Simon Kerslake
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Simon Kerslake is a fictional character in the political novel First Among Equals, by Jeffrey Archer. He is a British Conservative Party politician who served under Prime Ministers Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher.There is a certain amount of autobiographical influence in the chararcter, as he shares Archer's politics, sporting history and a financial scandal for which he is blameless but which threatens his political career.
[edit] Personal life
Simon is a devoted family man with a wife (a physician) and two sons. His desire to look after his family nearly costs him his political career in the British House of Commons; anxious to give his family the lifestyle he felt they desired, he makes some risky investments, accumulates a lot of debt and only narrowly avoids bankruptcy.
[edit] Political career
Kerslake is a centrist Tory, hard-working and honourable (despite his poor business judgment).
With only a few political missteps, Kerslake rises steadily through the Conservative Party during his 30-year career. He is badly injured, by an IRA bomb while he serving as secretary of state for Northern Ireland. He serves in a number of other Cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Defense.
Simon's biggest rival is Charles Gurney Seymour, an aristocratic Tory MP who does everything he can to stymie and sidetrack him. Simon narrowly survives each attempt to bring him down, and ultimately defeats him in a closely-fought contest to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party.
The novel culminates in an extremely close parliamentary election in 1991 (the novel was published in 1984). Labour Party leader Raymond Gould becomes Prime Minister in the original British edition of the novel, which ends with King Charles III inviting him to Buckingham Palace and asking him to form a government. However, in the U.S. edition , Kerslake becomes Prime Minister.
