Since The Cappuccino Years, Pandora has been the New Labour MP for Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and in this instalment resigns from her role as a prominent Parliamentary Private Secretary due to her disagreement with the government's invasion of Iraq in 2003, though she remains an MP. Mr Hugh Carlton-Hayes (Hughie) Adrian’s employer, always referred to as “Mr Carlton-Hayes”. He runs a small independent bookshop, where Adrian works and helps to slightly modernise. Unlike many of Adrian's acquaintances, Mr Carlton-Hayes has a very kind nature and helps Adrian out of his depression at the end of the book. A veteran of World War II, he is in his late seventies and from an upper-class background. A running joke in the book is that Adrian does not know whether Mr Carlton-Hayes' partner Leslie is a man or a woman; this is never made clear. Although they are from different backgrounds, he and Adrian share an appreciation of literature, contempt for Michael Flowers, and a similar reservation about expressing their feelings. It is revealed in Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years that Leslie is a man and implied they both left their wives for their relationship. Pauline Mole Pauline is Adrian's mother, and plays less of a role in the story than in previous books. Like Adrian, Pauline is inclined to spend using money she hasn't got. Pauline's desire to live in a converted building result in she and her husband George converting some pigsties. Adrian is frustrated by his mother and father refusing to grow old in appearance. George Mole Adrian's father. George is still unemployed, and appears to have given up resolving this. After injuring himself converting the pigsties, the balding George becomes disabled. Adrian appears to sympathise with his father more than in previous books. Other characters Poppy Flowers Poppy Flowers is the middle Flowers sister. She is described as having particularly long hair (to the point in Adrian's opinion, where you feel awkward not commenting on it). Poppy is portrayed as being a moody and volatile character. Poppy is perhaps the middle ground between her sisters. Poppy on occasion allies with Daisy in criticizing the feeble personality and lifestyle of Marigold. It is mentioned that she is a Scientologist. Animal Animal is hired by Adrian's parents to convert their pigsties into a house. Animal is a man of few words, described by Darren (a friend of Adrian's) with the words, "He can't