British MPs echo 'House of Cards' in political skullduggery

As House of Cards returns to British TV screens for a third series, the MPs who inspired its scheming anti-hero are playing out their own tragicomedy before a general election, complete with plot twists that would do the show's characters proud.

Many British MPs love the show and one of its catchphrases - "You might very well think that, I couldn't possibly comment" - has been used repeatedly on the floor of the House of Commons.

But some complain that political dramas like House of Cards are an unfair portrayal of real life in Westminster's neo-Gothic halls and corridors.

Although the US Netflix series starring Kevin Spacey as politician Frank Underwood is set in the White House and Washington, the original show upon which it is based was a dark satire on the ruthless machinations of the British Parliament and No 10 Downing Street.

"There's probably a grain of truth in it but I don't think we're quite as ruthless as bumping people off," Conservative lawmaker Michael Fabricant said in a Houses of Parliament tea room.

"Or let's put it this way, I haven't found out," said Fabricant, a fan of the show who was an adviser on the original British TV version of House of Cards.

The hit Netflix series is based on the 1990s books and BBC TV series by Michael Dobbs, once a senior adviser to Margaret Thatcher who is now, as Baron Dobbs of Wylye, a member of Britain's House of Lords.