Having sacked his Parliamentary Private Secretary, Urquhart casts about for a replacement. At the suggestion of Geoffrey Booza Pitt he gives serious consideration to backbench MP Claire Carlsen, despite the fact that she is carrying on an affair with Foreign Secretary Tom Makepeace. Claire is clearly playing both sides of the fence to ensure her own place in the hierarchy, regardless of what the future may hold.

Having resigned as Foreign Secretary, Makepeace launches a blistering attack in the House of Commons directed not only at the government in general but at the Prime Minister in particular. He then moves across the aisle to sit on the opposition benches. For his part, Urquhart takes it all in stride quite sure of his position and his ability to retain the leadership of the party.

Not having secured enough votes on the first ballot to retain the party leadership, Urquhart plots to not only keep him in place as PM but to win the next general election. He is desperate to surpass Margaret Thatcher's length of service and decides that to emulate her is likely the best approach: starting a war in Cyprus, his own little Falklands, as he describes it to his wife.