Ian Richardson credited as playing...
Francis Urquhart
- Elizabeth Urquhart: You trust her?
- Francis Urquhart: Yes. Up to a point.
- Elizabeth Urquhart: If you wanted to be quite certain of her loyalty, perhaps one night when you're in town and I'm here in the country... Well, I should quite understand, Francis. I'll leave that up to you entirely.
- Francis Urquhart: A party conference can be many things: a show of confidence, an agonising reappraisal, or, as in this cases, a series of auditions by pretenders to the throne while the lost leader withers before our very eyes.
- Francis Urquhart: So, the party's over. It's a quiet night, our fortunes prosper well. The Foreign Secretary finds succour from the harsh affairs of state in the soft fragrance of a daughter of the game.
- [glances at tape recorder]
- Francis Urquhart: One for the archives, if he did but know it. And all the while, Landless's armies are labouring for me through the darkness towards dawn, telling the story. A leader out of touch. A man of straw clutching at straws, his future closing in front of him like a fist. Who would be a leader in this wicked world?
- [last lines]
- Mattie Storin: You mustn't underestimate your abilities. Really. You know you could go much further than you have done, don't you?
- Francis Urquhart: Do you think so?
- Mattie Storin: If you put your mind to it, I think you could achieve anything you wanted.
- Francis Urquhart: You might think that, Mattie. I'm afraid I couldn't possibly comment.
- Francis Urquhart: [commenting on the party conference speakers] Michael Samuels - environment. Intelligent, sensitive, caring - all in the same sentence, I bet you.
- Michael Samuels: ...that doesn't mean a return to subsistence farming. What it does mean is *sensitive exploitation* of natural resources, *intelligent* self-interest to motivate long-term gains in a *caring* capitalist concept.
- Francis Urquhart: Told you.
- Mattie Storin: Do you think he tipped his brother off about those shares?
- Francis Urquhart: I find it impossible to believe that Henry Collingridge could do a thing like that. I've always considered him a totally honourable man.
- Mattie Storin: But...?
- Francis Urquhart: But, Mattie?
- Mattie Storin: Not quite up to his job.
- Francis Urquhart: Mattie, you might very well think that, you know I couldn't possibly comment.
- Mattie Storin: I think you underestimate yourself and that's a shame.
- Francis Urquhart: Underestimate myself? In what way?
- Mattie Storin: You underestimate your ability and your capacity for power, I think. And I think you underestimate your personal attractiveness.
- Francis Urquhart: Now that is absurd, Mattie. You can't expect me to fall for that. I'm old enough to be your father.
- Mattie Storin: Perhaps that's something to do with it.
- Francis Urquhart: [aside] After the silly season comes the conference season. Opposition did rather well this year. Abandoned their usual tactic of squabbling in public and shooting themselves in the foot and had a go at us, in particular the Prime Minister, very unsporting of them.
- Francis Urquhart: [aside] A party conference can be many things. A show of confidence, an agonizing reappraisal, or, as in this case, a series of auditions by pretenders to the throne, while the lost leader withers before our eyes.