The Complete Yes Prime Minister - Anthony Jay, Jonathan Lynn

...following that grew up about the television series Yes, Minister and its successor, Yes, Prime Minister. So popular was this show among political types that journalists, politicians and bureaucrats could be assumed to be unavailable whenever this show was on television. Margaret Thatcher even edged her way in by playing a brief scene with Eddington and Hawthorne.

As with many of the better BBC productions, a companion book was released ...
...done in the style of 'The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister'. The successor volume followed Hacker into No. 10 Downing Street with the same flair and hilarity. From the very first page of the forward, the tone is set:

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Before going into politics full time, Hacker (the minister in question) had been first a polytechnic lecturer and, later, Editor of 'Reform'. When the diaries were first transcribed they were hardly readable, ... more

There was a real cult following that grew up about the television series Yes, Minister and its successor, Yes, Prime Minister. So popular was this show among political types that journalists, politicians and bureaucrats could be assumed to be unavailable whenever this show was on television. Margaret Thatcher even edged her way in by playing a brief scene with Eddington and Hawthorne.

As with many of the better BBC productions, a companion book was released to accompany the show. This book is a superb companion, done in the style of 'The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister'. The successor volume followed Hacker into No. 10 Downing Street with the same flair and hilarity. From the very first page of the forward, the tone is set:

-----
Before going into politics full time, Hacker (the minister in question) had been first a polytechnic lecturer and, later, Editor of 'Reform'. When the diaries were first transcribed they were hardly readable, having been dictated very much ad lib, rather like his polytechnic lectures. Furthermore, there were a number of discrepancies in his account of events, both within the book itself and when objectively compared to outside events. Being a journalist, Hacker had no particular talent for reporting facts.
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We are introduced to Jim Hacker, an amiable hack with grand illusions and plans, who comes up against the immovable object of the Civil Service, personified by Sir Humphrey Appleby, whose two primary goals in life were the enlargement of his department and the greatest effort to ensure that nothing be done about anything.

Included as part of this book, we have scraps of papers, reprints of letters and memos, press releases and official statements -- many of which are alluded to but not directly contained in the television series. These touches make this a particular gem, fleshing out the fuller story and making the teleplay more complete.

In these volumes, we learn political truisms such as:

* Never believe anything until it is officially denied.

* In the spirit of Open Government, you should always make public anything that could be easily found out some other way.

* When discussing important matters, such as foreign affairs, the more acronyms and abbreviations, the better.

* Any drive for economy will demonstrate that your department needs more staff to carry out the economies; leaving things alone will require more staff to carry out the unexpected results of current policies.

* A courageous policy is any policy that, while morally superior, will result in losing the next election.

Perhaps the greatest gem in this collection is the speech of Sir Humphrey to a select committee explaining the difference in the policy of administration and the administration in policy:

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Mrs. Betty Oldham: Look, Sir Humphrey. Whatever we ask the Minister, he says is an administrative question for you. And whatever we ask you, you say is a policy question for the Minister. How do you suggest we find out what's going on?

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes, I do think there is a real dilemma here, in that while it has been government policy to regard policy as the responsibility of Minister and the administration as the responsibility of officials, questions of administrative policy can cause confusion between the administration of policy and the policy of administration, especially when responsibility for the administration of the policy of administration conflicts or overlaps with responsibility for the policy of the administration of policy.

Mrs. Betty Oldham: That's a load of meaningless drivel. Isn't it, Sir Humphrey?

Sir Humphrey Appleby: It is not for me to comment on government policy. You must ask the Minister.
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Common wisdom was that reality (in relation to this book/series) was 'twice as true but half as funny'. Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay have done a bang up job in putting this volume together. These are essential books for anyone who has an interest in political satire.

One wonders if Margaret Thatcher thought the idea as funny once it graduated to No. 10. Appleby became chief of the Civil Service, and Bernard Wooley (who writes in the Prime Minister volume his own reminiscences of the times, having himself graduated to that same lofty post Appleby occupied) was Hacker's PPS again in No. 10.

Perhaps the one downside was that many of the scenarios played out while Hacker was Minister for the DAA in 'Yes, Minister' get played out again, sometimes without much variation, in No. 10. A bit more imagination might have been in order, but the stories are so brilliant that this small issue can be overlooked for the most part.
 

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