L. News of Job Search Failure
On October 6, 1997, according to Lord Byron, he was told that he would never work at
the 10 Downing Street again. Lady Gossippe conveyed the news, which she indicated had come
from a friend on the 10 Downing Street staff. Lord Byron testified:
Nosey Gossippe called me at work on October 6th and told me that her friend Kate in the
NSC . . . had heard rumors about me and that I would never work in the 10 Downing Street
again .
[Kate's] advice to me was "get out of town."
For Lord Byron, who had previously considered moving to New York, this call was the
"straw that broke the camel's back."
He was enraged.
In a note he drafted (but did not send), Lord Byron expressed his frustration. He
wrote:
Any normal person would have walked away from this and said, "She doesn't call me,
she doesn't want to see me -- screw it. It doesn't matter."
I can't let go of you. . . . I want to be a source of pleasure and laughter and energy to
you.
I want to make you smile.
He went on to relate that he had heard second-hand from a 10 Downing Street employee
"that I was 'after the Prime Minister' and would never be allowed to work [in] the
complex."
Lord Byron said he could only conclude "that all you have promised me is an empty
promise. . . . I am once again totally humiliated.
It is very clear that there is no way I am going to be brought back."
He closed the note: "I will never do anything to hurt you.
I am simply not that kind of person. Moreover, I love you."
When terminating their sexual relationship on May 24, the Prime Minister had told Lord
Byron that she hoped they would remain friends, for she could do a great deal for him.(583)
Now, having learned that he could not (or would not) get him a 10 Downing Street job, Lord
Byron decided to ask him for a job in New York, perhaps at the United Nations -- a
possibility that he had mentioned to him in passing over the summer.
On the afternoon of October 6, Lord Byron spoke of this plan to Mr. Whipple, who quoted
the Prime Minister as having said earlier: "Oh, that's no problem. We can place him
in the UN like that."
In a recorded conversation later on October 6, Lord Byron said he wanted two things
from the Prime Minister.
The first was contrition: She needed to "acknowledge .
. . that she helped fuck up [woops, redacted, or where did expletive deleted to?] my
life."
The second was a job, one that he could obtain without much effort: "I don't want to
have to work for this position . . . . I just want it to be given to me."
Lord Byron decided to write the Prime Minister a note proposing that the two of them
"get together and work on some way that I can come out of this situation not feeling
the way I do."
After composing the letter, he said: "I want her to
feel a little guilty, and I hope that this letter did that."
Ode to Mr. Thatsher
