Friendship is but fragile

 Friendship is but fragile

The opening scene is a Wednesday afternoon in the British house of commons. Sir Richard Ffinch was about to speak for the conservative party on defending the British hunting laws. I sat opposite him on the labor benches as the agriculture minister of the opposition party. As Sir Richard stood up to talk, all the memories of our friendship came flowing back to me like the tides cressing the beaches.That friendship formed years ago when we were in our college years, never lasted more than a year. Today I saw him as a narcissistic man without morals or compassion. His position in society had been achieved by underhand dealings and open face lies. As I looked at him across the aisle I saw an individual with all the confidence and assurance that many privileged people acquire at birth. Often they have no consideration for their fellow men except for the few who could help them forward their ambitions. His speech was a series of banalities and chiches. Last week I told the shadow prime minister I intended to disclose his skullduggery. My animosity toward him had taken a few years to develop from the firm college friendship.

The initial friendship was established at a well known private school ( known in England as a public school).  Even in these prestigious establishments there are subtle, but  distinguishable class structures. They are the privileged and aristocratic born that dominated the higher rungs and the less privileged that remain on the lower rungs. I belonged to the lower class. My father was a factory manager for a large international company. My mother was a nurse. My father insisted that I applied to the public school ( private school) close to our home. At first I argued with him saying all my friends were going to the local state college. The private school would be expensive. Also I am not sure whether my grades were good enough. I remember father replied to my concerns by assuring me my grades were fine as I had proved I was a good student. He felt that a student from a private college had a better chance of being accepted by the major universities. The outcome of our dispute was that I finally accepted an offer from the private college. Much to my father’s pleasure my acceptance included a small scholarship for my athletic abilities. My parents, bless them, gave me a small dinner party for my friends.

As I stepped into the entrance hall of the college I had a deep feeling of being out of place. I was no longer in an environment where I felt comfortable. It was like having just learnt to swim and being thrown into the deep end. It was not until I was told to report to the athletic field I started to feel more confident. I was fast, a born sprinter. That afternoon I first met Richard later to be known as Sir Richard. He was at that time the fastest short distant sprinter at the college. His specialty was the hundred and two hundred meters. As I was given a small scholarship for my athletic prowess the college coach asked me to run a timed 200 meters. I ran with an excellent time. The coach told me I was fast, with training you could be by far our best runner. At that point Richard joined the conversation and extended his hand in congratulations. This event had sealed my acceptance as a valued member of the student body.

I learnt later from my new found colleagues that Richard was one of the most admired students. He came from a privileged background. His father was a known personality in the city. His son as you might expect basked in his father’s shadow, confident and arrogant. He seemed blessed with several talents not only on the athletic field but in the classroom. I was also told he was obsessed with winning and being first to the extent he was capable of performing devious tricks to achieve his goal. He was a tall good looking youth with blond hair swept back from his forehead. During my first year we enjoyed many running training sessions together for short distance sprinters. At various inter college athletic events we always came first in these two events, the 100 and 200 meters sprint. We never actually competed with each other, which I found strange. Richard was extremely friendly with the coach. Occasionally I saw him in the school corridors and he always stopped for a friendly chat.

It was just before the summer recess that I had a chance to compete with Richard in the 100 meters. It was a very special day of the year the graduation event. A member of the royal family was coming so an usual programme had been devised to suit their schedule. The athletic part of the day only five events would be allowed. This meant Richard and I would both run in the 100 meters. This created a certain amount of excitement at the college as students often discussed who they thought was the fastest.

The day arrived with a later spring sun heralding a glorious day for the ceremonies. Royalty, parents, teachers and parents after submitting themselves to several speakers were pleased with a little light relief of a few athletic events. The 100 meters was the last event generally known as the crowning competition of most world athletic meetings. Richard and I had personal reasons for wanting to win. His was the underlying ambition to leave the college as top dog particularly as he had been accepted by Cambridge. Me for my parents and my standing amongst my fellow students for the next four years. 

At the sound of the gun I pushed back on my starting block. I heard a slight click and lost a precious two seconds before flying down the track. I lost to Richard by 1/20 of a second. The other four contenter were over seven seconds behind us. 

There were a lot of congratulations. I didn’t win. Once liberated from the crowd of admirers I went down the track to take a look at my starting block. It had been tampered with. What was I going to do? Complain? It sounds like sour graphs, so unsporting. Cause an investigation? After all Richard was the favorite. My day will come. 

When we all returned to college after the summer break I learnt the truth about the problem I had had with my starting block. A sprinting partner of Richards told me that Richard asked him to tamper with my starting block. He had spent the summer disturbed about his action. He told me Richard persuaded him by arguing that it was his right to win as he was known as the college’s champion. I shrugged my shoulders. That was a remark and action that came from the band of elitist students. But when I thought more deeply about the event it deeply annoyed me. Our supposed friendship, our hours of training together had just been wept into dust by an underhand trick. No wonder he never put himself in competing directly with me. On my graduation day I won the 100 meters in a record time. 

It must have been about twenty years later that I saw the name Richard Ffinch, industrial under secretary, listed as a speaker at a conference I was about to attend. I was now married with three children and had created a successful electronics business. I made some enquiries about Mr Ffinch to be sure it was Richard once I knew. My enquiries proved very disturbing. Yes he was the Richard I knew at college but there were many rumors attached to his name about flagent disloyalty and bribery. 

The rumors did not surprise me given my disappointment with him but what I found disturbing was that he is now the industrial under secretary for the conservative party. At the conference I did have a chance to talk to him. He hailed me as a fellow well met.

“Hello, it's been a long time. My college buddy and running partner, how are you?”

“I am well, you see me as a family man with three children and owner of a high tech company that keeps me busy. Oh! I never thanked you for fixing my starting blocks on your graduation day.”

A pale shade of gray developed over Richard’s face. He immediately said, “ Great to see you again. I must go.” He disappeared without another word. 

The next time I saw Richard was at a government cocktail party to celibate the Royal knighting of several very senior government offices from both sides of the house. He was one of the members knighted. Sir Richard Ffinch. There were again many rumors relating to his appointment. When we lined up to shake hands of congratulations he ignored the fact we knew each other.

I think I owe it to my readers to tell them why I was invited to this cocktail party. Five years ago many of my friends and colleagues working in my company proposed that I represent the town as the labor member of parliament. As I had a strong conviction about civic duty and probably a dose of self importance I decided to run for the office. Now that I was a minister I felt it was my duty to expose the various dealings of my supposed running friend in my college days.

David Nutt                                                               November 2024