Harry Perkins, a Labour MP from Sheffield, is elected British Prime Minister, having stood on a platform promising huge social change. The election of Perkins, however, has caused uproar amongst the Establishment, and Perkins is soon under fire from the right-wing press, the US administration, and even the British Security Services.

Having survived his first crisis, Prime Minister Harry Perkins, now secure in Downing Street, faces the forces ranged against him. He loses his right-hand man in a sex scandal and now he faces a power workers' strike.

Harry has been in office for a year and everything has improved - even the weather. When he decides that US bases and missiles must leave the country, the Americans decide that it is time that Harry went.