The Sound of Trumpets (Rapstone Chronicles)

It has been thirty years since Leslie Titmuss - the merciless, avaricious antihero of Paradise Postponed and Titmuss Regained - first entered Parliament and began his rise to the very height of government during the Thatcher years. Times have changed in the Rapstone Valley: Lord Titmuss has been deposed, and the excess and greed of the 1980s have vanished. But when a Conservative MP dies during a bizarre, solo sex act, Titmuss orchestrates a deliciously devious return from his own political grave. An election must be held to fill the empty seat, and Titmuss decides that this is the perfect opportunity to exact his revenge on the Tories who betrayed his beloved Margaret Thatcher.
Enter New Labour hopeful Terry Flitton, a deadly accurate incarnation of the bright-eyed, principled, centrist politician only too familiar on both sides of the Atlantic. Armed with a mobile phone and a beautiful young wife called Kate, who abhors smoking, hunting, and meat eating in equal measure, Flitton is confident of victory. But even he is surprised to receive a call from Lord Titmuss suggesting a confidential meeting. Before long, and despite his own political affiliations, Titmuss takes Flitton under his wing, schooling him in the arts of political maneuvering and spin (or, more accurately, lying and cheating). For a time all goes well for Flitton. He wins the election and becomes a junior minister and rising star of the New Labour party. But enemies lurk in every corner and he soon finds himself caught between expediency and principle, power and passion - with events skidding so far out of control that he is scarcely able to make decisions himself.