The MPs Pay Rise | Yes, Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats

your cabinet meeting darling i want to triple scotch oh as bad as that why apparently the financial crisis is much worse than we thought all the cabinets have got to make cuts in their spending plans would you like a scotch oh yeah so could i have a large one please another triplet [Music] humphrey should have seen this coming and warned me i don't think so humphrey understands economics prime minister he did read classics you know well frank he's head of the treasury well i'm afraid he's an even greater disadvantage in understanding economics he's an economist public crisis can't the cabinet see they've got to be cuts well they can see they've got to be cuts in other departments not in their own so this morning you ordered a clamp done i can't order it i'm under the prime minister i'm in charge no not a leader can only lead by consent consensus that's democracy so who is in charge if you're not well nobody really there must be that's what democracy is all about and as if that weren't enough i've got a deputation of mps coming to see me this afternoon about a pay rise i promised them what would you say i should say i deeply sympathize which i don't they fully deserve their money which isn't true and then i shall make it my first priority as soon as the crisis is over which i shan't but if they go and vote themselves a whacking great pay rise and then tell everybody else has no money for their pay rises it doesn't do very much for the dignity of parliament which it doesn't but aren't they underpaid in fact underpaid backbench mps darling being an mp is a vast subsidized ego trip it's a job for which you need no qualifications there are no compulsory hours of work no performance warm room and subsidized meals for a bunch of self-opinionated wind bags and busy bodies i certainly find people taking them seriously because they've got the letters mp after their name how can they be underpaid when they're about 200 applicants for every vacancy you could fill every seat 20 times over even if they had to pay to do the job you were a backbench mp only five years ago i was the exception i was the cream i rose to the top do you think what you say will shut them up who knows but the public will never stand for mps giving themselves a pay rise when we're having to cut back on nurses and teachers nurses and teachers so that's a much more serious problem oh no running much less serious nurses and teachers can't vote against me till the next election back benchers convert against me at ten o'clock tonight humphrey i've just had a very stormy meeting with my backbenchers i'm so sorry i mean if i'd had some warning i could have softened them up a bit in advance but the paper only arrived the night before cabinet oh indeed prime minister most regrettable well it's up to you your cabinet secretary you must insist that we get papers circulated earlier alas are grave problems about circulating papers before they're written why the sudden crisis the treasury must have seen it coming the prime minister i'm not the permanent secretary to the treasury you must ask sir frank what would frank say it is not for a humble mortal such as i to speculate on the complex and elevated deliberations of the mighty but in general i think sofrank believes that if the treasury knows that something has to be done the cabinet shouldn't have too much time to think about it that's an outrageous view yes indeed it's known as treasury policy i suppose the cabinet has questions well i think sir frank's view is that um on the rare occasions when the treasury understands the questions the cabinet doesn't understand the answers you

Channel: BBC Comedy Greats

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Keywords: bbc, bbc comedy greats, bbc comedy, comedy greats, british comedy, stand up, Sitcom, Comedian, Comic, Sketch show, yes minister, yes prime minister, sir humphrey, paul eddington, derek fowlds, nigel hawthorne, bernard, jim hacker, The MPs Pay Rise, The MPs Pay Rise | Yes Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats, MP, government, parliament, MPs

Id: Syipch1wI7E

Length: 3min 55sec (235 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 08 2021