Yes! The Prime Minister's best bits

SMALL PRINT:THE FONDLY remembered hit 1980s comedy Yes, Minister is to be revived for a new series 25 years after its last episode. A stage version of the show has been a great success, and in these days of spin and counter-spin there is an appetite still for political satire.

As prime minister of Britain Jim Hacker, his permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appelby and principal private secretary Bernard Woolly limber up in the wings for their new TV incarnation, here are some of the show’s best lines:

“The first rule of politics: never believe anything until it’s been officially denied.”

“The Official Secrets Act is not to protect secrets, it is to protect officials.”

“The Foreign Office aren’t there to do things. They’re there to explain why things can’t be done.”

“In Arab countries women get stoned when they commit adultery. In Britain, they commit adultery when they get stoned.”

“You can’t put the nation’s interest at risk just because of some silly sentimentality about justice.”

“ ‘The matter is under consideration’ means we have lost the file. ‘The matter is under active consideration’ means we are trying to find the file.”

“If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth delegating.”