Part of this movie, towards the end, was set at the Conservative Party annual conference in Brighton in 1982, and was actually filmed at that event. In one shot at the conference, Penfield is seen lighting a cigarette amongst a crowd of conference delegates, and just behind his right shoulder is John Major, who succeeded Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister.
Filming at the 1982 British Conservative Party Conference featured at the end of this movie was allegedly done undercover by the production without permission from or knowledge by the British Conservative Party.
The military conflicts, to which were referred in this movie, were the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis and the 1982 Falklands War. Both disputes ran for fairly short periods, the Suez Crisis for just ten days, and the Falklands War for two months, one week, and five days.
The "Ploughman's Lunch" of the title is a reference to an English meal, which is served cold. It consists of bread, butter, cheese and chutney, but may also include ham, boiled eggs and pickled onions. One is seen consumed in the movie when Matthew Fox (Frank Finlay) and James Penfield (Jonathan Pryce) have a "Ploughman's Lunch" with a beer at a pub in London. The title also calls attention to the class differences between Penfield and most of his contemporaries.
This movie is set in Thatcherite Britain of the early 1980s. The movie is considered a critique, commentary and satire about Margaret Thatcher's administration.