Chapter 43 In which Pangloss looks for support from an old ally

'Good morning, Lemming Snafu. Charles here, how may I help you?' said Charlie Windsor, answering the phone at his recruitment consultancy.
'Charlie! Good to hear your voice. Pangloss here, it's been a while, hasn't it?'
'Oh, hullo, old man. Yes, I suppose it has. What can I do for you?'
Was he imagining it, or did our illustrious Dr Pangloss detect a little nervousness in Charlie's voice? 'In a nutshell, support,' said Pangloss.'That's what I'm after. The bloody Westphalia Express is starting to abandon me. I could do with some support from some political big-hitters, but as I don't know any I thought I'd ask you as you were my election campaign manager.'
'Well it's very nice that you thought of me, but I'm not sure that would really be in my best interest at the moment. I mean, things have moved on, times have changed, and all that.'
'What do you mean?' asked Pangloss.
'Well, put a little less euphemistically, you've made a complete mess of everything and I can't really afford to be associated with you.'
'What! But you are associated with me. You helped get me elected, you wrote all that stuff supporting my Vision, we're both Tories, we're practically political Siamese twins.'
'Well, not quite. This Siamese twin hasn't got a fifty grand plus salary yet, and if I'm going to jump aboard that gravy train heading for Westminster I can't be seen cosying up to you. I read that story about your U-turn over making blind people pay for their talking books, and then another U-turn story about the parking meters. Things are looking a bit grim for you at the moment, old boy.'
'Christ, a couple of minor incidents where I carefully reconsidered the views of the Westphalians, that's all. And strictly speaking two U-turns means I'm actually heading in the original direction.'
'Look,' said Charlie, 'You know as well as I do that you only changed your mind because of all the negative publicity you were getting, and frankly, I don't think you'd know which direction you were heading in if you had a compass superglued to end of your nose. Now as for me, things are just starting to look up. I've managed to get my face in the Westphalia Express a couple of times recently by sounding off about Brian Localbloke, and I can't afford to lose any momentum by getting involved with you and your daft ideas. I tell you what, I'll give you a ring if you ever dig yourself out of the hole you're in, how's that? Now I've got to go, there's another call waiting. Bye.'