Chapter 32

Campaigning in Scotland for the General elections proved to be rewarding for those representing the Scottish National Party. There had been a huge public outcry when the Ministers had been arrested and sentiment was still very much on their side.

The Scots had voted in the referendum for independence and the UK Prime Minister had tried to take that away from them. Scottish voters scented blood, Conservative Party blood.

There was a real sense of occasion on the day of the election. SNP activists were predicting a significant rise in the number of seats the party was going to win. Donnie remained with Alex Salmond again, putting up with the late night/early morning TV shows interviews as the results started to filter through from the various constituencies.

There are 650 seats in the Westminster Parliament, fifty-nine of them in Scotland. As each result came in, it was clear that the SNP had changed the face of politics in the country. A traditional Labour party stronghold, Scotland still normally had some MPs from each of the main parties. By the time this election was fully counted, there were thirty-eight SNP Members of Parliament and twenty-one Labour. Scotland was a Conservative and Lib Dem free zone!

The picture in Wales was much the same, with the Conservatives only hanging onto one seat and the Lib Dems being wiped out – mostly to the benefit of the Welsh Nationalists.

Across England it was different again. The Conservatives had actually won enough seats to have an overall increase of one over their previous total, giving them 307 MPs. The Lib Dems had dropped to only 9 seats and the other big surprise was that the British National Party had gained twenty-six seats.

The electorate in England had apparently heard enough whinging from the Scots and that had played in the Conservatives favour. There had also been a sharp surge in support for right-wing policies, which had benefited both the Conservatives and the BNP.

The First Minister was hugely disappointed. He had hoped to gain enough seats to hold the balance of power at Westminster. His ideal outcome would have been to be able to form a coalition government with Labour, but that clearly wasn't going to happen.

"This is a nightmare scenario," he told Donnie. "It's likely that the Conservatives will go into coalition with the BNP. That can't be good news for Scotland. In fact, what are the odds that I'm arrested again?"

Donnie could see the potential problems ahead. If the Conservatives and the BNP did form a coalition, then there would be the ridiculous position where the UK Government did not have a single MP in Scotland. That could hardly be described as a representative government and spelled disaster in terms of future policy.

"The Scottish public aren't going to accept that," said Donnie. "It's bad enough that the government will be made up of solely English MPs, but our people will not be able to stomach the idea of the fascist BNP in power."

Alex Salmond nodded in agreement.

"I think you're right, but the makeup of the UK Government actually helps us in a way," he said. "Any legitimate claim they might have had to have a mandate to rule in Scotland is now totally gone. Not a single MP from Scotland in the government. Westminster can now be seen for what it really is, an English Parliament."

"So we'll press ahead with the legislation in the Scottish Parliament then?" Donnie asked.

"Absolutely, in fact we need to try and speed it up before the English decide to do something stupid," confirmed the FM.

"I was thinking about the charges of treason," said Donnie. "You've always planned that an independent Scotland would still retain the Queen as a constitutional monarch; why not ask for an audience to discuss that with her? If you're in discussions with the Queen, wouldn't it be more difficult to accuse you of treason?"

The First Minister's eyes lit up with delight.

"That's a great idea, Donnie! Why didn't I think of it? You're right of course; we are intending to ask the Queen to remain as Scotland's monarch. It would be entirely legitimate to ask for an audience to discuss that."

October and November had proven to be colder than even the previous two years and snowfall was a regular occurrence. Donnie was still keeping track of the shrinkage in the growing season and all of the figures suggested that 2012 had been shorter again.

As predicted, the harvest across the UK had been extremely poor and the big supermarkets were having to pay inflated prices to import goods that they would normally have sourced at home. As a result, prices for goods on the shelves soared and in some cases items just disappeared from circulation altogether.

Farmers reported that they had made significant losses for the year and were angry when their pleas for some kind of subsidy fell on deaf ears. One current affairs programme presented evidence that a record number of farmers were turning to other sources of income. They predicted a massive fall in the number of working farms across the UK.

With wages frozen or being reduced, the ordinary man and woman in the street were struggling to afford even the essentials of life.

The oil fields in the Middle East were still burning rather than producing barrels of oil, so the cost of electricity, gas and fuel for cars had gone through the roof. With colder weather, there was a greater demand for heating, but people didn't have enough money to pay for it. The term 'fuel poverty' was being used more and more and reports started to come in of pensioners literally dying from hypothermia.

Now, with food prices rising so high, many people were really going hungry.

As some of the civil servants had been predicting, the National Health Service was also running very short of money. Hospitals used up a huge amount of electricity and fuel for heating not to mention food costs for their patients. With health budgets cut significantly by the UK Government, these additional pressures meant that some things just had to be cut.

Waiting times for various operations lengthened as doctors tried to reduce costs by scheduling fewer surgeries. An increase in prescription costs in England helped offset some of the costs of the drugs bill, but of course in Scotland and Wales, the devolved governments had introduced free prescriptions so that meant the health budget was being squeezed even further in those countries. The other side of the coin was that some people in England were simply not collecting their prescriptions because they couldn't afford the cost.

One of the things to be cut to try and balance health budgets was the national programme of flu immunisation. There was an immediate and sad outcome from that, as a seasonal flu epidemic began to spread across the UK and the death toll began to climb. The worst hit were the elderly and those most at risk because of other conditions like asthma or heart problems. Thousands died.

Donnie was receiving e-mails now from many of those who had attended the clan gathering, so he was aware that it wasn't just the UK that was suffering, similar conditions existed in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

"It's difficult to blame them," Douglas observed.

He was watching the evening news with Donnie and the reports were of further break-ins on supermarkets. Normally law-abiding folk were desperately trying to feed their families.

"We're doing all that we can to help," said Donnie.

He was referring to the programme that he had put in place to sell the extra produce from Ardbrecknish at farmer's markets. There wasn't a lot to go round though and the cheap prices had almost caused riots at several locations as crowds fought to be at the head of the queue.

Donnie had quickly scrapped that idea and was now delivering fresh produce to as many schools, orphanages and local hospitals as he could supply instead.

"I still don't understand why the SNP haven't taken up your approach to farming," said Douglas. "It would make a huge difference if we could see the whole of Scotland adopting it."

"It's still the same old problem, Dad," Donnie sighed. "There isn't enough money for the building work or for the energy costs required to run the growing lights."

"It's short-sighted if you ask me," said Douglas. "You mark my words; this is only going to get worse. When people are hungry, really hungry, then they'll do desperate things. Breaking in to the odd supermarket is going to be the least of our problems."

That view was one supported by Lizzie. She had moved north to live at Ardbrecknish with her new family and they had discovered that she was a psychology major. Her expertise was in understanding how people reacted in certain circumstances and she was suggesting that people would begin to take matters into their own hands if food shortages continued.

Lizzie was soaking her feet in a bowl of warm water, trying to ease the pain of the blisters she had developed after her latest fitness training session with Archie and the team she had been assigned to.

"Your Dad's right," she said. "Food is a basic necessity. If people are denied it for more than a few days they will take extreme measures to stay alive."

"How are your feet?" asked Donnie.

"I'll survive, which is more than can be said for some," said Lizzie, with obvious reference to the food crisis and the flu epidemic.

"How much longer have we got to suffer Archie's form of hell?" asked Donnie, himself fresh from rifle practice.

"Another six weeks unless we get more snow and that delays things," Lizzie answered. "I still don't know why I need to learn how to be a soldier!"

"If those people you're talking about decide that they can get food from here, you might be glad you know how to defend yourself," Donnie suggested.

Lizzie had to consider that and realised the truth of Donnie's words.

Eric Black was putting the finishing touches to the next edition of the McGregor Clan newsletter. He noticed the little icon flashing at the bottom of his screen that indicated one of his 'alarms' had been triggered.

Clicking on the icon, Eric saw that the alarm was from the MI5 IT system. He typed in the necessary commands to bring up his link and read the latest information. That got him reaching for his phone.

"Donnie? Are you able to come by my place?" he asked.

"Sure, is it urgent?"

"I would say so," Eric confirmed.

"Okay, I'm on my way."

Ten minutes later Donnie appeared and Eric simply pointed to his screen. Donnie leaned over to read what Eric had called up.

From: Malloy
To: Station Heads
Subject: Operation Flaming Sword

Approval has been given for Operation Flaming Sword to proceed. We have responsibility for conducting the raids in Scotland. All parameters are as we have planned. Include the option for Tartan Terror. The timetable begins from 02:00 today. Please confirm operational readiness. Malloy

"What is Operation Flaming Sword then?" asked Donnie.

"I've seen it mentioned before, but it was in relation to those times when the army was used to deal with rioting in the English cities – you remember them?" asked Eric.

The explanation puzzled Donnie.

"But that was fighting between BNP activists and Muslims in places like Leeds and Preston, what has that got to do with Scotland? And why am I being included?" he asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say those operations were used as cover for something else," said Eric.

"Like what?" asked Donnie.

"Like maybe picking up suspected terrorists?" suggested Eric. "There's been a heck of a lot of activity on here surrounding that Imam Assam guy. They've been expending a lot of man hours keeping tabs on him and those connected to him. I think Malloy still suspects that you are connected somehow."

"I think that's a bit of a reach," said Donnie.

"Didn't you say before that there has been a big migration of Muslims out of England and into Scotland?" asked Eric. "Maybe some of the people who have come north have been on MI5's radar?"

"It's possible I suppose," agreed Donnie. "I still don't like the fact that he's targeting me again. If he has me under observation then he knows I'm here at Ardbrecknish. That puts everyone else at risk too."

Once again he was caught in a dilemma. He knew that the First Minister would be unhappy about MI5 conducting operations in Scotland without his knowledge, but he couldn't alert him without revealing that he had access to confidential information. He would also have to decide what to do about Malloy's plans to seemingly have him arrested too.

"We can't tell from this when the raids are going to take place," Donnie observed.

"No, but they sound pretty imminent," Eric replied.

"Okay. Could you keep an eye on this and let me know if anything else comes up?" asked Donnie.

Eric nodded his agreement just as Donnie's mobile phone rang.

"What now?" groaned Donnie, as he fished the iPhone from his pocket.

"Donnie? It's Archie."

"What can I do for you, Archie?"

"Nothing, I'm just calling to let you know that one of our delivery vans was attacked this afternoon."

"Attacked! Are you serious?"

"Very serious. Dave Lawrence was driving it and he was taking food to the Royal Alexandria Hospital. When he pulled into the delivery bay six men attacked him and drove off in the van. We've found it abandoned in Greenock, but needless to say it was empty."

Donnie frowned and scratched his head.

"Should we suspend any further deliveries?" he asked.

"We certainly need to review what we're doing. We were lucky this time; Dave can look after himself so he's only got a few cuts and bruises. Someone else could have been badly injured."

"Okay, come over to my house when you get back and we can talk about what to do," suggested Donnie.

"Will do."

Eric was giving Donnie a look that suggested he would like to know what was going on.

"It was Archie," Donnie explained. "One of our delivery vans was attacked and the food stolen."

"I guess it was only a matter of time," said Eric. "Other distributors are being attacked on a regular basis. Once people spot a pattern to food deliveries they become vulnerable. People are getting desperate out there."

"Well, we'll have to think about how we have safeguard out people from now on," said Donnie.

Archie arrived at Donnie's house that night to discuss how they could change their approach to food deliveries to avoid any further attacks. There were a number of options to be considered, ranging from suspending the deliveries altogether through to the possibility of having armed guards accompany each delivery.

"It would a real pity if we had to stop this work," said Donnie. "We are making a real difference to quite a lot of people, children in particular."

"I agree," said Archie. "And in any event, if we don't donate the food to these places, what will we do with it? We've already tried to sell it on and that caused its own difficulties."

"I think the option of having armed guards is going too far, I'm not even sure it would be legal," Donnie observed.

"Again, I agree," said Archie. "What would happen if we actually fired on someone who tried to steal the food? No, I think there are too many potential issues with such an approach. How about working with the administrators at the schools and hospitals to introduce some variation to what we do?"

"In what way?" asked Donnie.

"Well, when you fall into a routine you give other people the opportunity to predict and plan an attack," Archie explained. "If we vary the times we deliver and the point we deliver to, that might make it more difficult for anyone to hit us."

"But isn't that going to make it difficult for the schools and hospitals to plan how they are going to use the stuff?" asked Donnie.

"Probably, but if the alternative is that they don't get anything because it's been stolen, I think they'll thole it," Archie argued.

"Okay, let's go with that then," agreed Donnie. "I need to talk to you about something else."

It became clear that Archie had already visited Eric before coming to see Donnie.

"Is this about the MI5 thing?" he asked.

"Yeh, I'm a wee bit worried about MI5 coming onto the site here to arrest me," said Donnie. "There's the armoury to worry about, but I'm sure Beira will hide it. I don't think I've got anything to worry about and I'm certainly not going to run from them. It would be best to avoid any risk here though, so I was planning on going back to Bridge-of-Allan and letting them pick me up there."