Thomas "Tom" Makepeace is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2003 to 2010. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Foreign Secretary under Francis Urquhart, whom he succeeded upon his assassination in 2003. He has been for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, and was a member of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2003.
Makepeace was fired from the Cabinet in 2002 due to his opposition to Urquhart's plan to make English the official language of the European Union. He was offered the post of Education Secretary (seen as a traditional "dumping ground" post), but he instead chose to resign and return to the backbenches of the House of Commons, from where he crossed the floor and joined the Opposition, and opposed Urquhart's government from the opposition benches at Prime Minister's Questions. Makepeace demanded to know whether Urquhart had previous knowledge of the oil, and criticised his lack of transparency in the handling of the Cyprus Crisis; however, Urquhart used the crisis itself to distract his opponents' attention.
Makepeace challenged Urquhart for the leadership of the Conservative Party. He failed to win the first ballot but managed to force a second one, and planned to use recently obtained evidence of Urquhart's criminal activities to undermine his position. However, Urquhart was killed before the second ballot, thus enabling Makepeace to win the election unopposed. He led his party to a landslide victory in the 2005 general election, though is assumed to have lost the following election five years later, becoming Leader of the Opposition.
Biography[]
Early career and tenure as Foreign Secretary[]
Tom Makepeace was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for an undisclosed consistency. At some point, he married his wife Hilary Makepeace, but later had an affair with ambitious backbencher Claire Carlsen. He joined the Conservative Party and was appointed Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister by Prime Minister Francis Urquhart in 1992, after Urquhart's appointment as prime minister following his victory in the 1991 Conservative Party leadership election. As Foreign Secretary, Makepeace negated a Cyprus treaty. He and Urquhart had a rivalry, as they frequently clashed over Europe and various domestic policies. In 2002, Urquhart appointed Carlsen as his Parliamentary Private Secretary, and she subsequently plays Urquhart and Makepeace against each other.
Feud with Francis Urquhart[]
Makepeace announcing his resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary
Encouraged by Carlsen, Urquhart enrages Makepeace by making a speech in the House of Commons suggesting that Britain should not adopt the European currency, but that Europe should instead adopt English as its official language. Makepeace was fired from the Cabinet in 2002 due to his opposition to Urquhart's plan. He was offered the post of Education Secretary (seen as a traditional "dumping ground" post), but he instead chose to resign and return to the backbenches of the House of Commons. He was succeeded as Foreign Secretary by Geoffrey Booza-Pitt, an Urquhart loyalist who in any case lacks the credibility to be a rival, and his popular image as an amiable buffoon humiliates Makepeace. In in his statement of resignation, Makepeace refers to Pitt as Urquhart's "glove-puppet" and he is consequently nicknamed "Sooty" by both the Opposition and other Members of the Cabinet and Parliamentary Party. After the conclusion of his resignation speech, Makepeace said that he would challenge Urquhart for the leadership of the Conservative Party, but said that before the election he could "no longer, in good conscience" sit on the government benches. Makepeace crossed the floor and joined the Labour Party, where he began to oppose Urquhart's government from the opposition benches at Prime Minister's Questions, becoming Urquhart's main adversary in Parliament and the unofficial Leader of the Opposition.
Makepeace demanded to know whether Urquhart had previous knowledge of the oil, and criticised his lack of transparency in the handling of the Cyprus Crisis; however, Urquhart used the crisis itself to distract his opponents' attention. Carlsen advises Maria Passolides to take her investigation into the deaths of her uncles to Makepeace, who repeatedly raises the cover-up in parliament. Maria's search of government records finds a report on the incident written by Urquhart, but his name is redacted. At Makepeace's suggestion, Carlsen purloins the unedited report on the Cyprus killings from the secret government archive where it is stored. However, Corder – informed by the archive clerk – seizes the document from her, who later gave it to Makepeace to set in motion Urquhart's downfall. Carlsen's photocopy of the document was thus rejected by Makepeace, who was by then already in possession of the original.
Run-up to becoming prime minister (2002-2003)[]
2003 Conservative Party leadership election[]
Makepeace criticising Francis Urquhart and the government from the opposition benches at Prime Minister's Questions
Makepeace eventually decided to challenge Urquhart for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Urquhart won the first leadership ballot but not by the required threshold, necessitating a second round. Makepeace's leadership challenge has attracted enough support to convince Urquhart that his position is in jeopardy. He decides to leak information regarding the oil deposits in order to stir up a conflict in Cyprus as "our Falklands" to unite Britain under his leadership. When Greek nationalists kidnap a British diplomat and the Greek Cypriot President Dimitri Nicolaou, Urquhart deploys British troops to retrieve them. Though the troops successfully rescue the hostages, the intervention later results in the death of civilians, including young schoolgirls, largely because of the prime minister's drastic orders.
Urquhart's support plummets, and when he proves unwilling to accept responsibility for the deaths or express sympathy for the victims, many MPs openly call on him to resign. While Urquhart appears defiant, his wife Elizabeth is worried, and she consults Corder for advice on how to save him. Corder advises "drastic measures", and informs her that he has sent a copy of Mattie Storin's tape, revealing Urquhart's role in both her death and the death of Roger O'Neill, to Makepeace.
Makepeace being elected unopposed as Conservative Party leader and prime minister after the assassination of Francis Urquhart
Makepeace confronts the prime minister and announces that he will publish the tape, but not before Urquhart has achieved his aim of surpassing Margaret Thatcher's record. After this, Urquhart again meets Maria. The incriminating Cyprus report has been sent to her father Evanghelos anonymously – presumably by Corder – and Maria vows to publish it. While Urquhart appeared defiant, refusing to resign as he was close to beating Thatcher's record for time served in office, Elizabeth was worried, and she consulted Corder for advice on how to save him. Corder advised "drastic measures". Elizabeth decided to have her husband assassinated to spare him the shame of exposure, resignation, trial, life imprisonment, and historical damnation (his opponents were close to uncovering his shady past).
At the unveiling of the Margaret Thatcher memorial, on the day when Urquhart surpasses her record as the longest serving prime minister in modern history (having been prime minister for 4,228 days – one day longer than Thatcher), a sniper in Corder's services appears on a rooftop and shoots the prime minister. Moments later he shoots Maria's father Evanghelos, who had approached Urquhart with a pistol. Elizabeth had arranged for his assassination as the only way to preserve his reputation and the retirement fund. Urquhart dies in her arms.
Prime Minister (2003-2010)[]
Urquhart's assassination resulted in Makepeace being elected unopposed as the next Conservative Party leader, and succeeded Urquhart as Prime Minister. Makepeace refused to give Carlsen a place in his new government, as he saw her as "pure poison" due to her association with Urquhart. The situation in Cyprus returned to normal, with Makepeace negotiating a new peace treaty. Under Makepeace's leadership, the Conservatives won a landslide victory in the 2005 general election, out of sympathy for Urquhart's assassination two years prior. Their landslide victory in the election was largely out of sympathy for Urquhart's assassination two years prior. However, it's assumed that the Conservatives lost the 2010 general election to Labour, ending 31 years of a Conservative rule of government that began in 1979 under Margaret Thatcher. Makepeace was succeeded as prime minister by the undisclosed Labour leader, and became Leader of the Opposition.
Trivia[]
- In the novel, Tom Makepeace does not challenge Francis Urquhart for the leadership but instead leads a popular movement to undermine the prime minister and his leadership. He is present when Urquhart is shot but does not win the premiership after being tainted by his association with Evanghelos Passolides (In the novel, Urquhart allows himself to be killed by Passolides, martyring himself in the process by pushing his wife Elizabeth out of the way and saving her life). The premiership goes to Maxwell Stanbrook, the Environment Secretary.
- In the novel, Makepeace and Maria Passolides were in an adulterous relationship, which was almost immediately revealed after Maria's father Evanghelos assassinated Urquhart. Criminal-conspiracy charges were considered but nothing could be proved in court, although the circumstantial proof against Makepeace had been established in the minds of the voters long before election day. In the TV miniseries, Makepeace and Maria were not romantically involved and a sniper in Corder's forces assassinated Urquhart as opposed to Maria's father.
- Makepeace can come across as being inspired by Michael Heseltine, who was Defence Secretary in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet before resigning and who then worked to bring her down, finally bringing the leadership challenge against her that caused her to resign; he later served as Deputy PM under John Major and Shadow Deputy PM during Major's brief tenure as Leader of the Opposition under Tony Blair. Even his hairstyle looks similar.
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| Preceded by Francis Urquhart |
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 31 July 2003 - 11 May 2010 |
Succeeded by Unnamed Labour Leader |
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