Salting the Battlefield 2014

Following their flight from Turks and Caicos, Johnny Worricker [Bill Nighy] and Margot Tyrell [Helena Bonham Carter] hopscotch around Europe to evade capture by MI5, weaving through a tangle of loyalties and hidden agendas. The chase heats up when Worricker spots an MI5 agent he had secretly recruited, disguised as a passing jogger, and he relays orders to his former associate Rollo Maverley [Ewen Bremner] to leak information about Prime Minister Alec Beasley [Ralph Fiennes], Stirling Rogers [Rupert Graves], and the Bridge Foundation. This cat-and-mouse game pulls Tyrell deeper into the loopholes of power as she stays in contact with Worricker’s pregnant daughter, Julianne Worricker [Felicity Jones], from afar, trying to keep her safe amid the surveillance.

Back in London, Acting Director General Jill Tankard [Judy Davis] reaches out to Deputy Prime Minister Anthea Catcheside [Saskia Reeves], offering her services in supporting Catcheside’s embattled husband, Bill Catcheside [James McArdle], and navigating the political wreckage around Beasley’s government. Worricker and Tyrell split up to confuse their pursuers, with Worricker slipping away by ferry across the English Channel while an MI5 misstep on Tyrell’s trail leads to a close call on the Eurostar. Maverley steps in again, guiding Tyrell to the refuge of Rev. Bernard Towers [Malcolm Sinclair], a Cambridge friend of Johnny’s, where she finds temporary safety.

Worricker reaches out to Belinda Kay [Olivia Williams], editor-in-chief of The Independent, and lays bare the mechanics of the financial web tying Beasley, Rogers, and the Bridge Foundation. The resulting Page Eight-style exposé forces Rogers to resign and leaves Beasley scrambling to defend his political future, even as he contends with the mounting pressure to step down. Tyrell’s world grows shakier when Julianne reveals to her that her boyfriend, Jez Nichols [Shazad Latif], is MI5’s plant, assigned to bug her flat, complicating the already fragile trust between families.

A pivotal meeting with Beasley at 10 Downing Street follows, where he confesses plans to exit the office and take the title of Consul General to Iran, backed by United Nations cover and American funding. Tankard, meanwhile, reveals that she has quietly steered Worricker back toward MI5, using her network to shepherd Beasley’s fall while keeping Julianne and Tyrell safe—and ensuring Maverley’s reinstatement, too. The political maneuvering tightens like a knot as Tankard leverages Bill Catcheside’s legal troubles to gain influence over the Deputy Prime Minister, while Beasley’s succession plan lingers in the background.

With the clock ticking, Tankard presses Worricker to return to MI5, trading safety for a calculated return to duty and a careful balance of power. Back in Tyrell’s apartment, the uneasy calm is interrupted by the news that Julianne is in labor, and Tyrell contemplates the uncertain future as she prepares to leave for Hong Kong to join a start-up. The film closes on a quiet, resolute note: Tyrell exits in a taxi, Julianne welcomes a new life into the world, and Worricker braids his path back toward the MI5 headquarters, stepping into the city’s gray dawn with a renewed sense of purpose.