Edmund Allingham

Self-assured, ruthless and selfish, Edmund Allingham is the local MP and now Home Secretary.

He lives at Allingham Hall with his domineering mother, Lady Clem, his brother George, his wife Lady Harriet, his sister Caro and now his illegitimate nephew, Joe.

Upon the death of his father during the first world war (suicide) he became "Lord Allingham". Extremely ambitious and front-footed, Edmund seems to be unfazed by anything.

In private though, things are rather different. He is sometimes frustrated by his mother's views on a traditional family life and how he should live his.

Although a staunched conservative, his personal and professional life are rather different; in public he is the traditional, upfront conservative politician. In private, he is a closet homosexual and in a relationship with a man, Robert Read and the source of many rows between him and his mother.

In spite of his mother's objections and pleas for an heir, Edmund stands his ground and has found a new ally and friend in his wife, Harriet Kilmartin.