James George Hacker, Baron Hacker of Islington, ,
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
(
Lond.),
Hon. D. Phil (
Oxon.
The system of academic degrees at the University of Oxford can be confusing to those not familiar with it. This is not merely because many degree titles date from the Middle Ages, but also because many changes have been haphazardly introduced in r ...
) is a fictional character in the 1980s
British sitcom
A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.
Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...
''
Yes Minister
''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...
'' and its sequel, ''
Yes, Prime Minister
''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...
''. He is the
Minister of the (fictional) Department of Administrative Affairs, and later the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
. He was portrayed by
Paul Eddington
Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom '' Yes Minister'' (1980–84) ...
in the original show. In the 2013 revival a new version of Hacker was portrayed by
David Haig
David Haig Collum Ward (born 20 September 1955) is an English actor and playwright. He has appeared in West End productions and numerous television and film roles over a career spanning four decades.
Haig wrote the play '' My Boy Jack'', w ...
.
Fictional biography
Before ''Yes Minister''
Hacker attended the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
(around 25 years before his appointment to the Cabinet
) and graduated with a
third class honours degree.
He had a career in political research, university lecturing and journalism
- including editorship of a publication named ''Reform''
- and was elected as a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
, initially serving as a
backbencher
In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
.
While his party was in opposition, Hacker served for seven years as
Shadow Minister of Agriculture.
During an internal contest for leadership of his party, Hacker ran the campaign of his colleague Martin Walker, but this was unsuccessful, leaving Hacker with a strained relationship with the party leader.
''Yes Minister''
When Hacker was in his late 40s, his party won a general election victory, with Hacker himself being re-elected in the
Birmingham East constituency with an increased majority. Hacker expected to be appointed
Minister of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...
, due to his extensive knowledge of the subject, but the Civil Service, for the same reason, encouraged the new Prime Minister to appoint him elsewhere.
Hacker was appointed Minister of Administrative Affairs. The Department of Administrative Affairs (DAA) was described by a commentator as a "political graveyard", implying the Prime Minister may have chosen it as an act of revenge.
Hacker worked with the ministry's
Permanent Secretary
A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...
,
Sir Humphrey Appleby
Sir Humphrey Appleby is a fictional character from the British television series ''Yes Minister'' and ''Yes Prime Minister''. He was played originally by Sir Nigel Hawthorne, and both on stage and in a television adaptation of the stage show by ...
, who as a senior
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
tries to control the ministry and the minister himself, and his own
Principal Private Secretary
A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family.
The role exists in ...
,
Bernard Woolley
Sir Bernard Woolley, GCB, MA (Oxon) is one of the three main fictional characters of the 1980s British sitcom ''Yes Minister'' and its sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister''. He was portrayed originally by Derek Fowlds, with Chris Larkin taking on t ...
.
Hacker had been helped in his re-election by political adviser Frank Wiesel, saying of him, "I depend on him more than anyone." Initially Hacker brought Wiesel with him to the DAA, but his presence was resented by the civil servants, who referred to him as "the weasel". Eventually Hacker and Wiesel came to conflict when Wiesel proposed reforming the
quango
A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...
system, as he put it, "ending the scandal of ministerial patronage". Sir Humphrey arranged a situation where Hacker could avoid a scandal only by appointing an unqualified candidate to chair such a quango. When Hacker agreed, Wiesel was disgusted and threatened to go to the press, but instead accepted Hacker's offer of heading a well compensated "super-quango" on the abolition of quangos. This left Hacker to be advised entirely by civil servants for the remainder of his time at the DAA.
Hacker hoped for promotion to a more prestigious Cabinet post, such as
Foreign Secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
.
He considered the "top jobs" to be Foreign Secretary,
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
and
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
, and dreaded the prospect of being made
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...
or Minister with General Responsibility for Industrial Harmony.
The Prime Minister still saw Hacker as a supporter of his rival, Martin Walker, and at one point almost abolished the Department of Administrative Affairs, in which case Hacker may have been "kicked upstairs" to the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. Hacker was able to blackmail the Prime Minister into abandoning the idea.
However, fearing demotion in an upcoming
Cabinet reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...
, he seriously considered accepting an offer to become an
EEC
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
Commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
, a move he considered to be "curtains as far as British politics is concerned. It's worse than a
peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks.
Peerages include:
Australia
* Australian peers
Belgium
* Belgi ...
... You're reduced to forming a new party if ever you want to get back," in reference to
Roy Jenkins. Sir Humphrey persuaded Hacker to refuse the offer, and Hacker remained Minister of Administrative Affairs.
Hacker was pleased to take on additional responsibilities while remaining at the same department, including the role of "Transport Supremo", responsible for an integrated transport policy.
Following a cabinet reshuffle, his department absorbed the Local Authority Directorate.
Hacker was awarded an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
of Law from Baillie College, Oxford (a possible reference to
Balliol College
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
), in return for allowing them to continue taking overseas students.
Hacker was appointed
Chair
A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
of his party. When he had held this position for less than a year,
and been a minister for two, the Prime Minister unexpectedly retired. Sir Humphrey, who was now
Cabinet Secretary, encouraged and assisted Hacker in using the position of Chair to his advantage, resulting in Hacker becoming party leader and Prime Minister.
''Yes, Prime Minister''
Although Hacker had believed the Prime Minister had more freedom to act than Cabinet ministers,
he found that in his new role Sir Humphrey was still able to prevent him implementing many of his ideas. Early in his Premiership, Hacker intended to implement what he called his "Grand Design" - actually the idea of the Chief Scientific Adviser - which involved cancelling the
Trident missile programme, enlarging the armed forces and reintroducing
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
.
Sir Humphrey, through the Permanent Secretaries of the various departments, was able to persuade the Cabinet to oppose the scheme.
The former Prime Minister posed a problem for Hacker by describing him unflatteringly in his memoirs.
Hacker was delighted by his sudden death, not only because the memoirs would not be finished, but because the funeral offered the opportunity for him to host an unofficial summit of world leaders, during which he discussed with the French President the terms of joint British-French management of the
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
.
Notable policies that Hacker supported throughout the series have included:
*The sale of the National Theatre building so that the institution could spend more of its budget on productions rather than building maintenance and become truly national by operating out of provincial theatres and low-cost rented offices (albeit as a bargaining chip intended to deter its director from criticising the government in a public speech).
*His Health Secretary's aggressive ameliorative anti-smoking plan involving the banning of tobacco advertising and
increasing taxes on tobacco to sumptuary levels (albeit as a bargaining chip to persuade the Civil Service to agree to one-and-a-half billion pounds' worth of budget cuts so as to avoid the loss of four billion pounds in revenue).
*The establishment of a National Education Service and the abolition of the Department of Education (but backed down after learning from Humphrey that the school which he intended to model his education reforms on had stolen materials for its woodworking classes).
*Reforming local government so that local boroughs were elected by districts of two-hundred households each, effectively being granted their own parliaments and cabinets (but backed down after learning from the plan's proponent, Professor Marriott, that it would, if applied to Westminster, result in the collapse of party discipline and prevent the passage of unpopular but necessary legislation).
*The relocation of military bases from the South of England to the North to create jobs (which was unsuccessfully challenged by the Civil Service and the General Staff through the fabrication of a leadership challenge by the Employment Secretary).
After ''Yes, Prime Minister''
The original television series ended in 1988 with Hacker still in office as Prime Minister; however, both before and after this, writers
Antony Jay
Sir Antony Rupert Jay, (20 April 1930 – 21 August 2016) was an English writer, broadcaster, producer and director. With Jonathan Lynn, he co-wrote the British political comedies '' Yes Minister'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister'' (1980–88). He al ...
and
Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn (born 3 April 1943) is an English stage and film director, producer, writer, and actor. He is known for directing the comedy films such as '' Clue'', '' Nuns on the Run'', ''My Cousin Vinny'', and '' The Whole Nine Yards''. He als ...
made references to Hacker's career in print which reveal his life after the series ended.
In 1981, Jay and Lynn adapted the first series of ''Yes Minister'' into book form, presenting it in the form of Hacker's diaries, ostensibly edited by Jay and Lynn more than thirty years later in 2017. In summarizing his career, they say that he "failed upwards from one senior cabinet post to the next, culminating with his ultimate failure at Number Ten and his final demise on his elevation to the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
(as it then was)."
This would be partly contradicted by the 1984 episode "
Party Games
Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.Frankel, Lillian; ...
", as Hacker does not hold any other cabinet post between being Minister for Administrative Affairs and becoming Prime Minister.
The foreword to the third volume of the book series (published 1983, but dated September 2019) makes clear that Hacker has died, not merely suffered a political demise.
All five volumes of the book series are supposedly written at "Hacker College, Oxford", an institution apparently named after him.
In 2003, Jay and Lynn wrote an obituary for Hacker for ''The Politico's Book of the Dead''.
It gives his dates of birth and death as 18 June 1927 and 4 November 1995, the same as Paul Eddington, the actor who portrayed him. The obituary states that Hacker was Minister of Administrative Affairs (the events of the three series of ''Yes, Minister'') for a period of two years. His time as Prime Minister is also described as brief, finishing in a general election defeat for his party. Despite re-election being Hacker's main motivation throughout the series, it appears that he was in government for only a single term, a maximum of
five years.
The obituary confirms that Hacker was elevated to the House of Lords, taking the title Lord Hacker of Islington, and also reveals that he was made a Knight Companion of the
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...
. Both are customary
retirement honours for former Prime Ministers. Hacker is described as an "Hon. D. Phil", indicating that his honorary law degree from Baillie college was as a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
rather than
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees.
At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...
.
Personal life
Hacker and his wife, Annie, are seen to have one daughter, Lucy, a left-wing activist and
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
student at the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
.
Hacker mentions having more than one child, saying, "Our children are reaching the age where Annie and I are hoping to spend much more time with each other."
Character
Jim Hacker first appears in ''Yes Minister'' having been recently re-elected as Member of Parliament for Birmingham East, soundly defeating his opponents. His early character is that of a very gung-ho, albeit naïve, politician, ready to bring sweeping change into his department, unaware that Sir Humphrey and the civil service are out to stop any semblance of change, despite their insistence that they are his allies. Hacker is also noted as having challenged Humphrey while he was a member of the Opposition by asking difficult questions when Sir Humphrey was testifying to a
Parliamentary committee: Sir Humphrey stated that Hacker had asked "...all the questions I hoped nobody would ask," showing his new Minister to be at least a reasonably capable politician.
Before long, Hacker begins to notice that the Civil Service has been preventing any of his changes from actually being put into practice. Bernard is sympathetic to Hacker's plight and tries to enlighten his Minister as to the tricks and techniques employed by government staff, but his ability to help is limited by his own loyalties in the Civil Service. Hacker soon learns and becomes more sly and cynical, using some of these ploys himself. While Sir Humphrey nearly always gets the upper hand, Hacker now and again plays a trump card, and on even fewer occasions, the two of them work towards a common goal.
Hacker also learns that his efforts to change the government or Britain are all really for naught, as he discovers in the episode "
The Whisky Priest", when he attempts to stop the export of British-made munitions to Italian terrorists.
Throughout ''Yes Minister'', there are many occasions when Hacker is portrayed as a publicity-mad bungler, incapable of making a firm decision, and prone to blunders that embarrass him or his party, eliciting bad press and stern lectures from the party apparatus, particularly the Chief Whip. He is continually concerned with what the newspapers of the day will have to say about him, and is always hoping to be promoted by the Prime Minister (Hacker ran the unsuccessful campaign for a political ally during the party's last leadership election – his man lost, becoming Foreign Secretary, and leaving Hacker nervous about his prospects under the winner, now Prime Minister). He is equally afraid of either staying at his current level of Cabinet seniority, or being demoted.
Just prior to the start of ''Yes, Prime Minister'', Hacker shows a zeal for making speeches and presents himself as a viable party leader after the Prime Minister announces his resignation in the episode "Party Games". He is given embarrassing information about the two front-runner candidates, and manages to persuade them (by insinuating that secret information pertaining to both may be revealed to the public) to drop out of the race, and lend their support to him. With help from the recently promoted Sir Humphrey and other senior civil servants, Hacker emerges as a compromise candidate and becomes head of his party unopposed – and Prime Minister.
In ''Yes, Prime Minister'' Hacker strives to perfect all the skills needed by a statesman, giving more grandiose speeches, dreaming up "courageous" political programmes, and honing his diplomatic craft, nearly all of these attempts landing him in trouble at some point.
In a ''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' interview to promote the latter series, Paul Eddington stated, "He's beginning to find his feet as a man of power, and he's begun to confound those who thought they'd be able to manipulate him out of hand."
Hacker becomes a more competent politician by the end. Though primarily interested in his personal career survival and advancement, he, unlike Sir Humphrey, views government as a means rather than an end in itself.
Interests and habits
Hacker has many prominent habits that feature throughout the series:
* Drinking. Hacker enjoys various
alcoholic beverages
An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...
, particularly
harder liquors, including
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.
All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...
: "the odd drinkie", as he likes to call them. He is seen drunk on more than one occasion and was caught drinking and driving in the episode "Party Games". He used his political immunity to escape charges. He (teaming up with Sir Humphrey) even went as far as to smuggle alcohol into a diplomatic function in Qumran (a dry Islamic oil sheikhdom) by establishing a false diplomatic communications room in ''The Moral Dimension''.
* Disdain for certain types of culture. Sir Humphrey thinks Hacker to be a
cultural philistine who is unaware of the importance of protecting Britain's artistic heritage. Hacker believes it only important to the "upper-class snobs" (such as Humphrey himself), and several other "wet, long-haired, scruffy art lovers", arguing that operas created by Italians and Germans are not representative of Britain's cultural heritage. However, upon the Department of Administrative Affairs gaining responsibility for the Arts after a departmental reshuffle (in "
The Middle-Class Rip-Off"), Hacker asks Humphrey if he could tag along on a gala night at the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
. Humphrey is delighted by the volte-face and declares, "Yes, Minister" enthusiastically. But Hacker and his wife enjoy seeing
foreign films
World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive d ...
, and in the same episode Hacker demonstrates some grasp of art, enough to make a strong case that a disputed
art gallery in his constituency is not worth saving. (See also "Football" below.)
* Pomposity. Hacker is often seen going off into sentimental, overly pretentious speeches either to himself or to Bernard and Sir Humphrey, holding his lapel on his suit jacket in a very royal manner. He also mimicked
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
by slipping his hand in the front of his suit jacket upon hearing he was selected by the party to become party leader and hence Prime Minister. However, it appears that Hacker's political idol is
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
: he occasionally speaks in the statesman's gruff style, on several occasions imitating or paraphrasing Churchill's ''"
We shall fight on the beaches
"We shall fight on the beaches" is a common title given to a speech delivered by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4 June 1940. This was the second of three major sp ...
"'' speech, and is seen reading biographies of him.
*
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
. Hacker believes that sport is of great cultural importance and is even willing to sacrifice a local art gallery in order to bail out his constituency's football team, the fictional Aston Wanderers, that was being threatened with
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
. He did not support the team though, and was mentioned as being an
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
supporter in the first episode.
Political affiliation
Hacker's political party is never explicitly stated – a deliberate ploy by the series' creators to prevent the show from having a partisan affiliation.
This begins in the very first scene of the ''Yes Minister'' pilot episode, where the victorious Hacker's party rosette is white, as opposed to the
red (for Labour) and
blue (for the Conservatives) rosettes worn by the other candidates. The party that formed the previous government, which is now the opposition, is not explicitly identified either. In ''Yes Minister'', the Prime Minister was unseen and unnamed, but established as male, whereas the real Prime Minister of the day was
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
. (The book adaptation by Lynn and Jay gives the Prime Minister a name -- Herbert Attwell -- but it is only mentioned once, and the character remains completely offstage.)
The Labour and Conservative parties are eventually compared in "
The National Education Service", when Sir Humphrey tells Bernard, "When there is a Labour government, the education authorities tell them that comprehensives abolish the class system and when there's a Tory government we tell them that it's the cheapest way of providing mass education; to Labour we explain that selective education is divisive and to the Tories we explain that it is expensive." but Sir Humphrey then goes on to tell Hacker neither of these things, forgoing any suggestion that Hacker is from either party.
In "Party Games", following the Prime Minister's surprise announcement of his retirement, Sir Humphrey and his predecessor Sir Arnold Robinson discuss who should succeed him. With the Home Secretary, previously the Prime Minister's likely successor, being forced to resign following a spectacular drink-driving incident, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary seemed to be the most likely successors. Humphrey relayed the concerns of the Chief Whip that the election of either candidate could split the party, as each one represented the extreme wings of their party, although what positions each candidate or wing supported or opposed was never explained. With both candidates expressing desires to take proactive roles in governing and posing significant security risks, Hacker was positioned to succeed the Prime Minister unopposed as a moderate candidate (otherwise described as a "compromise" or "less interventionist" candidate).
Throughout the show, Hacker's political opinions tend towards reform of administration and are neither left nor right wing.
On first becoming a minister, Hacker intends to implement his party's manifesto commitment to "open government", but backs down when he is shown the dangers of the policy.
He is known as "a good European", a believer in "the European ideal" embodied in the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
, but a critic of the bureaucracy in Brussels,
such as EEC officials being tasked with encouraging farmers to create and destroy agricultural surpluses. In "Party Games", in his bid to become his party's new leader, and thus become Prime Minister, he engineers media and public outrage over the EEC's 'Eurosausage' Plan involving the designation of British sausages as "emulsified high-fat offal tubes" due to insufficient meat content, despite being guaranteed an exemption for British sausages by the relevant EEC Commissioner; whilst admonishing the EEC in a Churchillian speech to party members, Hacker strikes a more conciliatory tone whilst being interviewed by
Ludovic Kennedy
Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans an ...
.
Throughout the series, the party is mentioned as having constituencies in the West Midlands (such as Hacker's seat of Birmingham East), Merseyside, Glasgow, Nottingham and (oddly for a governing British political party) Northern Ireland.
Most of these are described as marginal seats, often mentioned when a potentially unpopular decision is under consideration, such as the revitalisation of a nationalised chemical plant through the production of propanol using metadioxin (a chemical similar to dioxin, linked to the
Seveso disaster
Seveso (; lmo, label= Lombard, Séves ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Monza and Brianza, in the Region of Lombardy. The economy of the town has traditionally been based on the furniture industry.
Its name comes from the river of ...
and purported to cause foetal damage) or introducing ameliorative measures to deter smoking (to the detriment of tax revenue, jobs in the tobacco industry and patronage for culture and sports). The party is also mentioned as controlling the
South Derbyshire Council (criticised by Sir Humphrey for not submitting its records to Westminster but which turned out to be the most effective and efficient local authority in Britain) as well as contesting a by-election in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
.
Other media
In a radio broadcast spoof of ''Yes Minister'' performed by both Eddington and
Nigel Hawthorne
Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne (5 April 1929 – 26 December 2001) was an English actor. He is most known for his stage acting and his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the permanent secretary in the 1980s sitcom '' Yes Minister'' and the Cabi ...
, both of whom played their respective parts from the show, Hacker is a Minister in the government of the day, that of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, who also played herself as Prime Minister. In the sketch, she asks that Hacker and Sir Humphrey abolish
economists
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
.
In the 2010 stage production of ''Yes, Prime Minister'', the role was played by
David Haig
David Haig Collum Ward (born 20 September 1955) is an English actor and playwright. He has appeared in West End productions and numerous television and film roles over a career spanning four decades.
Haig wrote the play '' My Boy Jack'', w ...
;
Graham Seed
Graham Seed (born 12 July 1950, in London) is an English actor.
Education
Seed was educated at Charterhouse School, an independent boarding school in the market town of Godalming in Surrey, followed by RADA in London.
Career
Seed is best kn ...
took the role in a touring production of the play.
Notes
:1.In "The Economy Drive", Annie tells Hacker, "For twenty years you've complained that as a backbencher you had no facilities." Annie must mean that he has been complaining for 20 years, not that he has been a backbencher for all that time. In "Open Government" it is said that he had been a shadow minister - not a backbencher - for "many years"; the book adaptation specifically says seven years.
Hacker is in his late forties (''Open Government'') and graduated from LSE 25 years earlier (''The Official Visit''), so he must have been elected five years after graduation, aged in his late 20s. This suggests Hacker must have had his various other careers, such as editing ''Reform'', at the same time as being an MP, or that he left parliament and later returned. In the ''Yes, Prime Minister'' episode ''A Real Partnership'', Annie says, "You were a backbench MP only five years ago." In the previous episode, Dorothy Wainwright, adviser to Hacker and to the previous Prime Minister, says she has been working at No. 10 Downing Street for three years, so Hacker's party won the general election at least three years earlier.
This would mean Hacker was in the Shadow Cabinet for two years rather than seven.
:2.Hacker's obituary
says that he was a minister for two years. In the ''Yes, Prime Minister'' episode ''The Key'', Dorothy has been at No. 10 for three years.
As a political adviser, she cannot have been there before Hacker's party won the election. However, how much time has passed between ''Party Games'' and ''The Key'' is not specified. In the later episode ''Official Secrets'', Hacker refers to events during his time as a cabinet minister as having taken place five years earlier.
Assuming that the
Parliament Act 1911
The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...
applies in the world of the show, there is a maximum of five years between general elections, so either Hacker has won an election between episodes, or an election is imminent. The obituary implies the latter, stating that Hacker fought and lost a general election after only a short time as Prime Minister.
:3.This implies that the first episode, ''Open Government'', in which Hacker is said to be in his late 40s, takes place no later than 1976, whereas the first book adaptation says it is in 'the 1980s'.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hacker, James
Yes Minister characters
Television characters introduced in 1980
Fictional prime ministers of the United Kingdom
British male characters in television