Margery Phipps was a feminist, a vegetarian and an environmentalist. A member of the Harmony Party, she was the first woman to be elected to the Kettering Town Council. She began to be romantically involved with Sergeant Benton when he was sent by the Third Doctor to investigate disappearances and ghost sightings in Kettering.
These occurrences were caused by time travellers from centuries in the future looking for her. In 1992, years in her own future, she became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and negotiated a "deep and lasting" peace treaty between nations. Her book Love is All You Need was still a bestseller 500 years later. The people of Valiador adopted her philosophy and renamed the planet "Kettering" in her honour. Kettering became renowned for its pacifism.
However, this left the planet open to invasion by a species of strip miners called the Blatherians, who sold much of the population into slavery, ten years earlier. Phipps was taken from her own time to be placed on trial for her role in contributing to Kettering's devastation, even though for her the contributions she made had not happened yet. On returning to Earth, she went on a date with Benton. (AUDIO: Council of War)