Malcolm Tucker
Malcolm Tucker is the fictional antihero of the BBC political satire The Thick of It, portrayed by Peter Capaldi. He is the Director of Communications for his party in both Government and Opposition, acting as the Prime Minister's chief enforcer overseeing cabinet ministers. Tucker was originally a secondary character, with Hugh Abbot as the protagonist being watched over by Tucker. However, after Langham left the series the show directed more attention towards Tucker and his dealings with the fictional Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship – originally the Department of Social Affairs in series 1 and 2 – which is portrayed as inept and incompetent. He is one of several characters from the series to appear in the film In the Loop, such as Tucker's deputy, Jamie McDonald, Senior Press Officer at No. 10.
Background and personal life
Other than the fact that he is Scottish and the character traits he exhibits during the series, little is known about Tucker's background or personal life. The nature of his home life is ambiguous and is somewhat contradictory through the course of the series. In the special episode "Spinners and Losers" he is revealed to have a niece; during a rant in front of Ollie in series 4, and speaking of himself in the third person, he explicitly states that he has no children, and in series 3 he is shown spending his 50th birthday alone in his office. However, at other times, there are hints that he has a family; he wears a wedding ring and there are children's drawings on the walls of his office. The reasons for his deep personal animosity towards journalist Simon Hewitt, mostly left open to speculation in the final cut, are explained to Ollie by Terri in one of the deleted scenes: Hewitt's current girlfriend, BBC health correspondent Kelly Grogan, had been Tucker's girlfriend until about three months earlier.Tucker is implied to be a recovering alcoholic on a few occasions, another trait that matches Alastair Campbell. One such example is in Season 3 when he retrieves a bottle of whiskey from his desk and pours a sympathetic drink for Nicola; not only does Tucker not pour one for himself, but he notes it is so unused it has "still got some of Anthony Eden's lipstick on the bottle." Before the start of the series he forced his predecessor Steve Fleming to resign by announcing to the press that Fleming was resigning before even informing him, thereby leaving him no choice. No mention is made of Tucker's professional background before taking the position as Director of Communications for Number 10.
Personality
Tucker's personality makes him infamous and feared along the halls of Westminster. The series contains several scenes denoting a rather complex personality. His short temper means he is likely to verbally abuse anyone who has caused him or the government embarrassment, stress or irritancy with his hallmark of foul language. He acts as the Prime Minister's enforcer to ensure the cabinet ministers all follow the party line, and manages the government's crisis management PR - usually in the form of spin. He regularly uses rumours, smears, or threats of extreme violence to achieve his ends, which he terms "violent sexual imagery", and couples these with snide sarcasm. His fierce reputation for verbally abusing people became what Deputy Minister of DoSAC Fergus Williams referred to as, "a rite of passage" for politicians, to be "Tuckered".Although he frequently engages in profanity-laden rants, in Season 4, Episode 6 his long monologues during The Goolding Inquiry are almost devoid of such language. On a wider scale, and in spite of this brash, impulsive and volatile persona, he is strongly implied to be more intelligent and adept at long-term thinking than all or most of the other characters.
His constant scheming, although borderline "Malchiavellian" in the words of Hugh Abbot, is paradoxically aimed at a common good, namely the prevalence of the party line and the resolution of issues arising from ministerial incompetence, whereas apparently friendly characters such as Ollie come across as covertly self-serving and egotistical by comparison. He is also implied to be a self-made man of humble origins, a firm believer in meritocracy and a staunch opponent of classism and cronyism, such as when he compares the intentions of an MP's daughter to capitalise on her family connections to the practices of the Russian Empire and "the fucking Dimblebys". This probably places him well within the left wing of his own party, which although unnamed is strongly implied to be Labour; at one point aide Jamie even accuses him of being a member of the "Nutters", loosely based on the Gordon Brown faction which heavily contested Blair's Third Way politics.
Accordingly, his demeanour towards working-class characters or anyone deemed a social inferior is sincerely empathetic, gentlemanly and devoid of condescension, as opposed to the obnoxious and patronising behaviour displayed by characters such as Peter Mannion or Stewart Pearson towards hotel receptionists or campaigning youths. The only exception to this behaviour shown is Douglas Tickel, a nurse with mental health problems who becomes a pawn of Tucker's schemes to oust Nicola Murray. The best explanation for this is that the publicity Tickel generated to oppose policies made him fair game in Tucker's eyes. On only two occasions does he show remorse and regret for his actions, the most notable being when he expresses what appears to be genuine remorse towards Glenn after hitting him and breaking his nose. He even feels sorry for Glenn when he has a mini mental breakdown and tries to brighten his mood. His film portrayal, on the other hand, is arguably less sympathetic, and his actions seem less fuelled by ideological persuasion than by an interest to keep his job at all costs.
His reputation precedes him in his own party, amongst the opposition and in the media as shown in newspaper quotes given during The Goolding Inquiry: "Malcolm Tucker has the physical demeanour and the political instincts of a velociraptor" ; "Tucker's writ runs through the lifeblood of Westminster like raw alcohol, at once cleansing and corroding" ; "If you make eye contact with Malcolm Tucker, you have spilled his pint" ; and "Iago with a BlackBerry".
Character relationships
Malcolm is one of four spin doctors featured on the show, the others being Cal Richards, Steve Fleming, and Stewart Pearson, the latter three of whom make up the three spin doctors that are universally feared by ministers and civil servants alike.Cal Richards, nicknamed "The Fucker", is arguably the one person in British politics who is even more aggressive and unpredictable, whose excessively cruel and borderline psychopathic persona gives him legendary status within his party; his one on-screen appearance showed him bullying Pearson by pretending to sack him, and indiscriminately shouting torrents of abuse at the Opposition staff. While no on-screen relationship between him and Tucker is ever shown, The Missing DoSAC Files shows them to be very cordial with one another, partaking in occasional games of tennis. In a deleted scene, Malcolm voices his approval of Cal Richard's appointment as the Opposition's media strategist for the upcoming general election, in spite of the trouble posed by the Opposition having a Malcolm-esque spin doctor during such time.
Steve Fleming, while not as feared as Malcolm, is nonetheless infamous throughout the party for his obsequious, unctuous personality. He is shown to frequently lose his temper and lash out when faced with any opposition from his co-workers, implying he is mentally unstable. Tucker and Fleming harbour a mutual hatred, going back to when Tucker forced Fleming to resign in 2003. Fleming exacts revenge on Tucker by forcing him to resign by informing the press before telling Malcolm; ironically the same way Tucker had forced Fleming to resign. However, upon his re-instatement by key figures in the party, Tucker exacts revenge on Steve by forcing Nicholson to pass the full blame of a recent scandal to Fleming in his inquiry report, forcing him to resign from his position after less than a week.
Stewart Pearson is equally, if not more, unpleasant than his fellow spin doctors, but not nearly as feared by his party or his opponents. Devoid of morals or competence by comparison, he is a cool, calm man who does not usually raise his voice and hides his intellectual mediocrity behind hip, pseudo-modern political jargon, filled with bizarre buzzwords that no-one understands; Adam Kenyon complains that he "need subtitles" in order to be understood. His petulant disposition, indifference for colleagues' and subordinates' opinions, his "touchy-feely" managing style and his entirely unjustified arrogance make his work colleagues despise him. Malcolm does not shy away from demonstrating his hatred of Stewart, branding him as "utterly fucking contemptible". Despite their mutual hatred, they are on occasion able to come to agreements regarding the public appearance of their respective parties - in Season 3 Episode 5 they agree to refrain from political point scoring in the light of a story concerning donations from a prominent sweatshop labour company to both their political parties being made public.
Tucker has very little patience for the incompetence of ministers and other civil servants in Whitehall to the point where he describes himself in series four as having "no real friends". He considered Hugh Abbot to be bumbling, incompetent and out of touch with the public, and was constantly fed up with having to deal with his mistakes. His treatment of Hugh's successor, Nicola Murray, was considerably more sympathetic, with Tucker deeming her a "nice lady", and even helping to advance her rather fanciful policy ideas. However, this professional respect quickly deteriorated following the general election; Nicola's time as Leader of the Opposition was a complete disaster, until Malcolm staged a coup d'état against her, declaring her "a waste of skin". Despite this, he attests at the Goolding Inquiry that he still retained great respect for her as a person and even went so far as to applaud her tenure as Minister of DoSAC.
Despite showing no care for Ollie Reader, Tucker often uses him in his schemes as he does not doubt his basic skills. Like everyone else, he views Ollie as a "wannabe" Malcolm. He tends to threaten Ollie more than other members of DoSAC like Glenn or Terri, implying he finds Ollie more irritating, probably because Ollie is often responsible for the mistakes Malcolm has to manage. Glenn is possibly the only major character to whom Malcolm shows any warmth due to his misfortunes, unwavering loyalty to Hugh Abbot, and the fact he displays more common sense than any of his colleagues. However, Tucker loses all respect for Glenn following his defection, branding him a "traitor" when rebuffing his attempt to re-join Malcolm's party.
The only other person he allows to criticise him without retaliation is fellow Scotsman, Press Officer Jamie McDonald, one of the few people who is arguably more aggressive than Malcolm, who is "let off his leash" to do Malcolm's work for him when Malcolm is otherwise unavailable. Despite his capability as Malcolm's enforcer, Jamie is not as adept at strategic thinking as Malcolm, which the latter comes to recognise when Jamie, due to his hatred of prime minister-in-waiting Tom Davis, leaks rumours about Davis' alleged use of antidepressants, despite the best chance of Jamie and Malcolm's careers surviving the transition lying in supporting Davis.
He has a long-standing rivalry with party life peer Julius Nicholson, who delights in his sacking at the end of series 3, but does help him return to power in the next episode. He also has a rivalry with Pat Morrissey. He hates Cliff Lawton, Hugh's predecessor, who harbours a grudge against Malcolm for forcing him to resign. Cliff hoped to take revenge by becoming prime minister with the help of Jamie McDonald in the special "Spinners and Losers"; this fell apart as soon as Malcolm learnt the identity of Jamie's stalking horse.
He and his personal secretary, Sam, display a genuine affection for one another. He often shouts at her for coffee or to get him on a call with someone, but he is seen speaking fondly of her to Hugh Abbot in Series 2. Despite Tucker's highly vengeful nature, in the immediate aftermath of his own forced resignation at the end of series 3, rather than becoming enraged, he instead tries to reassure Sam and protect her from the men removing him from his office. She is one of the few people who apparently likes Tucker and is visibly upset when he is fired, and she is the only character shown to be amused rather than intimidated or riled by Tucker's acerbic wit. She was present every day at the Goolding Inquiry, her face evolves into visible concern towards the end of the inquiry as she witnesses an end to Malcolm's career.