chunk: After the vote, George informs Karen that he isn't going to resign now that the war is happening, infuriating her. Simon realises his resignation from the Cabinet is inevitable, but before he gets the chance to do so Malcolmâapparently on the behalf of the Prime Ministerâfires him over his failure to prevent the collapse of Paul's wall, which he managed to make a headline on BBC News. He also tells Simon that he cannot take any sort of stand on the war anymore, as he has contradicted himself too many times. Simon is reduced to mundane constituency business. A new Minister for International Development arrives at the office.