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To celebrate a trade agreement with the Qumrani gouvernment, the
Minister for Administrative Affairs Hacker (Paul Eddington), his wife (Diana
Hoddinott), his personel secretary Bernard (Derek Fowlds) and his
permanent secretary Humphrey (Nigel Hawthorne), plus a small delegation of
civil servants (no more than an airplane full of them) go to Qumran to
attend an official function ... but since Qumran is an Islamic country,
that means no alcohol - and an official function without alcohol seems
like torture, so Hacker comes up with the splendid idea to smuggle alcohol
into the Qumrani palace by setting up a newsroom, and get the drinks
pretending to get messages.
Hacker, getting drunk & drunker, is also presented with a 17th
century rosewater jar, whioch his wife finds awfully nice and wants to
keep ... but since the jar is also awfully precious, Bernard informs her
she can't, unless it is valued under 50 Pounds ... but soon enough he
finds someone to value it that cheap - and at the same time learns that
the whole agreement is based on massive bribery ...
Hacker doesn't learn about the bribery until back in Britain, and at
first he wants to admit everything to the press because of the moral
dimension, despite Humphrey urging him not to ("Of course bribery
is not gouvernment policy, it's merely gouvernment practice"). Even
when Humphrey tries to bring up Hacker's wife's rosewater jar, which is
about to cause another scandal, Hacker can't be dissuaded. It's only when
Hacker is reminded of his own idea to get drunk at the Qumrani official
function - a no-no in Islamic countries and a diplomatic faux-pas if there
ever was one -, Hacker suddenly sees the whole thing in a differnet light
... and he not only denies everything towards the press, he even scolds
the poor investigative reporter (April Walker) who thinks she's onto him
for trying to tear down his achievements with a smear-campaign ...
Even if once again a stringent story is missing in this episode (like
in so many of the third season of Yes Minister), it is still
sharp political satire, well-played and with some great dialogue.
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