The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

How Margaret Thatcher first won and then lost the Tory leadership.

The Rise and Fall of Margaret Thatcher begins after the Conservatives’ defeat in the February 1974 election and shows how Mrs Thatcher unexpectedly captured the party leadership from Edward Heath, propelled by her willingness to challenge him when no one else would.

Act Two starts as Mrs Thatcher celebrates 10 years as prime minister and dramatises the sequence of events which led to her downfall the following year.

The play concentrates on the personalities, rivalries and machinations involved in the leadership battles rather than the wider political issues of the time.

Mrs Thatcher blamed her loss of office on the deceitful treachery of Geoffery Howe, the irresponsible ambition of Michael Heseltine, tawdry Cabinet disloyalty and contemptible backbench weakness. But was that the whole story?