House of Cards

Urquhart’s bad dreams are worsening and Elizabeth is worried about him. He is making bad decisions, such as appointing Geoffrey Booza Pitt as his Foreign Secretary to replace Makepeace. Claire is shocked when Makepeace announces he is breaking off their relationship. Urquhart is complacent, but even he is stunned when Makepeace reveals that he is standing for the Party leadership. Claire arouses Maria’s suspicions when she tells her that Urquhart is unable to help her trace her uncles’ graves and suggests that Maria go to Makepeace for help. Geoffrey and Claire are running Urquhart’s leadership campaign, but he has only a small majority of MPs backing him. Urquhart seeks to avert the gathering disaster by announcing the happy news of the consolidation of the Cyprus Peace Treaty through the agreement of the sea boundaries. Elizabeth meets Nures again and learns that the first half of a substantial consultancy fee has been paid into a Swiss bank account. Makepeace attacks Urquhart in the House about the cover-up on the Cyprus war graves.Then the leadership ballot results prove disastrous for Urquhart. He knows he needs a miracle to save him. A flash of inspiration; he will leak information about the oil find and persuade the Greek Cypriots that they have been deliberately swindled.