Here are some of the hilarious one liners from BBC's "Yes Prime minister" series...
"The Official Secrets Act is not to protect secrets, it is to protect officials."
"The perfect representative on a government committee is a disabled black Welsh woman trades unionist."
"Conjurors offer the audience any card in the pack and always get them to take the one they want. This is the way we in the Civil Service get Ministers to take decisions."
"It is my job to protect the Prime Minister from the great tide of irrelevant information that beats against the walls of 10 Downing Street every day."
"A good political speech is not one in which you can prove that the man is telling the truth; it is one where no one else can prove he is lying."
"Politicians speeches are not written for the audience to which they are delivered. Delivering the speech is merely the formality that has to be gone through in order to get the press release into the newspapers."
"Ministers do not believe they exist unless they are reading about themselves in the newspapers."
"It is our job to tell Select Committees the truth and nothing but the truth. But it would be profoundly inappropriate and grossly irresponsible to tell them the whole truth."
"Ministers must never go anywhere without their briefs, in case they get caught with their trousers down."
"Two kinds of government chair correspond with the two kinds of minister: one sort folds up instantly and the other sort goes round and round in circles."
"If people don't know what you're doing, they don't know what you're doing wrong."
"It is sometimes difficult to explain to Ministers that open government can sometimes mean informing their Cabinet colleagues as well as their friends in Fleet Street."
"Minister's language: 'We have decided to be more flexible in our application of this principle' means 'We are dropping this policy but we don't want to admit it publicly'. "
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