In the strict alignment of factions he had voted with Thatcher, yet he told himself he was not a Thatcher man.

He had personally projected Ramsay's name one night in the hope of breaking the Bassett phalanx, but the only result was to arouse Thatcher's wrath against him.
Bassett's men believed in Bassett.

The old superstition as to his invulnerability had never more thoroughly possessed the imaginations of his adherents.

Bassett was not only himself again, but his iron grip seemed tighter than ever He was making the fight of his life, and he was beyond question a "game" fighter, the opposition newspapers that most bitterly opposed Bassett tempered their denunciations with this concession Dan fumed at this, such bosses were always game fighters, they had to be, and the readiness of Americans to admire the gameness of the Bassetts deepened his hostility.

The very use of sporting terminology in politics angered him.