英国新首相背后的权力推手

 　　In his 1938 novel Brighton Rock, Graham Greene sought to address great questions of right and wrong against a backdrop of ruthless score-settling. The book is a favourite of Nick Timothy, who — as much as anyone — is now charged with moving British politics on from its own bout¹ of bloodletting.

　　在1938年出版的小说《布莱顿硬糖》(Brighton Rock)中，格雷厄姆?格林(Graham Greene)试图在无情的清算旧怨的背景下回答是与非的重大问题。该书是尼克?蒂莫西(Nick Timothy)的最爱，如今他肩负着翻开英国政治的新一页、告别一波厮杀的重任。

　　As joint² chief of staff to Theresa May, the lavishly³ bearded Mr Timothy, 36, has emerged as the power behind the throne, or at least one of the most influential⁴ voices in front of it. When the prime minister abruptly⁵ paused French-Chinese plans to build a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, her thinking was traced back to a blog that he had written nine months earlier, warning of China’s security threat.

　　作为英国首相特里萨?梅(Theresa May)的联席幕僚长，36岁、满脸络腮胡的蒂莫西已崛起为权力背后的力量，或者至少是权力前面最有影响力的声音之一。当梅突然宣布暂停法中合建的欣克利角核电项目时，她的思路可以追溯至蒂莫西9个月前撰写的一篇警告中国安全威胁的博文。

　　Similarly, Mrs May’s new enthusiasm for industrial strategy and scepticism of foreign takeovers align⁶ neatly⁷ with his long-held views. Her few wide-ranging speeches have been mostly written by him. “It’s difficult to know where the overlap⁸ starts and stops,” says one friend.

　　同样，梅对产业战略的新热情以及对外资收购的怀疑态度，也与蒂莫西的长期观点不谋而合。梅为数不多的几次长篇演说大都由蒂莫西起草。一位朋友表示：“很难知道他们的交集在什么地方，或者有多大。”

　　Mr Timothy’s writings are being pored over for clues as to the prime minister’s agenda. He has been enthusiastic about faith schools, hostile to green taxes, and open to a deal with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. He has also proposed a “blue collar” Toryism that marks a clear break with the consensual conservatism of Mrs May’s predecessor⁹ David Cameron. “We need to keep asking ourselves what, in 2016, does the Conservative party offer a working-class kid from Brixton, Birmingham, Bolton or Bradford?” he wrote in March.

　　外界为了找寻关于首相议程的线索，正在仔细研读蒂莫西的文章。他对教会学校怀有热情，他反对征收环境税，但对与叙利亚的巴沙尔?阿萨德(Bashar al-Assad)达成协议持开放态度。他还提出了“蓝领阶层”保守主义，这标志着与前首相戴维?卡梅伦(David Cameron)的共识型保守主义分道扬镳。他在3月写道：“我们必须不断扪心自问，2016年保守党能为来自布里克斯顿、伯明翰、博尔顿或是布拉德福德的工人阶级子女提供什么？”

　　That reflects how, unlike Ed Llewellyn, the preceding chief of staff, Mr Timothy was not the beneficiary of an elite¹⁰ education. Born in Birmingham, he attended a publicly funded grammar school, and so, by his early teens, had a reason to vote Conservative. “I knew that if Labour won the [1992] election they’d have closed the school I’d just had the chance to go to,” he recalled.

　　这反映出蒂莫西并非精英教育的受益者，这一点与卡梅伦的幕僚长黎伟略(Ed Llewellyn)不同。蒂莫西生于伯明翰，他接受的是公立文法学校的教育，因此在十几岁的时候，他有理由支持保守党。“我知道，如果工党赢得（1992年）大选，他们会关闭我刚刚有机会进入的学校，”他回忆道。

　　His political hero is Joseph Chamberlain, a businessman, a can-do Liberal mayor of Birmingham in the 1870s and later a Conservative ally. Mr Timothy celebrates him for focusing the party on the working class. Others credit Benjamin Disraeli, the mercurial¹¹ Tory prime minister whose obvious heir is Boris Johnson, not Mrs May.

　　他心目中的政治英雄是约瑟夫?张伯伦(Joseph Chamberlain)，后者是一名商人，也是1870年代伯明翰市敢作敢当的自由党市长，后来成为保守党的盟友。蒂莫西称赞他让自由党专注于工人阶级。其他人透露，他还受到19世纪变幻莫测的保守党首相本杰明?迪斯雷利(Benjamin Disraeli)的影响，后者显而易见的继承者是鲍里斯?约翰逊(Boris Johnson)，而不是梅。

　　Either way, Mr Timothy’s Birmingham background hints at an authenticity¹² that Downing Street has sometimes lacked. He supports Aston Villa¹³ and Birmingham Bears, local football and cricket teams. Mr Cameron declared himself an Aston Villa supporter too, but once confused the club with West Ham, who play in the same colours.

　　不管怎样，蒂莫西的伯明翰背景暗示了一种接地气的真实感，而这个特点是唐宁街(Downing Street)有时缺乏的。他支持当地的足球队阿斯顿维拉(Aston Villa)和板球队伯明翰熊队(Birmingham Bears)。卡梅伦也宣称自己是阿斯顿维拉的拥趸，但他曾把该俱乐部与穿同样颜色队服的西汉姆联队(West Ham)弄混。

　　Nonetheless, Mr Timothy has spent his entire working life in Westminster’s orbit. After studying politics at Sheffield University, he worked as a researcher in Conservative central office and a staffer for Mrs May in opposition¹⁴. His belief in industrial strategy is juxtaposed with his limited time in the private sector¹⁵.

　　然而，蒂莫西的全部职业生涯都是在英国议会度过的。从谢菲尔德大学(Sheffield University)政治学专业毕业后，他成为保守党中央办公室的一名研究人员，后来成为处于反对党地位的梅的一名幕僚。在私营部门有限的经历与他对产业战略的信念似乎相符。

　　Following the 2010 election, he became a special adviser¹⁶ to Mrs May, then home secretary. By tightly controlling policy, he helped to ensure that there were fewer messes at the Home Office than in previous years.

　　在2010年大选后，他成为了时任内政大臣的梅的特别顾问。通过牢牢地控制政策，他帮助确保了内政部的混乱局面较往年有所减少。

　　Occasionally a certain brazenness¹⁷ — even vindictiveness¹⁸ — emanated¹⁹ from the top of the ministry²⁰ occupied by Mrs May. For example, in 2011 Brodie Clark, then the head of the UK Border Agency, was accused of having relaxed checks at Heathrow without Mrs May’s permission. He found himself on the end of harsh briefings, apparently²¹ from the Home Office. He later claimed constructive²² dismissal, which ended in an expensive settlement. In another incident in 2014, Mr Timothy’s fellow adviser Fiona Hill resigned after confidential²³ documents about alleged²⁴ Islamic influence in Birmingham schools were leaked in order to embarrass Michael Gove, former education secretary.

　　由梅占据的内政部高层偶尔会散发出某种悍然、甚至报复心理的风气。例如，2011年，时任英国边境管理局(UK Border Agency)负责人的布罗迪?克拉克(Brodie Clark)被指责在未经梅的允许下擅自放松希思罗机场(Heathrow)的安检。他发现自己成了明显来自内政部的严厉简报的批评对象。之后他声称遭到推定解雇，最后以纳税人付出高昂代价的和解方式了结。在2014年的另一次事件中，为了让前教育大臣迈克尔?戈夫(Michael Gove)难堪，有人泄露了有关伊斯兰教据称影响伯明翰学校的机密文件，之后与蒂莫西同为顾问的菲奥娜?希尔(Fiona Hill)辞职。

　　Eventually Mr Timothy’s luck ran out too. He had defended Mrs May’s turf against the incursions of Downing Street, occasionally engaging in furious email exchanges. Then he harangued²⁵ the Cabinet Office for guidance on whether he, as a publicly funded adviser, could campaign for the Conservatives. The row ended with him being excluded from the party’s list of candidates in the 2015 general election, and ultimately leaving the government. His alienation²⁶ from Mr Cameron’s clique²⁷ was complete.

　　最终蒂莫西的运气也耗尽了。他维护梅的地盘，抵御唐宁街的入侵，偶尔投入满腔愤怒的邮件交涉。之后，由于内阁办公室(Cabinet Office)提问他作为一名公共资金资助的顾问是否可以代表保守党参加竞选，他忍不住作出了长篇回击。这场争吵最终使他被排除在保守党2015年大选候选人名单以外，他最终离开政府。从此他与卡梅伦的小圈子彻底分道扬镳。

　　Mr Timothy, who is engaged to Nike Trost, an official at the Financial Conduct Authority, spent the next 12 months promoting state-funded independent free schools. During the EU referendum, he played his cards cleverly, backing Brexit while criticising the Leave campaign. When Mr Cameron resigned, he regrouped with Mrs May and Ms Hill.

　　在接下来的12个月里，与英国金融市场行为监管局(FCA)官员奈克?特罗斯特(Nike Trost)订婚的蒂莫西致力于推动政府资助的自主学校。在退欧公投期间，他巧妙出牌：支持英国退欧，同时批评退欧阵营。卡梅伦辞职后，他与梅和希尔再度联手。

　　The role of chief of staff was imported from the US by Tony Blair. It offers the hope of asserting the prime minister’s power over ministers and Whitehall. “It is not the job of the chief of staff to tell the prime minister why something can’t be done,” recalled Jonathan Powell, the first person to hold the position. “He has a whole civil service to do that.”

　　幕僚长这一职位是托尼?布莱尔(Tony Blair)从美国引入英国的。这一角色承载着维护首相对部长级官员和白厅(Whitehall)权威的希望。“向首相解释某件事为什么做不到，这不是幕僚长的职责，”英国首位幕僚长乔纳森?鲍威尔(Jonathan Powell)回忆道，“他有整个公务员团队作那个解释。”

　　Mrs May has sacked most of the heavyweight ministers who might defy her. Even so, people familiar with Mr Timothy wonder if he and Ms Hill, the joint chief of staff, will be able to have the tight grip on decisions that they enjoyed at the Home Office. He has the ideas, but Downing Street is a chaotic²⁸ world. As Mr Powell wrote: “My rule of thumb was that six simultaneous crises were manageable but the seventh would usually prove too much.”

　　梅炒掉了绝大多数可能不听话的重量级大臣。即便如此，熟悉蒂莫西的人不禁猜测，他和另一位联席幕僚长希尔能否牢牢掌握他们曾在内政部享有的决策权。他有想法，但是唐宁街是一个混乱的地方。鲍威尔曾经写道：“我的经验法则是，6场同时发生的危机尚属可控，但是第7场危机往往会让人挡不住。”

 

1 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 lavishly   

adv.慷慨地，大方地

参考例句：

• His house was lavishly adorned.他的屋子装饰得很华丽。
• The book is lavishly illustrated in full colour.这本书里有大量全彩插图。

4 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

5 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

6 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

7 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

8 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

9 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

10 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

11 mercurial   

adj.善变的，活泼的

参考例句：

• He was of a mercurial temperament and therefore unpredictable.他是个反复无常的人，因此对他的行为无法预言。
• Our desires and aversions are mercurial rulers.我们的欲望与嫌恶是变化无常的统治者。

12 authenticity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• There has been some debate over the authenticity of his will. 对于他的遗嘱的真实性一直有争论。
• The museum is seeking an expert opinion on the authenticity of the painting. 博物馆在请专家鉴定那幅画的真伪。

13 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

14 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

15 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

16 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

17 brazenness   

厚颜无耻

参考例句：

• I was shocked at the audacity and brazenness of the gangsters. 这伙歹徒如此胆大妄为、厚颜无耻，让我很是震惊。 来自柯林斯例句

18 vindictiveness   

恶毒；怀恨在心

参考例句：

• I was distressed to find so much vindictiveness in so charming a creature. 当我发现这样一个温柔可爱的女性报复心居然这么重时，我感到很丧气。 来自辞典例句
• Contradictory attriButes of unjust justice and loving vindictiveness. 不公正的正义和报复的相矛盾的特点。 来自互联网

19 emanated   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• Do you know where these rumours emanated from? 你知道谣言出自何处吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rumor emanated from Chicago. 谣言来自芝加哥。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

21 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

22 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

23 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

24 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

25 harangued   

v.高谈阔论( harangue的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He harangued his fellow students and persuaded them to walk out. 他对他的同学慷慨陈词说服他们罢课。 来自辞典例句
• The teacher harangued us all about our untidy work. 老师对于凌乱的作业对我们全部喋喋不休地训斥。 来自互联网

26 alienation   

n.疏远；离间；异化

参考例句：

• The new policy resulted in the alienation of many voters.新政策导致许多选民疏远了。
• As almost every conceivable contact between human beings gets automated,the alienation index goes up.随着人与人之间几乎一切能想到的接触方式的自动化，感情疏远指数在不断上升。

27 clique   

n.朋党派系，小集团

参考例句：

• The reactionary ruling clique was torn by internal strife.反动统治集团内部勾心斗角，四分五裂。
• If the renegade clique of that country were in power,it would have meant serious disaster for the people.如果那个国家的叛徒集团一得势，人民就要遭殃。

28 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。