountain of conflict". Both these remarks start a series of manoeuvrings on both sides of the Atlantic by both the pro- and anti-war factions in both governments. On the British side, Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed communications manager, sends Foster back to deal with the mundane details of constituent complaints, a process at which he is equally inept. On the US side, US Assistant Secretary for Diplomacy Karen Clarke and US Lieutenant General George Miller lead the anti-war faction, against chief warmonger Linton Barwick, the US Assistant Secretary for Policy. Each, with his/her entourage of staff, some of whom do not agree with their political master, will do whatever he or she needs to to achieve the desired end goal. This includes having fake meetings, having fake committees, spinning information, leaking information and documents, and doctoring documents. These manoeuvrings are most important in the lead up to the UN vote on the issue.—Huggo