The 4 stage plan is brilliant Stage 1: We say nothing is going to happen. Stage 2: We say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it. Stage 3: We say maybe we should do something about it, but there's nothing we can do. Stage 4: We say maybe there was something, but it's too late now. It’s definitely one of my favourites in the show

In the 1890's a German diplomat said to a French diplomat "The problem with you democracies is that your always changing your foreign policy every time you change your government!". The Frenchman replied "Actually when you look at the history of democracies there is more consistency with their policies. It's when the power is in the hands of one individual that you have more uncertainty of policy"

We give them every support, short of help. Brutal.

MPs are elected 'Members of Parliament', meaning members of the House of Commons. Even the Prime Minister is an MP. The House of Commons has 2 sets of benches. There are the Government benches, where the MPs of the governing party (or parties) sit. Opposite and directly facing the government benches, are the Opposition benches. The Opposition benches are filled by MPs from the parties that aren't in government. Executive power is held by the Cabinet and the Cabinet are the MPs, appointed by the Prime Minister, to run the various departments of state, such as Education, Health, Defence etc. They are usually called 'Secretary of State' or 'Minister'. The Prime Minister is usually the head of the largest party and/or is able to command a majority in the House, sometimes in coalition with other parties. The largest opposition party are titled Her Majesty's Official Opposition. The leader of this party chooses a Shadow Cabinet, to 'shadow' the Cabinet. Thus there will be a Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Education, Defence etc. The Cabinet and the Shadow Cabinet sit on the front benches on their side of the chamber, just a few feet across from each other. Thus, members of both the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet are referred to as 'frontbenchers'. MPs not in either the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet sit in the rows of benches behind the front benches and are thus referred to as 'backbenchers'. :)

Bernard is the Prime ministers personal private secretary . Humphry is the head of the civil service. James Hacker is the minister and later on prime minister. Sadly Paul Eddington was already seriously ill when the second series was filmed and he passed away of Prostate cancer soon after. He was such a sad loss

Bernard is the PM’s private secretary. Humphrey is head of the civil service, the other guy is the civil service head of the Foreign Office (deals with the U.K. foreign affairs) and reports to Humphrey.

In Seasons 1 and 2, James "Jim" Hacker (not in this scene) is minister in the fictional "Ministry of Administrative Affairs". He becomes minister in the very first episode after his (unnamed) party wins an election. He is introduced to the Permanent Secretary of the Department, Sir Humphrey Appleby, and his Principle Private Secretary, Bernhard Wooley. These two are professional civil servants/bureaucrats, while Hacker is a politician with a background in journalism. Basically, Hacker hasn't a clue about the internal workings of government and it is really Humphrey and his collegues who run the government and the country. So there is a constant powerstruggle between Hacker and Humphrey, with Bernhard torn between his loyalties to both of them. In the last episode of season 2, Humphrey becomes Cabinet Secretary and thus the most powerful man in the country, since he is now the highest ranking civil servant and can influence the Prime Minister. However, because of some political shenanigans, he effectively makes Hacker the next (easy to manipulate) PM and Bernhard becomes Hackers head private secretary in Downing Street Number 10. This is the constellation we see here. The power struggle has moved to a higher level.

You are right, the PM isn’t in this clip. He was the gentleman you pointed your cursor at earlier on! Oh and you need to check out the “State of Education” clip. Bit of wonderful comic timing from Bernard.

Connar, your question: “What is a ‘Backbench’ MP?”. In the British Parliament, we have a ‘Frontbench’ of MP’s who are Government Ministers, ‘elected’ to the House of Commons, and ‘appointed’ to the House of Lords. Government Ministers, make ‘political decisions’ and lead the ‘policy making’ of the political offices of state. They are the ‘Executive Ministers of State’, Chancellor of the Exchequer (Chief Finance Minister), Foreign Secretary, Minister of Defence, Health& Social Welfare Secretary, etc. ‘Backbench’ MP’s are all other MP’s, ‘elected’ to the House of Commons, and ‘appointed’ to the House of Lords. That have no ‘ministerial’ responsibilities. They sit behind the ‘Frontbench’ of MP’s who are Government Ministers, in the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. This system is ‘mirrored’ with the Official Opposition party (today the Labour Party), the ‘Government in Waiting’ having it’s own ‘Shadow Ministers’ to those of the Government (today the Conservative Party). That are the ‘Shadow Executive Ministers of State’: Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (Shadow Chief Finance Minister), Shadow Foreign Secretary, Shadow Minister of Defence, Shadow Health& Social Welfare Secretary, etc. This system is ‘mirrored’ with the Official Opposition party ‘Backbench’ MP’s who are all ‘political opposition party’ MP’s, ‘elected’ to the House of Commons, and ‘appointed’ to the House of Lords. That have no ‘ministerial’ responsibilities. They sit behind the Official Opposition ‘Frontbench’ of MP’s who are ‘Shadow Executive Ministers of State’, in the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. Frontbench’ MP’s have ‘ministerial’ responsibilities, and direct ‘policy making powers’. ‘Backbench’ MP’s have none. Neither do the Shadow Ministers of the Official Opposition party. Government Ministers, have such powers.

An MP is a Member of Parliament, and elected representative. Similar to a Congressman. A back bench MP simply denotes that they aren't in charge of a department or have a specific responsibility. A Cabinet Minister is in charge of a department, Minister For Trade, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer, etc. They have been promoted from the back benches, given a department to head up and sit on the front bench of the House of Commons, along side the Prime Minister. The rank will be something like MP, Junior Minister, Minister, Cabinet Minister, Deputy Prime Minister (not always a post) and Prime Minister. Cabinet Ministers are the inner circle, the Prime Ministers Cabinet. The most important MP's in the Prime Minister's party. There are probably many more nuances, but that is the essence of it. The basics.

The most relevant writing ever! More so today than even then. Thanks for reacting to them Connor

The final 40 seconds of this from 5:15 are as uncomfortably up to date now as when this first went out 40 years ago. Oh for a return of clever, intelligent comedy writing like this. Priceless!

As others have probably pointed out, this clip is from the earlier series (Yes Minister) where Jim Hacker was only a minister. He bacame prime minister in the final series and it was renamed Yes Prime Minister.

Another Winner ! thank you 🤗. I admire your quest for information regarding other countries….speaks of intelligence and empathy - admirable 👏🏻

nearly 40 years on and still soo relevant and on point

There are two main parts to government in the uk, the houses of commons and lords. The commons is filled with MPs representing each constituency. The party with most MPs gets to nominate one if their own to become Prime minister (PM). The PM then chooses MPs from their party to fill in the cabinet jobs (health, education...) and come up with laws. It would be like Biden sitting in Congress and choosing congressmen to fill in his presidential staff. The cabinet and pm come up with laws which are then voted for by the house if commons. If they have a majority of MPs then they in theory don't need to worry about getting the opposition parties support, but even then there may be non cabinet MPs (backbenchers, since they don't sit in cabinet seats in the front row), who rebel and vote against the party, hence the pm always being worried about them. The house of lords is like the senate, except is rare for them to throw out any motion handed to them. Normally they send it back to the commons and tell them to amend the bill. Also they are unelected, often being scientists, former high ranking politicians, businessmen, priests and activists.

Absolutely applies to current UK policy towards Ukraine......simply brilliant show

For anyone who was wondering, the Isle of Wight is about 3 miles off the southern coast of England. If you can't find that, you can't find anything.

Glad you're enjoying it - it's an amazing series that still holds true today. Worth watching some full episodes rather than just clips though 👍👍

Cabinet = the government's inner team. The heads of each department. Backbench = MPs not in the cabinet or shadow cabinet, so named because they generally occupy the back benches of the Hous of Commons. There's a tradition for backbenchers to make life difficult for the government (even if they belong to the same party.) The PM is who you originally thought he was. He wasn't in this scene. He's the guy in the big office with the massive desk, James Hacker.

I was watching this show on PBS way back when I was a teenager. "Who reads the papers" is probably the best scene of the entire lot.

In British parliament, there are benches on two opposing sides of the chamber. The ministers and senior members sit on the front benches while the junior members (who wield very little real power) sit on the back benches.

Each department of the Civil Service has a Permanent Secretary, so called, because, unlike elected officials, they permanently hold their position. This is where we have the concept of 'continuity of office', so the officials remain the same, while the elected rotate. It's a hard system to explain to an American because when you have a change of president the entire administration changes, politicians and officials. In this case, 'Humpy', as he's sometime called, is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs (fictional) while the other chap is the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Office (actual). ** slight correction - in Yes Minister, Humphrey is the Permanent Secretary, while in Yes, Prime Minister his is the Cabinet Secretary. The other thing that's useful to know is that Foreign Office has generally attracted the best recruits and, historically, from 'pukkah' backgrounds, hence, why in this case, the actor cast is a very 'fruity' type ie. posh. Actually an excellent performance by Ronald Pickering. There's another scene that follows off this in a very packed train sleeping berth with two secretaries of state (ie. Minister level - elected), two permanent secretaries (Humpy and the large actor - John Savident), one private secretary AND a press officer. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d6l0fMil1cvTqHk.html

Back bench MPs are elected members of Parliament who do not have a specific named government position. Cabinet minsters are chosen by the Prime Minister and are members of the government with particular areas of responsibilty, eg education, health, foreign affairs and so forth. Quite often cabinet ministers are given their jobs based on loyalty and/or biddability rather than competence or suitability.

In America the President personally appoints his cabinet ie. Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State. In the UK the Prime Minister (PM) selects his cabinet from elected Members of Parliament of his party who are the equivalent of Congressmen and occasionally members of the House of Lords who are sort of like Senators (except they are appointed not elected). Cabinet Ministers are called Front Benchers as they seat on the front bench seats in the House of Commons alongside the PM. Ordinary MP’s are backbenchers. The main opposition party also has the equivalent called a shadow cabinet they don’t have any power or run the departments although they are sometimes briefed in a national emergency.

To analogise to the American context. Ministers are appointed only from the members of parliament (mostly from the commons which is equivalent of congress, but sometimes from the House of Lords which is somewhat analogous to the senate). Ministers function somewhat like US secretaries of …. Except appointed out of the more limited pool of elected members, not from whomever the leader (Prime Minister/President) chooses. Back benchers are just the elected members of the parliament not chosen to be a minister. This comes from that minister sit in the from rows of parliament, so those not ministers sit on the back benches behind them.

I always thought this show was wonderful for so many reasons.. It is entirely relevant even today, the truth can be brutal and funny.. Also, because it was filmed on stage, the dialogue is continuous, as any stage show and I think the actors are incredible.. unlike film acting where someone might say one line then the director shouts "cut!" and everything stops for a while to set the next line up, heavily produced, heavily edited .. This is theatre, darling ! 😉😄

Front bench are the cabinet; Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Health Secretary etc. Back benchers are Members of Parliament that don't have one of those top jobs.

Very pertinent clip given the current world situation

The prime minister is not in this scene, this is 2 higher ranking and more experienced civil servants explaining their actions to an up and coming civil servant. The man you thought was the PM is in the ministry of defence.

Even yet you don't seem to have grasped the fact that you have to know whether you are watching a clip from "Yes, Minister" or "Yes Prime Minister." If it's the former, Jim Hacker is an MP who is promoted to be minister for administrative affairs (a fictional government department) and Sir Humphrey is the apolitical civil servant whose job it is to implement the minister's policies. Although the prime minister is mentioned, he never appears and we don't know who he is. If you are watching "Yes Prime Minister", then Jim had been promoted to be Prime Minister, largely by the machinations of Sir Humphrey who by this time is Chief Secretary to the Cabinet, in other words head of the whole civil service.. I've said it before and I'll say it again. You won't have any idea what's going on unless you watch full episodes.

Absolutely amazing.

To answer the question simply. Cabinet ministers are MP's of the leading party, given certain positions like Treasury, Foreign Office, etc. i.e. head of the Ministries. They meet every so often in "the cabinet" which is basically a fancy government council meeting. Back Bench MP's are basically everyone else in the leading political party who doesn't have a ministerial position. As for the PM, that is the other guy. between seasons 1 & 2? he gets promoted to Prime Minister due to some convoluted circumstances.

1:12 Bernard just answered your question perfectly haha

The government and their shadow counterparts are referred to, from the literal configuration, as "the front benches" and thus all other, less high profile, MPs are backbenchers. The term is sometimes used to remind people that an MP was formerly part of their party's leadership. As a historical note, the distance between the front benches is 2.5 standard blade lengths, to prevent instant physical engagement.

Back bench MPs are elected members of Parliament who do not head up a government department and they do not sit on the front benches in the UK parliament chamber ("The House of Commons" - a little bit equivalent to your "Congress"). The heads of government departments - e.g. transport or health - are now called "secretaries" (as in the USA govt) but at the time this was made, they were ministers and departments were called "ministries" - e.g. Ministry of Defence. Secretaries and executives of the government (Prime Minister etc) meet privately at the Prime Ministers residence - 10 Downing Street - at a weekly "Cabinet meeting" - thus they are "cabinet members". In the House of Commons, only cabinet members sit on the front benches. The black art of 'democratic' government is very well shown in this show - sure, for comedic effect, but with a large amount of truth. You will see them use ways of speaking and ways of avoiding things that all politicains use. I can see you recognise echoes in this show of what you have seen of your own American politics. We have been re-watching "The West Wing" and although it obviously relates to your US government and not the UK, there are a lot of similarities to "Yes Minister" in how they deal with different situations and in policy presentation to the public and press. Of course West Wing is a primarily a drama with only small touches of comedy - but they do overlap more than you might think. The language and the comedy in this show is a lot more complex than in many other comedy shows, but it is well worth the effort because - even though it was made in the late 1980s - there is a lot of truth in how it portrays the art of government and, strange as it may seem, now and then it can help you make sense of current news events.

I think it is most essential to watch this series from the pilot episode, which became series one episode one. It begins with Jim Hacker retaining his seat in parliament as an MP at a general election and then sitting nervously at home waiting and hoping for his party leader, the new Prime Minister, to phone him and offer him a department of state to run, that is the job of a Cabinet minister. This eventually happens and Hacker is seen arriving from his constituency in London by train and being whisked off in his ministerial car to the fictional department of administrative affairs in the company of Bernard. Bernard introduces him to Sir Humphrey who Hacker says he grilled in a committee meeting quite recently when Sir Humphrey answered all his questions. Sir Humphrey blandly smiles and says “I’m glad you thought so, minister“. And so the whole gloriously educational process starts ……

A backbencher is a member of parliment who isn't part of either the Ruling party or the opposition. A cabinet minister is a member of Parliament who is part of the ruling party with a job in government like minister for education or chancellor of the exchequer

Cabinet Minister equivalent in the USA would be a head of an executive branch department, e.g. the Secretary of State, and the Cabinet as a whole consists of all the heads of these departments. A "back bencher" is an elected member of Parliament who isn't a Minister (elected but who doesn't have a job with the executive, like a Congressman). In the UK MPs are chosen by the Prime Minister to fill executive positions (some members of the House of Lords also fill these positions). Unlike the US there are no confirmation hearings.

In most democracies, "MP" typically stands for "Member of Parliament." The parliament along with the government including the Prime Minister is elected by the citizens. In my country, the Prime Minister is usually the leader of the strongest political party, but this can change if necessary. Our President officially acknowledges the results of the election and primarily invites the winning party to form the government where a specific timeframe is given for this process. If negotiations fail or the winning party is unable to form a government, the President may invite other parties or individuals with the potential to create a new government to do so.

The cabinet is the main executive body in the UK, it consists mostly of heads of various government departments. It's functionally very similar to the US cabinet, but the main difference is in the UK cabinet ministers are generally chosen from amongst the governing party's MPs in the House of Commons. Backbenchers are MPs who don't have a government role, they are so called because they sit on the back benches in the House of Commons. (Government ministers sit on the front benches.)

Bernard is a Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, he basically keeps the PM’s diary.

MP is like your congress man, back bench MP is a junior or new MP. Cabinate minister is like your secretary of defence or something

It's about time you worked out who is who. All three in this episode are Civil Servants. It's not hard !

A backbencher is an MP (member of parliament) who doesn't hold office in government or on the opposition side.

Since Canada has British Parliamentary system, I suppose it's the same. "MP" means "Member of Parliament." MPs are what you call "representatives" in USA. The party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons, and thus that has the most MPs, is called to form the government. The leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister, and he chooses MPs of his party to form his Cabinet. Those MPs become ministers, similar to the department secretaries of USA, with the difference that they are elected MPs. Separation of Legislative and Executive powers is not complete in the Parliamentary system. The Prime Minister will name two other MPs as House Leader (who oversees parliamentary procedures) and the other as Whip, whose role is to maintain party discipline. The other party leaders will do the same and form a "shadow cabinet". The Prime Minister, the ministers, Whip and leader will sit on the front bench at the Speaker's right, while the Opposition cabinet will do the same on the other side. All the other MPs sitting behind them are called "backbenchers." Their role is mainly to vote as their caucus decides. If a MP diverges from the party line, that's when the Whip acts... The legitimacy of the government lies on the confidence of the House. If it loses confidence, the government will have to step down. Certain votes (like budget adoption) are de facto confidence votes. So the MPs need to maintain the party line to prevent the fall of the government (or provoke it if they are in the Opposition).

In the UK every government department is headed by a cabinet minister (a politician) who is responsible for policy and a permanent secretary (a civil servant / official) who's responsible for carrying out the policy (or obstructing it in reality). The boss of all cabinet ministers is the Prime Minister, while the boss of all the permanent secretaries is the cabinet secretary (Sir Humphrey). The whole premise of this comedy is to show the constant friction between the politicians and their civil servants. The third guy in this episode is meant to be the permanent secretary to the Foreign Office (like your State Dept).

MPs equate to Congressmen, the backbenchers are the MPs that do not hold Ministerial office in the government, they just represent their constituents in Parliament and have no portfolio in a government department, e.g Defence or Foreign Office

A backbench MP is a member of Parliament that does not have a Cabinet post. He is a regular MP. A cabinet Minister is an MP with a Ministerial Position. He/she heads a Government department like an American Cabinet Secretary like the Secretary of Transport or Secretary of Defence. Cabinet members are not members of the elected bodies like the Senate or The house of Representatives in The USA but they are Members of the House of Commons in The UK.

Never grows old, never stales, never irrelevant.

You need to watch the first ever episedwhen Jim Hacker becomes a minister... And then somewhere 2 series later in a Christmas special when he then becomes the prime minister. The show also is actually two shows... Yes minister and yes prime minister, linked by that Christmas special.

The UK has a cabinet system of government. A bit like a company board. The Prime Minister chairs cabinet meetings and government policy is debated and voted on in cabinet. The PM appoints ministers from his MPs. The back benches are MPs who are not appointed as ministers or opposition MPs who are not shadow ministers. Ministers and shadow ministers sit on the front bench in the house of Commons either side of the despatch box. The government front bench is called The Treasury Bench. Back bench MPs sit behind in the rows behind the front bench. And, then there is the House of Lords. there are ministers in the House of Lords who lead the debates in that chamber but they are unelected peers (Lords, Ladies, Barons, etc). Most are now working life peers i.e. put into the House of Lords by party leaders.

you may like Extras , a 2005 series by Ricky Gervais. It has British local heroes clash with American Celebrities in Britain :) Love the Daniel Radcliffe episode especially.

An MP is the representative of a constituency (area of the UK) which is the elected representative in parliament who votes in parliament. One of those representatives becomes the prime minister, the prime minister is the leader of the party with the most constituency representatives in parliament (you in fact never vote for the prime minister here, you vote for the MP which in turn leads to the MP's party leader becoming prime minister, most people because of this vote for the MP who's leader is the person they want as prime minister, and don't realise that there will be significant local changes due to the MP they elect, and later regret it as a result). There are 650 MP's in parliament, of those 650 MP's over 100 will be given ministerial positions (the ministers and cabinet ministers), these are the MP's with official jobs in government beyond their seat in parliament (minister of defense for example). Cabinet ministers are the senior ministers in government who along with the prime minister attend cabinet meetings, in which they decide on government policy, this is decided by the prime minister and usually consists of a little over 20 MP's (21 paid is the maximum). Over 100 MP's for the party without the majority (the opposition), become Shadow ministers, these are the people who challenge the ministers, and say what they would do in the ministers place in order to give a more balanced argument when making decisions. Those who don't hold a ministerial or shadow ministerial position are known as Backbench MP's (the MP's who gain ministerial positions typically sit closer to the prime minister in Parliament, who sits at the front center of his/her side of the house of commons, therefore as you move further back you eventually reach the MP's without a ministerial position, hence the nick name back benchers).

The cabinet means the same as in the US. Members of the cabinet are cabinet ministers. MPs who aren't ministers are back benchers because ministers sit on the front bench in Parliament.

One of their best scenes

This is a thinly disguised reference to the Invasion of Grenada by the US - Mr Thatcher (knew) but did not tell the Queen who was (is) the head of state of Grenada. I visited Grenanda some one year later while the US forces were still there - And met an officer on the beach who told me his job was 'Moral Education Officer' to stop Grenada getting economic help from Cuba!

A back bench MP sits further back in the House of Commons. They don’t have a cabinet job. They don’t go to cabinet meetings. Cabinet jobs are the top jobs handed out like “Foreign Secretary” or “Health Secretary”.

Cabinet ministers are the same as Secretaries of State. Back-bench MP's are the same as Senators, they don't really have any responsibilities apart from voting through bills. They ae called 'back-benchers' because they have to sit at the back in the Houses of Parliament, all the important politicians sit in the front.

A very rough sort of comparison. Cabinet = Presidential administration. Secratary of state etc. Back bench mps = representatives in the house. The Senate = UK House of Lords.

Back bench members of parliament are junior mps who are not minsters of state. The latter sit on the front bench. Bernard is the secretary to the prime minister cabinet office. All in this sketch are civil servants not elected members of parliament

Backbench MP's or backbenchers are normal members of parliment (they happen to sit on the benches at the back hence the name). Then to run the country the PM will pick his favourite people to form the cabinet who make all of the decisions, they are usually called a secretary of state for something important eg. education, pensions, foreign affairs, defence etc.

Ok, I have tried to explain this in another clip. There are 2 tv shows, one is called yes minister, where Jim Hacket is a minister under the Prime Minister (who you never see) called "Yes, Minister", and then there is a sequel where Jim has become Prime Minister called "Yes, Prime Minister".... the clip name will usually say which show it is from. Again, I did cover minister in another post, but a minister is a member of parliament or member of the House of Lords (almost always from the majority party but does not technically have to be) who is given special duties within what is called a ministry, these would be in charge of things such as health, education, finance, foreign affairs, culture and sports and so on. The senior ministers for these departments are called cabinet ministers and they are similar to cabinet members in the US (Except in the US they are not drawn from congress (Commons) or the Senate (the Lords) while in the UK they are. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the largest party, and he appoints the ministers. A backbencher is a member of parliament who has no specific appointed position, who sits to the rear of the benches in the house. So for example on the front benches on one side of the commons would be the Prime Minister and his cabinet, and on the other side would be the leader of the opposition party and his top advisors (known as the shadow cabinet) and behind them would be the back benchers.

A "back bench MP" (Member of Parliament) is the Commonwealth version of a US Congressman as they are not given a position in the Executive Branch "Back bencher" is a perjoritive in politics implying you sit in the back row in the House because you don't have a Cabinet position or a position in the Executive. Cabinet Minister is the commonwealth version of a US Cabinet official lilke the US Secretary of State

In the Westminster system all ministers(secretaries in the US) are elected to the parliament so the PM must choose his people from the members of parliament..As if the US president had to choose all his Secretaries from among members of Congress...Backbenchers are members of the government but do not have a portfolio...Thus in Parliament all the ministers sit on the front benches while ordinary members sit on the "back benches."

Cabinet ministers is like a government minister. Like the secretary of defense in America. A backbencher is like a junior congressman in America. Oe senator. ( government or senior opposition or minority is front bench) like in America, nacy Pelosi, chuck Schumer, mitch McConnell are front bench) presidents and prime ministers have cabinets. ( named after a room ) like a small board room , all the department heads of government meet regularly to coordinate or report and receive orders .

Cabinet ministers are MPs picked by the Prime Minister for certain heads of departments ie. Foreign secretary, Health Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance). The Cabinet ministers all sit on the front most row of seats (or benches) in the House of Commons. Backbenchers are the other elected Members of Parliament who hold the constituency seat but are not a head of department. The opposition party has a Shadow Cabinet formed by the leader of the opposition. They sit on the front bench of the opposition side.

A back bencher MP is someone who sits on the benches at the back towards the walls and so have little authority or influence in the party otherwise they would be sitting further forward and closer to the centre of the room. MPs who have been given responsibility to govern a governmental department are called ministers. The most important ministers get together for meetings in a room that is known as the cabinet, so a cabinet minister is a very important minister who gets a permanent seat at the table for these meetings. The USA also has its own cabinet body and cabinet room in the white house which fundamentally does the same job as the UK cabinet.

Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister are sheer perfection. They are as relevant today as when they were filmed in the 1980s. Sadly that is a reflection on how governments change, but the civil servants like Sir Humphrey remain the same. Bernard Wooley, the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary is a bit like us, looking on with incredulity at ut all, as he trues to make sense of why thinhs never get done.

A cabinet minister is a secretary of state eg the secretary of transport. A back bencher is junior congress person. They would not be a minister or a senior member of a parliamentary committee.

A back bencher is an elected member of a political party that represents an area of the country and gets to vote on some decisions. A cabinet minister was one of them that has been promoted to run a government department, they can also be called front benchers because of where they actually get to sit in parliament. Your defence secretary for example would be a cabinet minister over here. To answer another question the guy you thought was the prime minister is, the three talking are different levels of civil servants people who aren't elected who's job is to supposedly make things work. They were just talking about the PM when you asked. Good to see that even though you get confused at times you seem to like it. To me it's possibly one of the cleverest British comedies ever written.

I suggest ‘citizen Khan’ as a reaction video. It is absolutely hilarious! Also ‘upstart crow’, ‘Peter Kay misheard lyrics’, ‘keeping up apperances’

Basically, a backbench MP is a member of parliament who doesn't have a high position within the government or opposition. And a cabinet minister is a minister who is a member of cabinet (basically the government's inner circle), and who is in charge of an important portfolio. I think in America they would be called "secretary"? I used to love Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister, even when I was a kid with almost no understanding of what they were on about.

Cabinet minister = Any minister who serves in the Cabinet, which is the name given to the group of the high-level ministers (20-ish). Basically the government. Backbench MP = Any MP who isn't on the payroll of the government. Also, Jim Hacker is the Prime Minister. In Yes, Minister (which takes place before this), he's the Minister for Administrative Affairs (a made-up position for the show). But in this, Yes, Prime Minister, he's the PM. Top dog.

Back Bench MP's are elected Members of Parliament (MP's). They don't have a senior role in Government but obviously vote in order to pass bills and can propose bills themselves. They do have the power to oust a Prime Minister (PM). Cabinet Ministers are MP's or rarely Members of the House of Lords (but if they are then they can't speak in the Commons) who are appointed to head Ministries such as the Treasury, Foreign Office , Home Office etc

4:27 The Uk Parliment is a bit like your House of Representatives, except the Prime Minister (leader of the party with the most seats) appoints ministers, who lead government departments. They sit on the front bench in parliament, back bench MPs are elected MPs who aren’t ministers.

Cabinet ministers are appointed by the PM to head the various offices of state. Chancellor . Foreign office. Home office . Etc. Back benchers I explained on another of your videos

Back bencher is a minor parliament member,(usualy a new member and young), cabinet minister is a minister i,think in the USA you call them secretary(of education,housing foreign office) ect

Such a wonderful collection of characters in this show but Humphrey sure does steal every scene he’s in!

Paul Eddington (brilliantly) plays the prime minister.

Jim Hacker is the PM - yes, you're right. A PM (or President) has a 'Cabinet' of Secretary's Of State to look after each government department. These are usually limited to high level departments, with a good 20 odd junior ministers and under secretaries of small departments who are not considered part of the Cabinet per sé , but who are still technically Secretaries of State. A senior Cabinet Minister is a Secretary Of State, such as Secretary Of Defence, Foreign Secretary, Health Secretary, etc. And back-benchers are simply ordinary MPs with no junior or senior ministerial office. Just like any ordinary member of congress.

Bernard is the Prime Minister's Principle Private Secretary, who runs his official diary and acts as his 'gatekeeper'. He is a fairly senior civil servant

Interestingly unlike the Office of The President of the United States, the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom evolved over time, many of the current responsibilities came during the reign of George I, he couldn't speak any English at all so Sir Robert Walpole gradually assumed more and more powers over the running of the government and the state, he's basically considered to be Britain's first Prime Minister, the main staircase in number 10 has a portrait of every PM his is the first one up to Teresa May (Boris won't be added until he leaves office!🤣) Also the PMs official title is First Lord of The Treasury as can be seen written on the letter box on the door of 10 Downing Street! 👍

The Cabinet is the government. Senior members of the government attend meetings of the Cabinet. Cabinet government is fairly widespread practice meaning that government policy is adopted in a collegial manner entailing that government members are bound by collective responsibility. To be in the government mans to publicly be in support of its proposals. People who sit on the front bench are the government (or shadow Cabinet); people who sit on the rows behind the front bench are the back benchers who are not members of the government but might have other important roles (e.g. sit on or chair select committees). A back bencher might harbour the desire to become a minister so generally is loyal to the government.

You have to see the clip from this episode where the PM meets the Ambassador from Israel

The Prime Minister is also First Lord of the Treasury. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Second Lord of the Treasury.

Quite simple really, first series, Yes Minister - Jim's a minister in the Govt, second series, Yes Prime Minister because he's now the PM. Cabinet consists of MP's who have been given a role within the Govt (Ministers) and back benchers are just MPs and nothing more.

A backbench MP is not a Cabinet Minister. A Cabinet Minister is not a backbench MP. Cabinet Ministers sit at the front in the House of Commons (or the House of Lords for a bit of controversy), with backbenchers sitting behind the Cabinet Ministers in the House of Commons (i.e. they are on the back benches rather than the front ones). Those that have no party affiliation in the House of Lords are called cross-benchers. Those sitting on the "front benches" in the Commons (on the side to the right of the Speaker) aren't just Cabinet Ministers though... Most Cabinet Ministers are also called Secretaries of State (the PM and the Chancellor aren't styled that way), and in combination with their underlings (Ministers of State, Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State, etc.) and all the other stuff (civil service, etc.) they make up the executive branch (Government with a big 'G', short from of Her/His Majesty's Government). The PM (short form) is a Cabinet Minister with several portfolios: The Prime Minister, The Minister for the Civil Service, The Minister for the Union. The Home Secretary (short form) is a Cabinet Minister: The Secretary of State for the Home Department. Foreign Secretary, Brexit Secretary (or whatever its called now), Defence Secretary, Education Secretary, Health Secretary, Culture Secretary, etc. are all Cabinet Ministers. They all tend to sit on the front benches behind the despatch box. Taking The Secretary of State for the Home Department as an example, they are the head of the Home Office which "is the lead government department for immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime, fire, counter-terrorism and police" - they're a bit analogous to the U.S. Department of the Interior, a chunk of the Department of Homeland Secretary, the law enforcement bit of the Department of Justice, and some bits of the Department of State. Whenever something major happens in the UK, the relevant Cabinet Ministers have a meeting in the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) which is colloquially called by virtually everyone in the country a COBRA meeting (a meeting in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A), with Room A being a room they may or may not have ever existed. COBRA meetings are usually chaired by the Prime Minister.

My favourite show in the world.

Backbench MP is a member of the ruling party but doesn’t have a specific role in the government. Front bench MPs are in the government with specific jobs

A primer on how government works! No such thing as good versus bad but just what works best for the civil servants, the unelected government.

Think you need to watch all the episodes to understood characters and positions What they take the piss out of, still rings true today

1. Back bench MP's are the members of the party that sit in parliament on benches behind the front benches, those on the front benches are the ministers. On the opposite side of the house, the opposition parties are seated the same, with the front benches for the shadow government. A shadow government is the officially paid to oppose the government policies..

So funny! And true to life! It was PM Margaret Thatchers favorite program!❤❤

This is so close you real life.

Back bench MPs are like the senate and cabinet ministers are like a president's administration. It's not an exact analogy but you get the gist. The cabinet ministers sit on the front bench and make the policies, but you can't get it enacted into law with the support of back bench MPs.

Henry the eight organized the public service.. which made England great

Now we know where the tories have taken their strategy from

The core joke in this whole series is how it’s the civil servants (unelected senior administrators working for the government) who really run the country, not the elected officials. In the Uk, the administrations don’t change with election, it’s always the same people, only the elected officials change.

don't forget there were 2 series first one was 'Yes Minister' the second one 'Yes Prime Minister' when Minister Jim Hacker went on to become Prime Minister. Confusion arises when you play the different clips out of sequence. Do what I did buy the boxed set of both series and all will become clear.