Yes, Minister

On the day after the General Election, Jim Hacker MP receives the anxiously awaited call from No. 10 Downing Street with his new ministerial appointment. Jim has revolutionary plans for Open Government.

The Minister has a plan to turn an official visit by the President of Buranda into a political party advantage. The Permanent Secretary dislikes the plan, especially when it precipitates an unforeseen crisis.

The idea of Pruning the Civil Service is a great political platform for the Minister, much to the chagrin of Sir Humphrey Appleby. Perhaps he can find a way to make the Minister abandon the policy.

Jim Hacker wants to protect people's right to privacy, but he encounters stiff resistance from Sir Humphrey. He soon learns that secrecy is as sacred an observance for civil servants as silence is for Trappist monks.

While battling one another on the Civil Service reduction issue, the Minister and Sir Humphrey learn of a plan that would adversely affect them both. They must now work together for the first time.

Are there occasions when a Minister should be kept in the dark? The question takes on new meaning when the Minister's daughter joins a group protesting his plans for administration of the countryside.

The Minister is puzzled by Sir Humphrey's attempts to evade questions about a Departmental construction project in the Midlands. When the awful truth is revealed, the Minister finds himself implicated as well.