The Thick of It

It's reshuffle Day at Number 10. Nicola Murray is so far down the list of prospective ministers that Malcolm Tucker doesn't even have a file on her. But when the job at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship is turned down by everybody else, there's no option but to promote her to the Cabinet.

Nicola Murray MP has only been secretary of state for just over a week, but already there is press speculation on how long she will last. And now someone at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship has completely wiped the immigration records of 170,672 people. Who's going to get the blame? And who's going to get the job of breaking the news to Malcolm?

Nicola Murray is stuck in an Eastbourne hotel bedroom with a laptop, a printer and a tiny kettle while she tries to finish her party conference speech.

The civil servants at DoSAC are preparing for a visit from the shadow minister Peter Mannion. For Mannion and his team, this informal pre-election briefing is a good opportunity. For Nicola Murray, it is just another distraction on a day when nothing seems to be going right. All she wants to do is get Glenn and Olly to kick-start the Fourth Sector Pathfinder Initiative. And then she gets a call.

After trading bitter blows in the press, DoSAC minister Nicola Murray MP and her shadow Peter Mannion MP are invited onto BBC Radio 5Live for a debate.

With the Prime Minister away at a summit in Spain, Malcolm Tucker is left at home to mind the shop. Just as Nicola Murray is about to launch her Fourth Sector Initiative to the media, the media decide that what they really want is someone to launch another leadership contest. Does Nicola have what it takes and, if she does, can Malcolm take it away from her before she does any damage?

Nicola Murray and her team need a sports personality to be the face of DoSAC's Healthy Choices campaign. They take advice from the PM's new fixer, Steve Fleming.

As the election looms and the Opposition eyes the prize, the word around the Westminster Village is that Malcolm Tucker is running out of both options and friends. He may have bitten off more than he can chew with Steve Fleming, but when an offer of help appears from an unlikely direction, Malcolm starts to set his finest trap yet.