The Politician's Husband (2013): Season 1, Episode 2 - The Politician's Husband - full transcript

NEWSCASTER:
'Westminster is in crisis mode

'since Aiden Hoynes'
resignation speech.'

To be honest, I'm still
trying to get my head around why
he went ahead with it.

My God, what is he doing to us?

You're eliminating the competition.

I'm screwed, Freya.
You'll get back.

Wrong way! We avoid the traffic this
way! Wrong way!

Freya Gardner.
Hello there, Freya.

There's been a development.

The PM will assume you've put
ambition ahead of your loyalty to me

and then when the time is right,
you condemn his immigration stand.



How many times have you stepped
aside for him over the years, Freya?

To stay top dog, you may have to
unleash the bitch within you, Freya.

KIRSTY WARK: You either support
your husband's stand

or you do not, which is it?

Just because you
don't agree with someone,

doesn't mean you don't
respect their point of view.

We'll take that as a no then.

DOOR OPENS, CLOSES

What happened?

An error of judgement.

OK. Say it. I let you down.

Worse. I betrayed your trust.

Say it! You're thinking it.

Put me out of my misery
and bloody say it!



Do you think that
that was easy for me?

Do you think that
I wanted to do that?

It's OK.
You did what you had to do.

It's about survival.
I get it, I get it.

I was wrong to push you into it.

Oh. Oh...

Oh, thank God.

All the way home, I kept thinking
that I'd done for us.

That we'd never get back from this.

Come on.

We're better than that.

It's only bloody politics, isn't it?

DOOR CLOSES

So what was it?

A summons to the Whip's office?

Veiled threats about how loyalty
is a two-way street

and this is where
you earn your Party spurs?

Oh, you know how Marcus is.

He throws everything at the wall
until something sticks.

Such as?

Oh...

No shame in self advancement as long

as it coincides
with the greater good.

That's what stuck, is it?

No.

Yeah.

What?

Do you remember how it
felt when you were first elected?

Standing on the podium.

Not just the feeling that you were
beating the odds but...

You might actually change lives.

Yeah.

And then you get to Westminster
and you realise that,

that's just an illusion.

That power, real power, is only
ever on the front bench, isn't it?

After all these years, Aiden.

To finally walk
into that cabinet room.

There's no feeling like it.
You must have felt it too.

Empowerment.

Diaphragm?

Done.

SHE MOANS

THEY PANT

SHE GASPS

HE GRUNTS

SHE WHIMPERS

HE SOBS

Oh, God!

DITA: Noah! Time to get dressed.
You too, Ruby!

RUBY: I can't find
my ballet shoes, Dita.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Sorry.

You hurt me, Aiden.

Tell me, do you feel better for it?

We can all do things we're
not proud of, Freya.

Do you remember when I first
walked into Westminster with you

after I was elected and everyone
assumed that I was your researcher?

Well I am done with
waiting in the wings.

Oh, the Times Magazine want to
do a profile on us.

Could be a useful
positioning piece for me.

You don't need me for that.

Oh what, and miss the chance to
showcase our fairytale marriage?

Our domestic idyll?

We are the golden couple, after all.

Kenny!

Morning, Minister.
Old habits. Sorry. Thanks.

How's it going?

Yeah, can't complain. You?

Oh, still in the ring. Grandkids?

Thriving. Tiring.

You know my wife, Kenny,

how she always likes to think
the best of people?

Can make her vulnerable.

I don't have to tell you what
a cess pit Westminster is.

Shark infested, more like.
Mmmmm.

How about you give me a heads up?

Just keep me in the loop
on what's going on with her?

That way I can always make sure
her back is covered?

Knowledge is power, all that.

Consider it done.

MACHINE WHIRS

Aiden.

That's what I said. I'd tell them!

Wait in the car, sweet.
Dad will be right there.

Why can't you take me to school?

I have this new job now,
I told you about it, remember?

I promise I'll be
home in time for bed, all right?

Kenny!

Minister. Thanks.

I assume it's all right for me
to use your study?

I need your ISDN line,
more space for meetings.

No problem.

ENGINE STARTS

I hope it goes without saying, Kenny
that anything you hear in the car,

stays in the car.

No exceptions.

Yes, Minister.

ON RADIO: 'Now throughout the summer
we've been discussing books to

'take on holiday for summer reading
ranging from crime to

'feminist literature
and it's not too late.

'The children are going back to
school, which is when those

'without kids take advantage
of the cheaper prices and quieter

'flights to catch some sun before
autumn takes out and so to romance.

'Always up in
the best seller lists...'

We'll need to target the most
deprived areas

in the pilot scheme first.

All set for your
big moment in the House later?

Bring it on.

PHONE RINGS

Aiden?

Bad moment?

Is everything OK? Is it Noah?

No, no, no, no.
Just...touching base, that's all.

All good?

Is that Bruce?

It's Drew.

Erm...I'd best get on. Bye.

DIALS NUMBER

Aiden.

Hey, how's it going?

Yeah, good. Just running late
for a meeting in the House.

Something I can do for you?

Aiden?

Is Lian there?

Hi.

I was wondering, is it an idea
I get copied into Freya's diary?

That way I can give you back up.
If I know what's coming up,

we can guide her through
the pitfalls together.

I'll have to
clear it with her first.

And have her think
we lack confidence in her?

Rather you than me, love.

Bull's-eye.

Thanks.

Dust.

It goes without saying, Mr Speaker,
how reluctant I am

to speak against the Opposition.

BOOING AND BRAYING

SPEAKER: I will have order!

But I have to say that it's
beginning to

feel like Groundhog Day!

LAUGHTER AND BOOING

How many times...how many
times have they been banging on

about the necessity
of safeguards in the Bill?

Yet these new draft
proposals are just a rehash

of all the previous ones.

Little better
than regurgitated sound bites

for the benefit of the media!

You'd know! You'd know!

Mr Speaker!

Mr Speaker, the Honourable Member
opposite has been constantly

lambasting us
at every opportunity

about the importance of integrating
public services.

Yet these new safeguards that he
has cobbled together,

and about which he has been
trumpeting so loudly to the media,

they do the exact opposite!

Here, here! Bravo!

YELLING AND JEERING

Robert!

Hi, Jack, how are you?
Good to see you.

Freddy.

Aiden, good to see you.
Thanks for finding the time.

So. Here I am, present
and incorrect, as requested.

The vacancy on your committee.
Is it filled yet?

What, from Secretary of State to
serve on a humble Select Committee?

That's a bit of a
downward quantum leap, isn't it?

Well...since the beating
we took over the expenses debacle

the committees have got real
teeth now, don't they?

They can make a real impact on
Government policy, curb its power,

really, hold it to account.

Look, surely the fact that
I ran the Department's a bonus.

I have direct experience
of its budget and expenditure.

Which means I can offer
the committee unique insight

into the viability of its policies.

Look, I know, I know.

Some might see my presence
on the committee as...divisive.

That I'm somehow out to
cause trouble for Babbish.

No, nothing could
be further from my mind.

This is about drawing a
line under the past, Freddy.

About moving forward.

Frankly, I can't think
of a better way to start than

under your stewardship.

I just want a chance to prove
myself to the Party.

You know, prove I'm, I'm still
an asset, not a liability.

And if you don't get elected.

Could anything be
worth the humiliation of that?

If humiliation is the price for
rehabilitation...

Risk I have to take.

On the subject of tweets,
there's a hot one doing the rounds.

That Babbish has rented office
space in Victoria Street,

purchased a dozen
pay-as-you-go phones.

Hash-tag: leadershipcampaignHQ.

Back in the day,

when Portillo's stab at
a leadership coup got blown,

that nuked any chance he had,
didn't it?

Who tweeted it?

Deepthroat25, so called.

Twittersphere's going
mental over it.

Incendiary stuff. Whoever's behind
it is remarkably well informed.

This place is always awash
with...rumours of coitus or coups.

Your wife seems to
have Babbish's ear of late.

Perhaps she's in the know on it?

When the PM picks up on it
is the point.

A case of, "I can't stand the tweet,
get out of my kitchen"

wouldn't you say?

You talked to the
PM about those tweets yet?

Bit of a car crash, I fear.

Even on a good day
he's convinced half the cabinet

are scheming to oust him.

Who was it rallied the damn
loyalists for him

over Hoynes'
bloody leadership fiasco?

Does that not count for anything?

He claims it was opportunism,

buying you time to micromanage your
own leadership coup.

Uncharacteristically prescient,
as it goes.

When I do make my move,
he'll see me coming now, won't he?

He'll have a ring
of bloody steel round him.

The bastard behind that tweet has
done for me, hasn't he?

So change the mood music. Get
something eye-catching on your blog.

Or better still, get the FT or
the Telegraph to run it.

I'll hit the phones, put out a call
to arms myself while I'm at it.

Have you ever thought,

if we devoted the same
amount of time and energy

to solving unemployment
or child poverty as we do

our Westminster power games,
we might have solved them by now?

I'll not forget your support
on this, Marcus.

I shall hold you to that.

Oh, by the by,

Hoynes has been putting
himself about the Estate,

pressing the flesh.
Freddy Seaborn's in particular.

Sounding him out about a vacancy
on his committee.

He gets onto that committee,
he'll obstruct me at every turn!

You think?

And no pictures of the children.

Done.

And any questions about Noah
and Asperger's are off limits.

I've made that clear.

And please, not the woman juggling
home and career thing.

Aiden called this morning,
asking to be copied into your diary.

To give him a heads up,
should you need advice or...?

I said I'd have to run
it by you first. Obviously.

My diary is confidential, Lian.
No exceptions.

No, of course. Absolutely.

DOOR BUZZES

She about? I'll just go and...
Nah, I know the way.

Thought we could grab a quick
one before you head home?

Few things we need to
cover before the CBI gig tomorrow.

Can't we have a briefing before
the meeting, Bruce?

I need to get
home for the kids' bedtime.

All well? You seem a little...

The notes for the CBI agenda
are there if you want sight of them.

This Twitter thing. It's,
it's not Aiden's handiwork is it?

He'd never stoop that low.
Not even to conquer?

HE LAUGHS

No, you're right, he'd never put
you in harm's way like that.

Well if it got out, you'd be guilty
by association, wouldn't you?

Freya arranged it.
She said you knew about it.

How was it with Noah today?

How do you think?

Shifting the gear out my office,

you know how he is about
strangers in the house.

I naively assumed we'd be
sharing the office,

not that I'd be banished
to the shed.

Is that what I was all those years?

So your turn at the dispatch box
today was a triumph.

You don't need me to tell you that.

Lian says you were asking to be
copied into my diary.

Help co-ordinate
things on the childcare front.

Just trying to keep a jump ahead,
Freya. Cover the bases.

D'you catch those
tweets about Bruce?

Who hasn't? Trending all day.

Any ideas who's behind it?

Someone on his staff probably.

You know what a
high-handed prick he can be.

How's he holding up under it?

Barely seen him all day.

SHE LAUGHS
Lovely.

That's great. That's lovely, good.

Just a bit of space.
That'll do, that'll do.

That's it, that's the one.
Lovely, well done. Great!

Thanks.

So the focus is as much
on the personal as the political.

If you're ready?

Since your promotion to Cabinet,

have the demands of it impacted
much on family life?

Oh, we're pretty
adept at juggling all that now.

It's about organisation as
ever and...

Anticipating problems before they
whack you in the face.

Communicating, not competing.

But politics is competitive.

"A blood sport,"
didn't someone call it?

Which is why we never bring it home.

Once we're through that front door,
that's it. Family and each other.

So does Freya's new job mean that
you're now picking up

the slack on the domestic front?

Cooking and so forth?

I can turn my
hand to it when needed.

He's being modest.
His moussaka is second to none.

It's a Serbian recipe rather
than the Greek.

Kefir yoghurt instead of bechamel.

We have some in the freezer
if you want to take it home.

Do you wear anything special
when you're cooking? An apron?

A chef's jacket?

Perhaps we can get
a picture of you in it?

Ah...

Aiden doesn't wear an apron
any more than I wear a pinny.

We're not that anachronistic.

Not so long ago you said you hadn't
ruled out having another child.

Westminster's hardly
mother friendly,

let alone holding down
a demanding Cabinet post.

Is that another sacrifice that
you're prepared to make?

We're more than happy
with our family the way it is.

Even if it was on our radar, which
it's not, this is Freya's moment.

Any sacrifice would be worth that.

That's quite a man you have.

We've grown used to politicians
parading their wives

for public display.

Yet the husbands
of female politicians

remain largely invisible.

Perhaps they prefer their privacy.

It's not because the success
of their wives

might make them appear...

Emasculated?

You'd have to ask them that.

Of course,
you already have a public profile.

But political
ambition's in your DNA.

It must be a wrench, watching
Freya going off every day,

living the life you once had?

Aiden has always been
very supportive over my career.

Never more so than now.

Yet on television,
when asked if you backed him

over his stand
on the immigration issue,

your answer could hardly be
construed as supportive of him.

Having different perspectives

and opinions is what makes
a marriage strong.

It keeps it vital, alive.

If Freya should ever decide to
go for the leadership,

would you support her in that too?

100%. She'd be
the candidate to beat.

Even if you were
after the job yourself?

Assuming Bruce Babbish doesn't get
there first, of course.

There are barely half a dozen
spaces for disability badges

yet time and again you see
able-bodied people parking in them.

I'll look into it
and get back to you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

They just don't get it, do they?

They think that influence is
the same as power.

It's not even close.

Ruby in bed? Yeah.

The office rental was
not for a leadership campaign HQ,

as has been alleged, but simply to
provide overspill space

for my parliamentary office.

As for the pay-as-you-go phones,

they were purchased for local Party
workers,

gearing up for
the forthcoming council elections.

But has the Prime Minister asked
for your resignation, Minister?

I have just left the Prime Minister.

As he says,
such toxic twitter campaigns

are nothing short of a
coward's charter.

He told me I have his
full and unconditional support.

As far as he is concerned, that is
the end of the matter.

HE MUTES TV

Isn't that your old office?

Mmmm.

We waited there with the children,
didn't we? At Christmas we...

We went to...what was it?
What is it that you call it?

A pantomime.

Catch you later.

Not rushing off, are you, Freddy?

Well depends if, err,
it's an offer I can't refuse.

A double of whatever he was imbibing
and a whisky, no ice.

Certainly, sir.

Looking good, Freddy.

A diet of pasta and red wine,
you too could have a body like mine.

Marcus was telling me
about your godson.

Impressive young man by all
accounts. Lancaster University, yes?

Loughborough. Of course.

Word is he's after a research job
in the Fiscal Policy Unit?

Won't be a shoo-in.

He'll face stiff competition
from the usual Oxbridge mafia.

Have to put our heads together,

see if we can't shorten
the odds for him, eh?

Prove that social mobility is alive
and well in Westminster.

Shouldn't be beyond our
combined ingenuity.

Chin-chin.

THEY LAUGH

Damn thing keeps playing up.

Battery?

Battery?

New one in this morning.

Has he joined in at all?

His teacher had a word
when I picked him up from school.

Apparently he's very
withdrawn of late.

Freya's not around as much, is she?
Or I'm the poor substitute.

It's early days.

Freya thought learning to swim
would help his confidence.

His co-ordination.

That was what, three years ago?
How is Freya?

I saw them together, Dad.

She and Bruce.

In Westminster.
Thick as bloody thieves.

Their departments often have to
work in tandem, don't they?

It's inevitable that...
She lied, Dad.

When his name came up,
she lied about seeing him.

To protect you, I expect.
In case you thought she was...

Fraternizing with the enemy?

PHONE RINGS

Freddy, what news?

Hit a bit of a snag on the
committee issue, Aiden.

There is no vacancy after all.

Roger Quincy changed
his mind about resigning.

I thought he had health problems?
Yeah, bloody gout would you believe?

Talk about big girl's blouse.
One sneeze and it's swine flu.

He formally resigned, Freddy.
You can still force a vote.

Babbish got to him, didn't he?

It's a cockup,
it's not a conspiracy!

And there are other committees.

Nothing very special about
this one, is there?

All right.

Fuck!

WHISTLE BLOWS

Everybody get out of the pool!
Come on, out you get!

Out you get!

Come on, come on, that's it,
that's it, good boy.

What is it? What's happened?

Oh, dear God. I'm on my way.

Come on out, Noah. Your tea's here.
You must eat.

Peanut butter, your favourite.

Cut diagonals, no crusts,
just as you like them.

You've had a scare. A big one.

And the best thing,
when something like that happens,

is to talk to people.

To be with people.
Mmmm? Not shut yourself away.

TENT UNZIPS

RECORDING OF WAVES GENTLY LAPPING
PLAYS

RECORDING STOPS

OK, come on,
let's get it over with.

How I took my eye off the ball,
we nearly lost him.

Mmmm. We didn't, did we?

What, it never happened to me?

What about when he went AWOL

and they found him
wandering in the park?

Or...when he had
a tantrum at the station

and nearly jumped off the platform?

You're human, join the club.

Sometimes I feel like that man.

What was his name, the one who the
Gods punished by making him

roll a boulder up a hill,
only to watch it roll down again,

but he had to do it for all eternity?

Sisyphus.

But it's Noah's who's
being punished, isn't it?

I mean, we can go to work,
we can get away from it.

The Asperger's. But...he can't.

There's no escape.

People often ask me
if I feel guilty leaving him.

Mostly...I just feel relief.

To be free from his rituals and his
obsessions, just for a few hours.

SHE SIGHS

What's that say about me?

How brave you are.

Admitting it.

Diaphragm.

Oh, I have to go to Birmingham
in the morning with Bruce.

How so?

Joint initiative, unemployed setting
up their own companies.

I'll see how Noah is in the morning
and if it comes to it,

Bruce can go on his own.

Oh please, no, not that again.

It's that look you get
whenever I mention his name.

I applied to be on the BIS
Select Committee, did he tell you?

Nuked before I got airborne.

And you assume Bruce did that?

Fine, whatever.

I'm wasting my breath.
I don't know why the fuck I bother.

I'll try. I will.

I'm so sorry.

Love me?

I never stopped.

HE PANTS

HE GROANS

It's OK. It's all right.

No. I want to.

No!

ON RADIO: 'Now that Ms Gardner's
finally stepped out from the shadow
of her husband,

'it's safe to say
we're looking at a politician

'who's definitely found her mojo.'

'Now the question whether or not
the great explorer George Mannering

'reached the summit of Everest
in 1924 has been disputed for years.

'During the 1924
British Everest expedition,

'Mannering
and his climbing partner...'

Jesus!

I have to do this.
Please don't speak.

I have eyes.
I know what goes on this house.

And I know you would never ask.

You are too good a man.
Too loyal and... Dita.

Dita!

No-one need know.
It is between us, the two of us.

I'll know! Just...cover yourself.

I'm flattered but
it's not happening, OK?

I'll pack my bags.
Leave in the morning.

No, there's no need for that.

It was a misunderstanding.
We'll put it behind us.

It never happened, OK?

Dita?

Did I ever suggest, ever imply,
that this was even a possibility?

You're a man.
You have needs, don't you?

Off out for a bit.

OK.

DOOR CLOSES

That's enough!

That's 30 seconds down
on last time.

Technically, we should keep moving.

Technically,
we should be in the bloody pub.

How's Noah doing?

Missing his mother, as ever.

Can't be easy for Freya either.

When she's not wowing Westminster.

You knew what you were doing,
Aiden, when you resigned.

You played the odds and you lost.

With a little help from a friend.
That wasn't down to her!

All those years you were
riding high,

she sat in the back seat for you,
didn't she?

She did it without rancour,
without self pity.

Don't tell me
it's beyond you to forgive her.

HE PANTS

We needed a debrief
before Cabinet tomorrow.

The car was
more private than the train.

Is that good enough?

Where are the kids?

Dita took them
to Dad's for the night.

I wish to God I knew where
your damn head was these days.

Me too.

I'm through it now, Freya.

The feud with Bruce, all of it.
I'm done with it.

Truly? Mmmm.

I'll drink to that.

GLASSES CLINK

I was beginning to
bore myself, frankly.

Seconded.

Thank God you hung in.

The moussaka will be a while yet.

I've got a few emails to send.

Don't be long.

Mummy! Dita's run away.
She's taken all her stuff.

I never came onto her.
Not in thought, not in deed.

Then why would
she claim such a thing, Aiden?

It took two of them to drag him off.

They think it was triggered
by what's been happening at home.

I am not
the reason that you did this.

I am just the excuse.

Don't worry about Freya. Everyone
knows your marriage is bullet proof.

The way I see it, it's up to me
to find a way out of our impasse.

An idea I came up with
while I was still

running Business and Skills.

In the end, we're all sacrificed
on the altar of his ambition.

You have a son who's totally
incapable of deception.

I have one for
whom it's second bloody nature!

If you lie down with dogs,
you get fleas, Mr Speaker,

and we are infested with them.