Abbot is about to release a new Housing Bill, which is offset by the arrival of junior Minister Dan Miller who is receiving a lot of the media limelight and could be a young pretender to bigger things, including Abbot's position as Minister of State for Social Affairs.
Abbot's paranoia goes up another level when Miller gets unanimous support from Communications Director, Malcolm Tucker.
To deflect this unwanted attention Abbot pushes his Housing Bill with interviews with the press, failing to realise that he himself owns two homes, one of which is in Notting Hill, London and unused. This could pose a problem for Abbot bordering on hypocrisy when there is a massive housing shortage, especially affordable homes in the capital.
Abbot is about to have an interview with a Daily Mail journalist about the Bill, but the journalist focuses on Abbot's two homes. Tucker gets wind of it and urges Abbot to end the interview and somehow force the journalist from publishing the scandalous story which could not only embarrass Abbot but also the PM. As a consequence Abbot's job is on the line again!
This plot is very similar to some real-life scandals over the last 20 years with UK governments and ministers having second homes without declaring them, although of course we never get to find out the actual behind the scenes details of how some of those ministers somehow got off the hook.
Needless to say what happens in this episode is probably not too far from the truth in those particular scandals. And again the performances from Langham (Abbot), Capaldi (Tucker), Addison (Reeder) and James Smith (Glen Cullen) are all unbelievably realistic.
The shakicam irritation is a bit more noticeable in this episode and only acts as a distraction. There is really no need for it even if we're supposed to be kidded into thinking this meant to be some kind of invisible fly-on-the-wall reality documentary.
Abbot's paranoia goes up another level when Miller gets unanimous support from Communications Director, Malcolm Tucker.
To deflect this unwanted attention Abbot pushes his Housing Bill with interviews with the press, failing to realise that he himself owns two homes, one of which is in Notting Hill, London and unused. This could pose a problem for Abbot bordering on hypocrisy when there is a massive housing shortage, especially affordable homes in the capital.
Abbot is about to have an interview with a Daily Mail journalist about the Bill, but the journalist focuses on Abbot's two homes. Tucker gets wind of it and urges Abbot to end the interview and somehow force the journalist from publishing the scandalous story which could not only embarrass Abbot but also the PM. As a consequence Abbot's job is on the line again!
This plot is very similar to some real-life scandals over the last 20 years with UK governments and ministers having second homes without declaring them, although of course we never get to find out the actual behind the scenes details of how some of those ministers somehow got off the hook.
Needless to say what happens in this episode is probably not too far from the truth in those particular scandals. And again the performances from Langham (Abbot), Capaldi (Tucker), Addison (Reeder) and James Smith (Glen Cullen) are all unbelievably realistic.
The shakicam irritation is a bit more noticeable in this episode and only acts as a distraction. There is really no need for it even if we're supposed to be kidded into thinking this meant to be some kind of invisible fly-on-the-wall reality documentary.
