I saw Jonathan Maitland's play "Dead Sheep" in Birmingham some years ago, and this amusing BBC Radio play is based on that drama, adapted by Maitland. Basically the relationship between the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the wife of the Foreign Secretary, Lady Elspeth Howe, was described by Cabinet Minster John Biffen as being like "wasps in a jam jar". They broadly hated each other, and Elspeth's work on behalf of the homeless and other charities rankled Mrs Thatcher terribly. She preferred her Ministers to have dutiful wives "in the home", not advocating publicly for policies critical of the Government. Thatcher bullied Elspeth's husband Geoffrey Howe terribly, and in 1990 eventually downgraded him from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the Commons, removing his right to use the grace and favour residence "Chevening House" allocated to Foreign Secretaries. Eventually Howe had too much, resigned, and in a speech from the back benches lambasted Thatcher and her style, which led one week later to her resignation, and then the election of John Major. In the play the pivotal role Lady Howe had in giving her husband "back bone" to stand up to the Prime Minister is described in flash back as she is interviewed in the Lords by a journalist, played by Jonathan Maitland himself. Under Major, Howe went to the Lords. Drama based on events you lived through is always fun, and this was very enjoyable. Elspeth Howe was played by Penelope Wilton, Margaret Thatcher by Harriet Walter, Geoffrey Howe by James Fleet, Alan Clark/Nigel Lawson by Jonty Stephens, Ian Gow/Brian Walden by Simon Greenall, the Journalist by Jonathan Maitland, and the Commons Speaker by Hamilton Berstock. The Director/Producer was Gary Brown. First broadcast June 2023.