Maureen Graty

Maureen Graty is a fictional Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland during the mid-point of season 6 of the American television series, The West Wing. She was played by British film and television actress Pamela Salem.

She makes her appearance, though we only see her on television, during episode 14, "The Wake Up Call." During the episode the Iranian Air Force shoot down United Britannia Airlines (a fictional British airline) Flight 101, a Boeing 737 passenger jet with 109 people on board, and the Bartlet White House try their best to prevent the Graty government from using the act as a pretext to possibly unjustified military action against suspected Iranian nuclear facilities.

We are told that Graty is prone to overreaction (although it is also "trouble" when she mulls a decision too long), quoting Churchill, and is battling factions within her own party, the implication being that she is in the mould of Margaret Thatcher. On the Iranian Nuclear issue in particular, many in her government believe she is too soft. We are also told that her Government is unstable, suggesting she may have only a small majority in the House of Commons, and she is subject to "shifty coalitions." It is also said she doesn't think very highly of President Bartlet, who she views as a snob and an elitist. The political party of Graty and her government is not directly stated, but it seems most likely that she is Conservative due to Graty's similarities to Thatcher, her government's Hawkish stance and its somewhat strained relations with the left-wing Bartlet Administration.

In "He Shall, from Time to Time" the Prime Minister is referred to as "Ricky" and in "Shutdown", dated November 2003, the British Prime Minister is mentioned to be male (it is said "the British Prime Minister and his wife are coming to dinner"). Graty herself is first heard when she speaking to President Bartlet on the speaker phone after American Peacekeeping forces have been killed in the Middle East in the episode "The Dover Test" which takes place around October 2005, meaning she came to power some time between then and November 2003. In September 2006 she also attended the funeral of Palestinian Authority Chairman Nizar Farad. A few days after Matt Santos won the 2006 Presidential Election Prime Minister Graty phoned the President-elect to congratulate him on his victory.

Quotes

*In televised address after the loss of Flight 101: "We condemn the attack by Iran against 109 innocent men, women and children aboard an unarmed United Britannia plane. This is a barbaric, monstrous crime committed against Great Britain, against Europe, against the United States, against humanity. There can be absolutely no justification. This shall not stand."

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