Francis Urquhart is the Conservative Party Chief Whip who keeps the party's Members of Parliament in line. The party has selected a new leader, Henry Collingridge, and at the general election the government is returned with a reduced majority. Urquhart expects his proper reward - a senior Cabinet post - but is shocked when the Prime Minister tells him he's to stay where he is. Urquhart decides to exact his revenge. Using an ambitious young journalist, Mattie Storin, he plants rumors of dissension in party. Through the Party's PR expert Roger O'Neill - who has had his fingers in the till and developed a coke habit - he arranges for Opposition MPs to have access to Cabinet decisions making for an uncomfortable time in the House. Finally, he lays the foundation for a money scandal.
—garykmcd