In the first episode, Alan Clark joins the Department of Employment, parties with the Coven, suffers under the tyranny of the civil service and scandalises the House in a late night session.

Determined to escape the hateful confines of the Department of Employment and get into the very vortex of power, Clark plots his way ever closer to The Lady (Margaret Thatcher) and her lovely ankles. But at every turn, he is hampered by his predilection for scandal and gaffes.

Clark has finally made it into the coveted Ministry of Defence. But his triumph is short-lived when he finds himself once again walking on thin ice with his old rival Tom King. All the while, the political temperature is rising - poll tax riots rage, the Gulf War breaks out, and The Lady's iron grip on the Tory party appears to be slipping fast.