The Final Cut

The Final Cut
Michael Dobbs

Francis Urquhart’s eventful career as Prime Minister comes to a spectacular end in the final volume in the Francis Urquhart trilogy – now reissued in a new cover.He schemed his way to power in ‘House of Cards’ and had a memorable battle of wills with the new king in ‘To Play the King’. Now Francis Urquhart is about to take his place in the record books as the longest-serving Prime Minister this century. Yet it seems the public is tiring of him at last, and the movement to force him from power is growing. But Urquhart is not yet ready to be driven from office. If the public demand new blood, that is precisely what he will give them…Francis Urquhart goes out in a blaze of glory in this final volume in the irresistible story of the most memorable politician of the decade.

MICHAEL DOBBS

THE FINAL CUT

Copyright (#u4fa29f1c-e1ee-54d9-9341-e3474d619253)

This is entirely a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1995

Copyright © Michael Dobbs 1995, 2014

Michael Dobbs asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com (http://www.Shutterstock.com/)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780006477099

Ebook Edition © MAY 2015 © ISBN: 9780007405978

Version: 2017-10-10

Praise for The Final Cut:

‘It’s that man again…in Francis Urquhart he has created a true political icon. Dobbs lays fair claim to being the Quentin Tarantino of pulp fiction’

Sunday Times

‘A triumphant return…The action is unflagging, the characterization razor sharp, the satirical barbs at politics and politicians unfailingly accurate…What a brilliant creation FU is’

Sunday Telegraph

For David, Peter and Linda. The Family Dobbs.

‘That we shall die, we know; ’tis but the time

And drawing days out, that men stand upon.’

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Contents

Cover (#u2662491d-c963-5c5b-a82d-265b6222e794)

Title Page (#u0e0a07da-8be0-5157-a587-a081b897d4f2)

Copyright (#u9a627431-64f7-5d76-bfec-6149cd127758)

Praise (#ue5d8e126-a92a-58a2-9488-c8414baf2abe)

Dedication (#ua45da6c2-2c31-5b54-a6bc-a0185ff2689e)

Epigraph (#u29562354-407e-5f8c-8dcb-10a9842bc4ef)

Author’s Note (#ua7f68345-3557-58cd-9929-7bf9aaa5b4a1)

Prologue (#udb45588f-f09b-5884-85fa-4dab96bebaa4)

Chapter One (#u85dc7aaf-c862-5c0a-83e7-9c39996aba29)

Chapter Two (#u5f38e57f-82cf-5523-a903-b52c47119d07)

Chapter Three (#u5839927f-c20c-5e62-bcce-b239e6f92c2e)

Chapter Four (#uf7cade7d-fe23-5be2-9f8c-9d642a418b7a)

Chapter Five (#u0c9cdfa0-1c0c-5432-874b-1f1ea594aaf9)

Chapter Six (#u02b08ebb-0cf9-5780-ace6-2919189f8cee)

Chapter Seven (#u45e51cb2-2bc6-5d3b-948d-4564e1b1710a)

Chapter Eight (#uf0e74dcd-ee9b-50a4-a696-2436622b31ae)

Chapter Nine (#uac9d4035-f6c5-5e9d-9d4e-5759f3d2c871)

Chapter Ten (#u5e324f8f-c50c-59a6-8c9c-d21031373eef)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)