The Hacker Ministry is the fictional British governing administration of the Right Honourable James "Jim" Hacker, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as portrayed in the classic British sitcom, Yes, Prime Minister.
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Tenure of government
The tenure of Hacker's government began in the mid-1980s and ended at some unknown point, as there was no firm conclusion to the series. Hacker was shown becoming Prime Minister in the episode "Party Games," a 1984 Christmas special set over Christmas and New Year at an unknown date. When Yes, Prime Minister began in 1986, he had been Prime Minister "for three days"; in a later episode his wife remarks "you were a back-bench MP only five years ago." Assuming Mrs Hacker is being exact rather than semi-rhetorical, this is difficult to square with his becoming a minister in an episode broadcast in 1980 (but filmed before the 1979 general election), after some months if not years on the Opposition front bench. At the same time, the novelisation of "Yes Minister" implies that Hacker served as Minister of Administrative Affairs until the events of "Party Games" for two years, which may state that Hacker started his premiership two years after the general election.
In the novelization, Sir Humphrey's personal papers were released under the Thirty Year Rule in 2019. These papers began from the start of Hacker's career at the Department of Administrative Affairs, and must have completed by 1989, thirty years prior to their release. We can therefore conclude that all of "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" took place prior to 1989.
The government
Hacker's party holds a parliamentary majority in the House of Commons[citation needed]. Listed below are the members of Hacker's Cabinet, as much as is disclosed during the airing of the series.
Information is also reaped from the novelisation. It should be noted that information contained in the novelisation does not always correspond precisely with the happenings in the television show, perhaps for the sake of continuity (e.g. although there is a new Foreign Secretary in Yes, Prime Minister, the book notes that the Foreign Secretary from the Yes Minister episode "Party Games" still holds the post).
Consequently, this list is by no means complete or comprehensive, as the names of those holding many portfolios in Hacker's government were never revealed or discussed.
Her Majesty's Government
Note: persons asterisked (*) indicates they were named only in the novelisation
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
- Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury: Rt. Hon. James George Hacker
- Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury: Rt. Hon. Eric Jeffries
- Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Rt. Hon. Duncan Short
- Secretary of State for Defence: Rt. Hon. Sir Maxwell Hopkins*
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- Parliamentary Private Secretary for Defence: Hugh Halifax
- Secretary of State for Education and Science: Rt. Hon. Henry Snodgrass
- Secretary of State for the Environment: Rt. Hon. Brian Smithson*
- Secretary of State for Transport: Rt. Hon. Neil Hitchcock*
- Secretary of State for Trade and Industry: Rt. Hon. Geoffrey Pickles*
- Chief Whip: Rt. Hon. Jeffrey Pearson
- Party Chair: Neil (surname unknown)*
Junior Ministers
- Solicitor General: Sir Robin Evans*
- Minister of State for Health: Leslie Potts
- Minister for the Arts: Nick Everitt*
Former Ministers
- Duncan Short, former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; the novelisation notes Duncan holds this post throughout the series
- Paul Sidgwick*, former Secretary of State for Defence
- Hugh (surname unknown)*, former Secretary of State for Defence
- Tom (surname unknown)*, former Secretary of State for Employment
- Dudley Belling, former Secretary of State for Employment
- Leslie Potts, former Minister for Sport (prior to his promotion to Minister of State for Health)
- Dr. Peter Thorn, former Minister of State for Health
Her Majesty's Civil Service
Departmental Permanent Secretaries
- Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service: Sir Humphrey Appleby
- Permanent Secretary of the Treasury: Sir Frank Gordon
- Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Sir Richard Wharton
- Permanent Secretary at the Home Office: Sir Ernest Roach*
- Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence: Sir Alan Guthrie*
- Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Security: Sir Noel Whittington*
- Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Science: Sir Giles Bretherton*
- Permanent Secretary of the Department of Employment: Sir David Smith*
Former Permanent Secretaries
- Sir Norman Block*, former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence
- Sir Norman Coppitt*, former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence
Downing Street Advisors and Staff
- Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister: Bernard Woolley
- Chief Political Advisor to the Prime Minister: Dorothy Wainwright
- Chief Scientific Advisor: Professor Isaac Rosenblum*
- Press Secretaries: Malcolm Warren and Bill Pritchard
- Foreign Affairs Private Secretary: Peter Gascoigne
- Home Affairs Private Secretary: Graham French
- Appointments Secretary: Peter Harding*
Senior Officials
- Leader of the Opposition: George Hedley*
- Director General of MI5: Sir Geoffrey Hastings
- Chief of the Defence Staff: (initially in the book General) Field Marshal Sir Geoffrey Howard
- Governor of the Bank of England: Sir Desmond Glazebrook
References
- Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn
- The Complete Yes Prime Minister by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn
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