Yes Prime Minister - The Diaries Of The Right Hon. James Hacker Volume I

by Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay

For all those who laughed at the political wisdom contained in the fictional diaries of The Complete Yes Minister, here is the hilarious sequel in which the hero, Sir James Hacker, successfully fails his way upward to the top political post in Great Britain.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Politics, Comedy

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Jonathan Lynn has directed 10 feature films including the cult classic Clue (he also wrote the screenplay), Nuns on the Run (also written by Mr Lynn), My Cousin Vinny, The Distinguished Gentleman, Sgt. Bilko, Greedy, Trial And Error, The Whole Nine Yards, The Fighting Temptations and most recently, Wild Target. His first produced screenplay was The Internecine Project (1974).

For television, Jonathan’s writing credits include dozens of episodes of various comedy series but he is best known for the phenomenally successful, multi-award-winning BBC series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, co-written and created with Antony Jay.

Jonathan authored the bestselling books The Complete Yes, Minister and The Complete Yes, Prime Minister, which cumulatively sold more than a million copies in hardback and have been translated into numerous languages and are still in print nearly 30 years later; Mayday (1993, revised 2001) and his latest book Comedy Rules (Faber and Faber), which also received rave reviews.

Jonathan made his first professional appearance on Broadway in the revue Cambridge Circus, and his television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, live with 70 million viewers, both at the age of 21. Jonathan’s West End theater debut, aged 23, was as an actor in the role of Motel the Tailor in the original London cast of Fiddler on the Roof. His subsequent London directing credits include: The Glass Menagerie; Songbook (Best Musical, Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award); Anna Christie (RSC, Stratford and the Donmar); Joe Orton's Loot; Pass The Butler by Eric Idle, Shaw’s Arms And The Man and The Gingerbread Man (Old Vic). At the National Theatre, he directed A Little Hotel on the Side by Georges Feydeau and Three Men on A Horse (Olivier Award, Best Comedy). As Artistic Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company, he directed 20 productions, producing 20 others, 9 of which transferred to the West End.

His numerous awards include the BAFTA Writers Award, Writers Guild (twice), Broadcasting Press Guild (twice), NAACP Image Award, Environmental Media Award, Ace Award –Best Comedy Series on US cable, and a Special award from the Campaign For Freedom of Information.

Lynn received an MA in Law from Cambridge University and now lives in New York, describing himself as a recovering lawyer.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second volume of the Hacker Diaries, and the first where Jim Hacker is Prime Minister. About a fifth if the book is devoted to the machinations to get Hacker appointed as PM, and this provides a nice link between the first and the second volumes. It is quite a nice exercise in future history and contains a number of themes that resonate today.

One theme is that Hacker becomes PM because is is the least offensive possibility. Least offensive to the party, least offensive to the Civil Service, and least offensive to his colleagues. There is none of Francis Urquhart about Jim Hacker. That led me to draw a parallel between the appointment of Jim Hacker and that of Theresa May. Both were compromise appointments. Both pleased nobody, but offended nobody either. Here the similarity ends because Hacker becomes more effective than May ever was.

That presents another theme in the book - the PM has tremendous authority, but he also has very little power. Hacker's ability to get things done is eroded by colleagues and officials who water down the attempt to achieve something in government. Hacker may lay out a policy, but if Sir Humphrey opposes it, then it will fail in the detail. This has a complete resonance with current operations in the Cabinet Office. Tony Blair even went as far as set up an Implementation Unit in the Cabinet Office to ensure that policy was being enacted and followed as originally intended. This met with varying success.

And yet, towards the end of the book, Jim Hacker is starting to find a way to call Sir Humphrey to heel. He has some power to go along with his authority and he starts to learn how to use it. This is an area that is quite instructive in how to be obstructive and how to circumvent obstructionism. There is much that can be learned from the stories in the book. If we are to believe Dominic Cummings, much of the content in the book is in Number 10 today.

I quite enjoyed the book. I recall the stories and recall the TV episodes on which they are based. The chapters are crisp and well written. The humour is as fresh as it was 40 years ago and the book hasn't dated at all. It's a really good bedtime read.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

A droll reworking (by the same writers) of the television series broadcast earlier that year. The machinations and absurdities of government are exposed with an equivalent cleverness but the humour is necessarily diminished, coming across in commonplace echoes of the original performances.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tie-in book for the British series of the same name; it is the sequel to "Yes Minister" but in this book, the stakes are higher - Jim Hacker is now the Prime Minister, which gives him more leverage against the Civil Service, but much less power than he expects. This book is not quite as funny as the first book, but still good.

[Rupert Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugely amusing. It is some years since I saw the programmes, but this book brought them all back. Based on the TV scripts, of course, but very well adapted and with some extra bits thrown in for good measure. I would guess that even someone unfamiliar with the tv series would enjoy this book if they have an interest in politics or government. Great stuff.

[Kevin McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think these books and the tv show were genius.

[Kieran Double · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of both Volume 1 and Volume 2.

While I don't think this was as good as 'Yes, Minister', it's still brilliant. Perhaps it was the repetition that made it less enjoyable. I always knew how each chapter was going to end. Nothing changed. Whoever was scheming would be stopped and it was as if the entire chapter hadn't happened. Of course, how exactly said end is reached odes vary considerably and is always done in the best fashion. And the repetition does serve to point out just how obtrusive bureaucracy can be when left unchecked. So I can't really complain too much about that.

That was my only real complaint, though. Other than that... I guess I should watch the TV series.