Michael Dobbs - the author of the House of Cards talks about real politicians and another fictional invention.

Michael Dobbs was a very successful politician in his youth. He was labelled as the Tories baby faced hit man.

But then he turned to fiction but still writing about politics .... House of Cards was his invention.

After the loathsome amoral Francis Urquhart he came up with Thomas Goodfellowe MP.

Around 20 years ago Michael met David Freeman and they started their conversation musing on how party discipline was achieved in Westminster.  Around that time he had said of the Tory government 

'We have a flat pack Cabinet that threatens to collapse every time you turn the telly on'

Maybe nothing changes!