According to Sergio Angelini, writing for the BFI Screenonline website, Stand Up, Nigel Barton is "in some ways the most nakedly autobiographical of Dennis Potter's works".
The idea of basing the play around Barton's television interview was inspired by Potter's own contribution in 1958 to the Labour politician Christopher Mayhew's BBC series Does Class Matter?
[3] Potter stood as the Labour candidate for Hertfordshire East, a safe Conservative seat, in the general election of 1964, against the incumbent Derek Walker-Smith.
When he returns home for the summer Nigel finds himself a figure of suspicion for some members of the community, who believe that he has betrayed his roots by taking up his university scholarship.
Back at New College, Nigel attends a party where he meets an upper-class girl called Jill (Vickery Turner) who becomes enamoured of his unwillingness to adapt to the new social codes he encounters at university.
He is also approached by a television producer who has witnessed Nigel in the debating chamber discussing class conflict and asks him to appear in a documentary on the subject.
After the Conservative MP for West Barset is killed in a hunting accident Nigel Barton is persuaded to stand again for Parliament as the Labour candidate in the upcoming by-election, much to the disapproval of his wife, Ann (Valerie Gearon).
Even though he was defeated in the same constituency in the general election the year before, Nigel is enthusiastic about the prospect of a political career and consults his former agent, Jack Hay (John Bailey), on launching the campaign.
Jack arranges for Nigel to make several public speaking engagements, which terminate in a disastrous meeting at the local Women's Institute.
After a party debate at the town hall, Ann chastises him for his "cynical" performance, commenting that his idealism and conviction are being overwhelmed by Jack's influence.
Nigel and Jack leave to get ready for a dinner being held by the Lord Mayor where both candidates will make their final public appearances before the by-election.
In his own speech he begins to attack the "empty platitudes" of all three major parties, much to the disgust of the other dinner guests, who attempt to silence him by banging on the table.