[regal orchestral music plays] [host] Tell the People.

Tell them on television.

Questions in the public mind, answered by people in the public eye.

Good evening.

A few minutes ago, the Prime Minister, The Right Honorable Harold MacMillan, came to Television House, and he's here now in the ITN studio.

But why should the public, on this issue, with regards to the future of the Royal Navy, believe you-- a transient, uh, here-today and, if I may say so, gone-tomorrow politician-- rather than a senior officer of many years' experience?

I'm sorry, I'm fed up with this interview.

Ridiculous!

[host] Thank you, Mr.

Nott.

It's a straight yes-or-no question.

You can put the question.

I will give you an answer.

It's a straight yes-or-no answer.

It may be the question, but it's not the way I choose to answer it.

[reporter] The Prime Minister's just arrived in the last few seconds.

Morning, Prime Minister, would you come on Good Morning Britain, Prime Minister?

[bleep] [gasping] [upbeat pop music playing] [woman] Morning-morning, Brian, how are we?

Fine, thank you, Pam, good morning.

[Pam] Sleepless night, was it?

Better use my thick brush, eh?

[Pam] I've always quite liked her.

Well, how sort of single-minded she is, anyway.

I can't remember, have you interviewed her before?

Oh, yes, many times, over the years.

[man] Brian?

She'll have seen this too, of course.

She'll come out fighting now, don't you think?

Brian.

What have you decided, the, uh, strategy?

What are you going to do?

[dramatic music plays] Look, bad timing, that's all.

And it's a full 45 minutes, remember?

He's your favorite for a reason, and he's a friend.

Be a walk in the park.

[crew member] Just this way, please, Prime Minister.

Margaret, how are you?

Well, Brian, always well.

Now, I expect you'll be starting off with you-know-who and you-know-what... Hello, good morning.

...but I do hope we can then move on to something of more substance, like we usually do.

[sighs] He seems, dare I say it, nervous, and he's never nervous.

It's making me nervous.

Can you stop saying "nervous"?

[cameraman] Five, four, three, two... Good afternoon.

Nigel Lawson's shock resignation has plunged the Prime Minister into the most serious political crisis of her career.

Prime Minister, many people, including many of your supporters, blame you for the resignation.

Now, how you respond to these claims may be of crucial significance for you, personally, and for your government.

So, I put it to you, are you to blame?

[dramatic music builds] [Brian] I put this to our Chancellor.

There's no reason he has to answer it, -I'm not that important.

-[laughter] But I'm afraid I cannot vote with my own government on this order.

I regret it, but I cannot do so.

These are old solutions for an increasingly tired country, desperate to feel new and young again.

Many of my, uh, honorable friends, uh, whose conscience and experience are not less than mine and, in many cases, are greater, will vote for the government.

I respect their decision, as they will respect mine.

[man] Could he be our man?

My judgment is that we are at the end of our tether.

-[murmurs, groans] -[man] The member for Dover.

[MP] My honorable friend makes some exceptional points, and I believe has captured -the despair of this nation.

-[murmurs, groans] Where are the answers in this government's proposals to the challenges we face?

Nowhere.

Inflation, nowhere.

Stagnation, nowhere.

-Unemployment, nowhere.

-[murmurs of agreement] [upbeat rock music plays] [police sirens blaring] -Brian Walden, for David Cox.

-Oh, yes, ninth floor.

Well, what can I say?

London.

Weekend.

Television.

Three of the most glamorous things there are.

But, uh, if we do, uh, collectively decide to give this a go, I'd have to stand down.

An MP with a regular spot on television, that would be... -I mean, wouldn't that be...?

-Unethical?

Yes.

Ah.

And, uh, how would that, you know, be, giving that all up?

Well, it's no secret I'm no fan of the direction the Labour Party is heading.

Completely at the mercy of the unions, all these North London Marxist types, not the broader tradition I came from.

Uh, in fact, uh, to be honest, I don't think I should ever have been an MP at all.

Working-class lad at Oxford, I was flattered into it.

You realize pretty quickly, uh, just how little an impact, as an individual, you can have.

Weekend World is a unique show at LWT.

They pretty much leave us alone to do what we do.

And, uh, what is it you think you do, my old son?

A long-form, forensic interview, to help facilitate mass comprehension.

Mass comprehension?

My, oh, my!

In other words, helping folk understand -what the hell is going on?

-When we came on air, years ago, we were, and still are, the only political program to put a single interviewee through their paces for an entire show.

And we do that on the same channel, and in between repeats of Upstairs, Downstairs, and wrestlers knocking ten bells of shit out of one another for Weekend Sport, because we believe the political interview ought to play a part in a popular audience's understanding of the world they live in.

Very good, nicely pitched.

And as regards you and, uh, current affairs?

No affairs, currently.

I'm very faithful to my wife, at present.

Why, what have you heard?

-This is, uh, your third wife?

-[Brian sighs] But, you know, some gobby bloke with a common-as-muck Midlands accent, when you think of The News, how it sounds... doesn't sound like me.

No, but you sound like our audience.

[laughs] Well, I suppose when you think about it, Shakespeare, the great vendor of the English language, he was a Brummie, wasn't he?

In fact, he probably said those lines just like this.

What, "Romeo, Romeo"?

-"Wherefore art thou Romeo?"

-[chuckling] [Brian] I'll see you around, gentlemen.

So, Brian, this is, uh, the rest of the production team.

Hello.

Hello.

You look young.

What's your story?

I, uh... I did a stint at BBC Birmingham, actually, -your neck of the... -Oh.

They have this South Asian Programming Unit there now.

Wonderful.

Don't tell me you're a West Bromwich Albion fan?

No, wait, hold the line.

Uh, seventh this year in the First Division.

Before that, third in the Second, and then sixth, and then eighth.

Photographic memory.

Test me on anything, Sue.

Anything.

What's your passion?

Barry Manilow, and meetings starting on time.

You're skeptical, John.

Mm.

It's my job to be skeptical of politicians.

And here we are, inviting one into our team.

Well, they told us to shake things up.

He was thought of as a future party leader once.

You don't think he'll be lightweight?

Politicians always, at some level, -just want to be liked.

-If I've learned one thing, it's that a show like this, you're only ever one rating's dip, one whiff of an audience losing interest before... Well... He's got something.

We take the risk.

Your first guest should be someone quite, uh, loud.

Draw in some press.

A political titan.

Maybe Roy Jenkins, Denis Healey, Airey Neave, even Ted Heath.

Already done him, done him twice, won't do it and, oh, my Christ, do you want people to fall asleep?

I have a suggestion, actually.

That's a blank piece of paper.

It is.

I was hoping for a dramatic reveal.

I stand corrected.

Right, here we go.

Margaret Thatcher?

Yes.

Interview the Leader of the Opposition, while she's still relatively green.

Her other interviews haven't been hugely illuminating.

-[sighs] -To me, she trots out other people's philosophies.

Keith Joseph, uh, monetarism, libertarianism, but I'm not sure there's much going on there, apart from her... uh, being... Oh, right, the only thing going for her is that she's a woman.

-No, no, I... -Although... [clears throat] Although that is interesting, I think people are missing something.

Uh, she was pretty ruthless in deposing her predecessor.

So, why?

What does she want?

What is this change she's hoping to bring?

Isn't that worth finding out?

[upbeat rock music plays] I think there's a bigger agenda here.

I think that's... I don't think that's the right direction to go down.

All thoughts are welcome.

Polices.

We're not saying she's in favor... [overlapping conversation] Margaret Thatcher, uh, since you became leader of your party, you have broken the tradition, insofar as... you no longer seek the conciliatory consensus that your predecessors sought.

In other words, you are uncouth-- [rock music continues] [crew member] Five minutes to air.

[crew members speaking indistinctly] Brian... ...or should that be Mr.

Walden?

Forgive me.

Mrs.

Thatcher.

I'd heard rumors that you were thinking of crossing the floor to us, once upon a time, but now you've gone further, you've crossed the river instead!

[laughs] Yes.

Well, it's all... It's all very new.

Well, it still is to me too, so... You are new and I am new.

Excuse me, Mr.

Walden, Mrs.

Thatcher, if you'd like to come this way, please.

Mr.

Walden... -Where do you want me?

-Mrs.

Thatcher, across there.

[man] OK, if we go in for tight on camera one, please.

-[woman] On one... -Yeah.

Tiny bit tighter... Yeah, that looks good.

Good.

Camera three, wide as well.

-OK.

Brian, can you hear me?

-God, that's loud!

Will you be doing that the whole time?

So, you'll be all the way over there?

Oh, yes.

No, um... It's just a sort of a funky idea that they're trying out for the opening.

On camera, it'll look as if we're facing each other, but in different aspects.

So, if you face, and I face, then... You see?

On the monitor?

Ah, yes.

[crew member] Recording beginning in five, four, three, two, one... Roll credits.

[title music plays] [music continues] Hello, and good morning.

One of the most urgent questions to which everyone wants an answer is, if we vote Margaret Thatcher into Number Ten at the next election, will we be voting for a disastrous and futile confrontation between the government and the unions?

Today, on Weekend World, we will try and answer that question.

First, though, the news headlines, with Gordon Honeycombe.

[Gordon] There's more conjecture about Middle East peace moves after the unexpected return to Israel last night from Paris of the Israeli Foreign Secretary, Mr.

Dayan.

And the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr.

Fahmi, has left Cairo for France.

He's also on his way to America, with Egyptian proposals for a Middle East settlement.

More than 40 fire bombs... All right, main interview.

Good luck, Brian.

In speeches up and down the country, Mrs.

Thatcher has often startled her audiences.

Instead of the reassurance we've come to expect from Conservative leaders, Mrs.

Thatcher conveyed a sense of imminent danger.

There's a reason Mrs.

Thatcher sounds more militant than other post-war leaders.

They've avoided identifying the party too closely with any particular doctrine because they've been afraid that ideology costs votes.

Today, we're not going to consider whether those policies are, in themselves, good or bad for Britain but, instead, try to work out whether she would overcome the opposition she's bound to run into.

So, we've indulged in a little crystal-ball gazing, with our own scenario of what could happen if she got in to Number Ten.

Margaret Thatcher comes to power after a close-run general election.

Immediately, Mrs.

Thatcher cuts taxes and announces large reductions in public spending.

A national ballot of miners comes out overwhelmingly in favor of strike action.

So, here we are, two Midlanders, East and West.

Oh, yes.

And you went to Oxford, too?

-On a scholarship, yes.

-Me, too.

Wouldn't have been able to go otherwise.

No, no, of course.

Although it did come with an awful lot of hard work, of course.

Oh, yes.

That was drilled into me.

-Hard work, just rewards.

-Five, four, three, two, one... So, what would Mrs.

Thatcher do if it came to the crunch?

Thank you for joining us, Mrs.

Thatcher.

Do you see yourself, as we see you, as a figure who wants to substantially change a lot of things in our society, who wants to roll back to a more individualistic sort of society?

I think government has got into far too many areas, and government really has tried to stop a good deal of individual liberty.

Now, I want to roll back those areas of decision, both from people and businesses.

That's not government's job.

-Well... -One moment.

I want to be absolutely clear.

You see, the whole difference between our society and that of the United States and Germany is that they've grown because they've got incentives.

The incentives we haven't had.

And I'm going to say people will respond to those incentives, and a Socialist government cannot give those incentives, because all of its philosophy, all of its ideology... Brian, do challenge her.

She's an ideologue, a radical.

But governments spend better when leaving the money with people, and that is why they're coming to us, and not to them.

Uh, well, it's a vision.

Uh, but, uh, governments aren't conducted on visions, are they?

Oh, no, no, no.

It's a reality.

I enjoyed that.

I don't know why some people fear this whole, you know, the medium.

I see these conversations as opportunities.

Well, then, we should do it again sometime.

Uh, I think you're that way, we're this.

-Right.

Well, goodbye, then.

-Goodbye.

Bye.

Uh-oh, David's not saying anything.

Come, dear leader.

Oh, great Strategos, -what mighty thoughts?

-You went too easy on her.

You gave her all that space to postulate.

Don't our audience want to hear her postulate?

The function of a political interview isn't to provide a platform for the politician... So they make a judgment about her.

...it's to break apart the platform.

Interesting one, isn't he, Bernard?

Labour man, of course, but... Well, with his background, like mine, you take the Labour Party like your mother's milk.

One of those aspirational working classes we have to win over.

She was good.

Answers the question.

Full of substance.

Full to bursting.

I've practically got indigestion.

Well, I'm sorry, but I thought it was a disaster.

Well, he's a journalist, at the end of the day.

Out for himself, they all are.

Yes, these people must always be kept at arm's length.

Mm.

[reporter] So, we should be seeing Mrs.

Thatcher next, among jubilant party workers.

Mrs.

Thatcher comes out, dressed in the most brilliant blue.

[reporter] Mrs.

Thatcher, are you still cautiously optimistic?

We're reserving judgment, but, yes, optimistic, based on the poll.

Will it be a landslide, Mrs.

Thatcher?

Too early to tell.

[reporter] Well, if ever anyone looked like a winner, Mrs.

Thatcher looks like a winner this evening, as she goes off to Finchley.

-[man] Good luck, Maggie!

-[woman] Good luck!

[man] Good luck, Maggie!

[indistinct chattering] [reporter] And she must know now that she is safely home and dry.

-[woman] Good luck!

-[man] Good luck, Maggie!

[reporter] It's never happened before.

There's never been a woman Prime Minister of Britain or of any other Western country.

And that's what we're going to see this afternoon, and it'll be symbolized on the steps of Number Ten.

And that's what this crowd here is waiting for, too.

[dramatic music builds] -Ah, Brian.

-Prime Minister.

Thank you for coming to see us here.

There's so many of you to get through, I just needed to... Not at all.

Happy to be one of The Chosen.

Cut away first?

Uh, yes, a quick intro and then... Presumably, a two-shot, before moving to...?

That's right.

Bernard, should that go, that ornament thing?

It looks as if it's sticking out of my head.

Don't want people to think I've been impaled.

-[chuckles] -Avoid saying this and this.

Oh... Yes.

Right... -Ready.

-[crew member] OK, rolling.

Britain enters the '80s with the most radical leadership in a generation.

Margaret Thatcher insists economic prosperity must return to Britain, and has made it clear she intends to do whatever is necessary to make her plan work.

Prime Minister, uh, it won't surprise you, and I don't suppose it surprises anybody, that your political opponents think your economic strategy will fail.

Well, theirs failed... Well, we don't have time to go into that now.

...and so we have to do something very different... No, wait a minute.

It's part of what you might call the Thatcher Experiment.

Well, what interests me more is that they think even if, against their expectations, you were to succeed economically, uh, you would still have created a society which is more unequal, riddled with avoidable injustices.

Now, is the price of our economic recovery and prosperity greater inequality in our country?

Indeed, yes.

One of the problems... Of course there are differentials for extra effort, extra skill.

You will get a more thriving society when people can rise to the limit of their talents.

For example, I don't expect to be paid as much as you are, Mr.

Walden.

Well, um... But it-it does mean more inequality, does it not?

It does mean more.

Indeed, yes.

[dramatic orchestral music] She actually answers the bloody question!

-I find that refreshing.

-Yes, but you risk coming across to the whole world as though you're becoming most enamored with her.

It's not enamored.

It... Look, she has a mission.

Agree with it or disagree with it, she wants to get something done, and I want to understand it.

Look, I get it.

It's your style, and it's a valid one, opening them up.

I just wish, with her, you'd be a bit harder, because she is hard.

Listen, Brian, look, I'm sorry, but at some point, you're going to have to let go of the politician that wants to be liked and embrace the journalist who can prosecute.

Those red lines between the two, -they exist for a reason.

-Well, then, help me.

You say you want to educate the masses, start with me, Coxy.

I can learn anything.

Teach me the ways of the great political interviewer and I'll learn them.

OK?

[upbeat rock music plays] [John] So, we start with a mind map.

The plan.

A map of potential answers to each question that we can war-game, so that you can prepare in advance where you go next.

Which I can memorize.

Trust me, preparation, I can do.

Preparation, I love.

Minister, are you going to perform a U-turn on your manifesto pledge?

If he says "yes," move to 4C, "no," to 8B.

-No, I will not be U-turning.

-Well, then, are you aware of the cost of continuing down this road and what's it going to be?

The Pointy Heads, current affairs wonks.

I'd stay clear.

If they say, yes, they will increase taxes, turn right to this question.

If they say, no, they will not, turn left to a different question.

Mr.

Nott, if you could not, in fact, bring public borrowing under control by any other means, then you would have to increase taxes in order to do so.

Most certainly.

Most certainly... That's better.

For the Labour Party, I have a very deep umbilical tie.

It would be as painful for me to break away from it as it would be to break away from a family.

But you might, and it's the might that interests me.

[upbeat rock music continues] [indistinct chattering] Ah, Geoffrey.

Are you ready for tomorrow's budget, Chancellor?

Of course, Margaret.

-And, Nigel, nice and smart.

-Huh!

Congrats, Nigel.

Energy.

On the way up.

Cheers.

Yes, lots to do.

Exactly.

Energy, that's what we need.

Come and sit down.

I want you right here, Geoffrey, on my right, as Chancellor.

Then, Nigel... -Uh, are you being any use?

-Doing my... Do something.

Um, Michael, you're a bit tall, would you please stand in the back row?

Anyone else who's very tall?

Ah, just one moment.

Forgive me, Margaret, I... I thought I'd just run through these projections... Who the devil's that?

Oh, isn't it her new economic adviser-- Adam, Alan...?

Alan Walters.

Mad professor, has the PM's ear, but it won't last.

Best avoid him at all costs.

Just bear with... Right, are we all ready... ...to face the lens of history?

Yes, over to you.

[photographer] Everyone look at me, please.

Pennies don't come from heaven, Brian, they have to be earned here on Earth, and there are plenty out there to be earned.

[upbeat music plays] -[upbeat music continues] -[indistinct chattering] [conversing indistinctly] If we do all the right things, you know, keep public spending under control, keep public borrowing down, then the boat will come in.

Well, um, that answer, uh, provokes me to ask you a question, Prime Minister.

I'd hoped I wasn't being provocative.

No, no, I don't mean in that sense.

I meant that it was stimulative.

Mm.

And it stimulates me to ask you a question.

When you talk about your values, uh, those values have a resonance in our past.

What I would call Victorian values.

Now, is that correct?

Yes, exactly.

Very much so.

Those were the values when our country became great.

Yes, Victorian values, I'm quite pleased with that.

I know, but you heard her, she's going to start using that now, a line you fed her.

Isn't this exactly the kind of thing David is trying?

Yes, but we're helping define the news for our audience, not just report it, all right?

Look, I've got to file my column.

-OK, I'll head back inside.

-OK.

Well done tonight.

Chin-chin, bravo, see you tomorrow.

You don't fancy a drink, do you?

Uh... Oh, well, um, actually, I... I probably, I'd best not get a slapped wrist and, uh... But, um, cheers, anyway.

-No, I was never a Socialist.

-[Margaret] Come on, admit it.

[Brian] No, honestly.

Honestly.

This is the thing that the people on the left-- well, the further left-- have never understood about actual working people.

We don't want hand-outs.

My dad didn't.

We value hard work.

I've always been more of a meritocrat.

Yes, a meritocracy.

Exactly.

And you and I are very good examples of that.

We got to the very top of our profession, -against all the odds.

-[Brian chuckles] -I mean, look at us.

-[Brian chuckles] To us!

[Margaret chuckles] Um, just to say, uh, if we can keep this between... Oh, full confidentiality.

-Like a doctor, or a priest!

-[chuckles] I remember, uh, something you said in the Commons.

Uh, of course, I didn't know you from Adam back then, but I-I made a mental note of it.

Oh, really?

What was it that I said?

You were talking about... You used this phrase-- "The furtherance of remarkable people," and, uh, I like that.

The aspiration of it.

Didn't matter where you were from, man or woman.

Yes, exactly.

You see, there are so many, well, men.

Denis and I have to tolerate them, we have to entertain them here, and they didn't earn their place, they just knew someone who knew someone.

And they bluff and they blag their way through, and they have unlimited chances.

But me, if I don't spend hours and hours preparing every detail... Me too.

I'm-I'm exactly the same.

-Exactly the same.

-Yeah.

You see, you never do shake it off, do you?

That feeling one has of being an outsider.

I think that's why I, um, I've always been nervous, uh, of, I don't know, -the mob.

-Mm.

The unions, even.

My father was a glass-blower and, uh, very hard-working, frequently out of work because of the closed shop.

They wouldn't accept him, wouldn't let him in.

-I never knew why.

-And your mother?

She passed away when I was, uh, 12.

Oh, I'm sorry.

She was the stronger one.

Uh, maybe too strong, some thought.

Uh, she was a bookbinder.

My God, the, uh, the luck of that.

That's the only reason there were books in the house.

She never read them, of course, but, uh, for me, being on my own a lot, uh, never really being into having friends, uh, I was very happy.

On my own, book in my lap, entering brave new worlds.

Well, it seems to me you've made your own luck, Brian.

I'm very aware, painfully aware, that one mistake and "they" will have me out.

One day, doesn't matter what I do, someone will come for me.

I reckon there's no one you won't be able to see off, Margaret.

[upbeat rock music builds] [typewriter keys clacking] [Brian, voice-over] "This country needs Margaret Thatcher, someone unafraid to offer a vision.

What can I say?

She tickles me, and I think I understand her.

In years to come, great novels will be written about her."

-[crowd roars] -[crowd chants] We want Tebbit!

We want Tebbit!

We want Tebbit!

[emcee] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Young Conservatives' Conference Mr.

Kenny Everett!

-Let's bomb Russia!

-[crowd cheers] Let's kick Michael Foot's stick away!

[crowd cheers] [emcee] Put your hands together for Jimmy Tarbuck and Steve Davis!

[cheering and applause] [crowd chanting] [Margaret] Ronnie, you're here.

All hail the speech writer!

Did you see the rally at Wembley?

I did.

Oh, they were going wild.

Almost hysterical, some of them.

Oh, is hysteria a thing to be courted and celebrated?

-All feels a bit American.

-Oh, Ronnie, it's only that, uh, it proves what a draw she is amongst the young.

You wanted me to take another run at the text for Wednesday.

Yes.

It's the last party broadcast before the election day and I think, we think, following on from what we've just seen, -right, Ian?

-Yes, yeah, capturing, harnessing the mood.

You know, the energy.

It's real, it's there, so... Well, I-I... I was going for mood, a sort of thoughtful mood piece.

No.

That's what we want changed.

Hammer home our achievements, bang-bang-bang, and what we've still got left to do, boom-boom-boom.

The people, they're ready now for some confidence, some ambition, to go further in the fight, to... That's what the campaign has been, bangs and booms.

I thought now, a little night music.

A little night music?

Ronald, we want them on their feet, like they were today.

-"Maggie, Maggie..." -Margaret, must everything always be a fight?

Can't it sometimes be peace and quiet?

Ron's gone wobbly.

We'll need another writer.

-What?

-Sorry, Ron.

Maybe someone from Saatchi's?

No, not an ad man.

We want poetry.

This is about instinct.

Somebody who knows what we are and what we need to say, in his gut.

-What about Brian?

-Brian?

Is that proper?

And he's not a speech writer, he's a journalist, and a good one.

Ronnie's a playwright, and a good one.

Thank you.

Goodnight.

Goodnight, Ronnie.

It's just... I don't know what the protocol... -And it's nearly midnight.

-Call him.

Call Brian.

[phone rings] Uh... -Hello?

-[Ian] Brian, forgive the hour.

It's Ian Gow.

You're not around, are you?

Uh, around?

For, uh... For what, and when?

We wondered if... Well, now, actually.

Final party political broadcast going out the night before polling day and Margaret just wondered about getting your take on it.

She'd just like your brain on it.

Brain of Brian, Brian's brain.

Uh, maybe I should sleep on it, uh, or check with some of the... you know, it's OK, to... It's only that we'd need to get you into a cab sort of now-ish.

And maybe best just kept between ourselves.

Less complicated.

For you, I mean.

-[Margaret] Brian!

-Ah.

Honestly, I can't thank you enough.

-Have some coffee.

-Thank you, yes.

Well, I-I saw the clips.

Uh, Wembley.

Jimmy Tarbuck, -Kenny Everett.

-Mm-hm.

Even Steve Davis looked excited, for Steve Davis.

He stinks of booze.

He's been drinking... Oh, for heaven's sake, Ian!

Go and knit a quilt or something.

Here.

Coffee.

Black as the night.

Yes, the rally rather took us by surprise, hence why we want to cross the finishing line a bit more triumphantly, with a bit more punch.

Yes, um, it's-it's a little, uh, tricky, uh... Unwritten rules of journalism, you know?

Church and State... No, of course.

Oh, completely.

This doesn't have to affect that.

Brian, you're a professional and I'm a professional.

Absolutely.

You know, there's been some polling done today.

Polling all the time, of course, but on this policy or that message, but this was specifically on me.

Well, let me guess, the same lazy stereotypes, -battleaxe sort of stuff?

-Strong, yes, capable, just not likable, apparently.

Well, I mean, that's... that's your public persona.

Uh, in private... I mean, in private, uh, I-I like you.

Thank you, Brian.

And I wasn't fishing.

No, it's just that I know one has to be... You see, when I first came into this, everyone before me had been so wet.

Wet!

And nothing got done.

And I refuse to be that.

No, the moment you stop driving hard, the whole thing comes off the road.

It's just... Oh, I don't know, maybe I should have shown some, I don't know, humility or softness.

No, this country is so bloody lily-livered.

You mustn't bend, Margaret.

There's too much to do.

I wouldn't give them an inch, I mean it.

At crucial moments like this, never compromise, never flinch.

And you can forget your naysayers.

You have plenty of people who... believe in you.

And I do like fun, you know?

I can... I can tell a joke.

I heard one only the other day.

What was it?

Um, there's this man in a hospital, and... No.

No, no, no.

No.

...he goes into a bar, and he's still wearing his gown, and he... Oh, no.

Well, I'll... I'll remember it.

But thank you, Brian, for your faith.

You were one of the first people to take me seriously, when everyone else dismissed me out of hand.

I'll always be grateful for that.

So, shall we get on?

[both] ...for freedom, freedom is the birthright of every citizen.

To preserve and defend that freedom, to defend it from within and from without.

Amen!

[both] In Britain today, there is no room for outdated distinctions of class or creed.

It doesn't matter who you are, or who your father is, or where you came from.

[both laugh] [telephone rings] [sighs] Hello?

[Margaret] So, there's this man who goes into a pub from the hospital next door and he's still wearing his gown, and he's pulling his IV stand along with him, you know, all that business, and the landlord looks a bit worried.

He says, "Can I help you?"

And our chap says, "Yes, please.

I'd like two pints of lager, two Guinness, uh, four gin and tonics, and three shots of tequila."

And it's a free world, so the landlord, you know, he's an entrepreneurial sort, he gives the man his drinks.

And then the man downs them, one by one, ending up with the shots of tequila.

And he turns to the landlord and he says, "Do you know, I really shouldn't have drunk all that, with what I've got."

And the landlord says, "Why, what have you got?"

And he says, "About £3.50."

[she hangs up] And I will honor that pledge I made you, in this unrelenting quest to break down the old barriers and build a Britain where it doesn't matter who your father is, or where you've come from.

-The certainty of liberty... -[David] Remember this moment.

[Margaret] ...and the chance of property ownership.

The sense of triumph on their faces.

Look at it.

People should be able to own their own homes... They think they're untouchable now.

A landslide.

The Falklands, all of it.

Won't need to be held accountable on camera, -subjected to scrutiny anymore.

-I passionately believe... [David] Well, yes, they are strong now, which means we have to be stronger and harder and tougher in return, on behalf of our viewers.

OK?

-Right?

-[Sue] Right.

Mr.

Lawson?

Prime Minister has asked you to come upstairs.

[knock at door] Yes.

Come in.

He's here.

Assuming he accepts, I'll get it out in the first editions.

All hunky-dory?

Still riding high on a wave?

Hunky-dory.

What's worrying you?

Have you ever, in the moment, just given a piece of yourself to somebody, perhaps more than you meant to, and then, after the fact, you...?

No, I don't know.

-Who?

-No, it doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter.

Show him in.

-Nigel.

-Prime Minister.

Come on in and sit down.

So, Geoffrey is taking the Foreign brief.

I was rather hoping you would take up his mantle as Chancellor.

I would like that very much.

It would be a great honor to accept.

Well, there's no time like the present.

I thought it would be good to get into a routine of having little informal chats a couple of times a week, because, you know, the relationship between Prime Minister and Chancellor needs to be very, very close, don't you agree?

Without question, Prime Minister.

-Margaret.

-Margaret.

You've proved yourself to be able to get things done, and this term, it's time, it's time to start selling back to the private sector everything that came under public ownership after the War.

We must let them get out there and thrive, with confidence.

Yes?

-Absolutely.

-Let's get on with it.

Right.

And to that end, Nigel... ...were you thinking of having a haircut?

-Haircut?

-It's long and unkempt.

-That's the other lot, isn't it?

-Of course, Margaret.

Prime Minister?

Switchboard have Brian Walden on the phone.

Um yes, would you pass that on to Bernard, please, instead?

[dramatic orchestral music] [dial tone] [sighs] Margaret, how are you?

Well, Brian.

Always well.

[producer] OK.

All set?

Four, three, two... [door opens] What on earth is going on out there?

Betrayal.

[upbeat music]