Is Sir Humphrey a Soviet Spy? | Yes, Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats

prime minister yes humphrey um there's something i want to talk to you about something very secret um would it be easier if i wasn't here a few years ago there was a security inquiry does the name sir john houston ring a bell yes of course in fact i had to conduct the inquiry myself virtually and you didn't find evidence of anything incriminating of course not in the first place john halstead was one of us we'd been friends for years in the second place the whole story was got up by the press and in the third place the whole object of internal security inquiries is to find no evidence even if the security of the realm is at risk prime minister if you really believe the security of the realm is at risk you call in the special branch government security inquiries are only used for killing press stories they're to enable the prime minister to stand up in the house and say we've held a full inquiry and there is no evidence to substantiate these charges what if you had found something suspicious well prime minister practically everything that happens in government is suspicious i mean the fact that you asked bernard to leave us alone for a secret conversation might be construed as suspicious indeed but in any case the whole story was quite clearly a nonsense typical fleet street sensationalism so there's no possibility that sir john houston was passing secrets to moscow impossible out of the question you'd stake your reputation on without hesitation i see well i'm afraid i have to tell you that for a substantial part of his career he was a russian spy i don't believe it says so he does he left all his papers to the government including a detailed confession mi5 says it's absolutely true checks out all along the line but good lord i mean he he was one of us exactly but this certainly leaves a lot of questions to be asked yes and i'm asking you the first of them why didn't you ask him a lot of questions why did the inquiry exonerate him and so quickly well i've already told you anyway we were very busy but besides good lord you don't think i mean surely nobody suspect what else was i expected to do you could have held a proper inquiry after all you had evidence of his surprisingly long stay in yugoslavia yes shortly afterwards several mi5 agents behind the iron curtain were rounded up and never seen again yes he spent a lot of time with one particular interpreter and she turned out to be a russian agent yes we knew that most yugoslav interpreters are russian agents those who aren't with the cia that is you never followed it up but i had better things to do with my tie three months later she moved to england and settled in cambridge 150 yards from john houston's own house they were neighbors for the next 11 years crikey you can't check up on everything you never know what you might find i mean you've got that sort of suspicious mind you ought to hold security inquiries yeah no john gave me his word halstead the word of a gentleman anyway humphrey i have a problem problem you me you don't sing you couldn't sing i don't speak a word of russian well you must admit it was either incompetence or collusion conclusion i give you my word prime minister it wasn't collusion the word of a gentleman exactly an oxford gentleman you

Channel: BBC Comedy Greats

Views: 812,671

Keywords: bbc, bbc comedy greats, bbc comedy, comedy greats, british comedy, stand up, Sitcom, Comedian, Comic, Sketch show, yes prime minister, yes minister, humphrey appleby, nigel hawthorne, jim hacker, soviet spy, sir humphrey, sir humphrey appleby, paul eddington, yes minister sir humphrey, yes prime minister sir humphrey, sir humphry, Is Sir Humphrey a Soviet Spy?, Is Sir Humphrey a Soviet Spy? | Yes Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats

Id: VtPGMlFIBLg

Length: 4min 15sec (255 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 13 2021