Yes Minister (TV Series)
The Whisky Priest (1982)
Paul Eddington: James Hacker
Photos
Quotes
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James Hacker : [Last lines]
[Drunk]
James Hacker : I'll tell you about government. You must always do the right thing. But, you must never let anybody catch you trying to do it. Because doing right's wrong, right?
Annie Hacker : Haven't you had enough, darling?
James Hacker : Still some left in the bottle. No, the thing about government is principle, and the principle is you mustn't rock the boat, because if you do, all the little consciences will fall out. And you must all hang together. Because if you don't hang together, you'll be hanged separately. I'm hanged if I'll be hanged! You know, politics is about helping others. Even if that means helping terrorists. Terrorists are others, aren't they? Not us, are they? No. And you must always follow your conscience, but you must always know where you're going. So you can't follow your conscience. Cause it may not be going the same way you are.
[Picking up the whiskey bottle]
James Hacker : Empty... like me. I'm a moral vacuum.
Annie Hacker : Oh, cheer up, darling. Nothing good comes out of Whitehall. You did what you could.
James Hacker : You don't really mean that.
Annie Hacker : I do.
James Hacker : No, I'm just like Humphrey and all the rest of them.
Annie Hacker : Now that's certainly not true.
James Hacker : No?
Annie Hacker : He's lost his sense of right and wrong. You've still got yours.
James Hacker : [Depressed] Have I?
Annie Hacker : It's just that you don't use it much. You're a sort of whiskey priest. You do at least know when you've done the wrong thing.
James Hacker : Whiskey priest?
Annie Hacker : That's right.
James Hacker : Good. Let's open another bottle.
Annie Hacker : We haven't got one.
James Hacker : That's what you think.
[He opens one of the red boxes beside him and pulls out a full bottle of whiskey, much to Annie's bemusement]
James Hacker : Who said nothing good ever came out of Whitehall? You want one?
Annie Hacker : Yes, Minister.
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James Hacker : A confidential source has disclosed to me that British arms are being sold to Italian terrorists.
Sir Humphrey Appleby : I see. May I ask who this confidential source was?
James Hacker : Humphrey, I said it was confidential.
Sir Humphrey Appleby : Sorry. I naturally assumed that meant you were going to tell me.
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Sir Humphrey Appleby : It's not my job to care. That's what politicians are for. My job is to carry out policy.
James Hacker : Even if you think it's wrong?
Sir Humphrey Appleby : Almost all government policy is wrong... but frightfully well carried out!
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James Hacker : Have you ever known a civil servant resign on a matter of principle?
Sir Humphrey Appleby : I should think not! What an appalling suggestion!
