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When the head of state of Buranda, a former British colony, comes for a
visit to maybe sign a deal for some British oil rigs, minister for
administrative affairs James Hacker (Paul Eddington) sees a great
opportunity to not only sell the president the oildrills bt also use
it for the bi-election in Scotland ... which is why he organizes the visit
to be in Scotland, much to the dismay of his permanent secretary &
permanent adversary Sir Humphrey (Nigel Hawthorne).
But then something happens - A coup d'état in Buranda, & the new
president, Selim Mohammed (Thomas Baptiste) might be a Marxist ... &
he still wants to pay Britain a visit & needs the oil rigs - & the
minister, still hoping for a boost for the bi-election, agrees.
Then though the minister, Humphrey & pretty much everyone else in
the cabinet get an advance copy of Selim Mohammed's big speech, in which
he encourages the Scottish people to rise up against their British
oppressors & shake the chains of colonialism ... & suddenly the
idea to invite him to help in the bi-elections doesn't seem to good
anymore. So the cabinet sends Harker to negotiate, because he knows Selim
Mohammed from university & was the strongest supporter of the visit in
the first place. & Humphrey is sent with the minister.
But Selim Mohammed's conditions are very simple: A loan of 50 million
pounds, to be payed back in the next 10 years without interest - which is
pretty much the money he would need to buy the oil rigs. When harker
agrees to this, just to save his own face, Humphrey is shocked. Only when
the minister tells Humphrey that his future title as KBE (Knight of the
British Empire) would also be at stake does Humphrey realize he has a
price as well.
Mean political satire, greatly played, which results in great comedy.
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