The Kingmaker: All the world’s a stage for former Thatcher adviser Bill Robinson
To be or not to be? It’s the age-old question that every former economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher asks themselves when they come to write for the stage. Of course it is…
And so it is that Bill Robinson, chief economist at KPMG and the late Lady Thatcher’s adviser, wrote The Kingmaker, which opens tonight at St James Theatre in what tourist guides describe as “London’s West End”.
Robinson draws on his excellent and intimate knowledge of the political machinations we all know and despise.
The Kingmaker is a wry take on “Prince of Darkness” Lord Peter Mandelson’s role in the power struggle for Number 10 between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown during the nineties and noughties.
It begs the question: who will be the kingmaker in the next General Election.
Without wishing to give too much away, The Capitalist can reveal that the sell-out depicts a civil war raging between the north and the south. King John’s northern forces are no match for Queen Marguerita until Prince Peter, the eponymous kingmaker (He’s behind you!), persuades the heir-apparent, Prince Gordon, to enlist the aid of Prince Anthony, from Middle England.
The two men become friends and allies but just as they are starting to win the war, King John dies.
Prince Peter’s manoeuvres ensure that, to Gordon’s fury, Anthony ascends the throne with the support of his strong-minded wife – Sherry – and then he is banished to faraway Brussels.
Machiavellian or what?