Editing Yes Minister (section)

==Plot==
The series opens in the wake of a [[United Kingdom general elections|general election]] in which the incumbent government has been defeated by the opposition party, to which [[Jim Hacker]] [[Member of parliament|MP]] belongs. His party affiliation is never stated, his party emblem is clearly neither [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] nor [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]], and his party's political colour is white. The [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] offers Hacker the position of Minister of Administrative Affairs, which he accepts. Hacker goes to his department and meets his [[Permanent secretary (UK)|Permanent Secretary]], [[Sir Humphrey Appleby]], and Principal Private Secretary, [[Bernard Woolley]].

While Appleby is outwardly deferential towards the new minister, he is prepared to defend the status quo at all costs. Hacker and his party's policies of reducing bureaucracy are diametrically opposed to the Civil Service's interests, in which staff numbers and budgets are viewed as merits of success (i.e. the more funding or staffing a department gets, the more successful it is considered). Woolley is sympathetic towards Hacker but as Appleby reminds him, Woolley's civil service superiors, including Appleby, will have much to say about the course of his future career, while ministers do not usually stay long in one department and have no say in civil service staffing recommendations.

Many of the episodes revolve around proposals backed by Hacker but frustrated by Appleby, who uses a range of clever stratagems to defeat ministerial proposals while seeming to support them.  Other episodes revolve around proposals promoted by Appleby but rejected by Hacker, which Appleby attempts by all means necessary to persuade Hacker to accept. They do occasionally join forces in order to achieve a common goal, such as preventing the closure of their department or dealing with a diplomatic incident.

As the series revolves around the inner workings of central government, most of the scenes take place in private locations, such as offices and exclusive members' clubs. Lynn said that "there was not a single scene set in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] because government does not take place in the House of Commons. Some politics and much theatre takes place there. Government happens in private. As in all public performances, the real work is done in rehearsal, behind closed doors. Then the public and the House are shown what the government wishes them to see."<ref name="lynnweb">{{cite web|title=Yes Minister Questions & Answers |work=Jonathan Lynn Official Website |url=http://www.jonathanlynn.com/tv/yes_minister_series/yes_minister_qa.htm |access-date=6 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119211928/http://www.jonathanlynn.com/tv/yes_minister_series/yes_minister_qa.htm |archive-date=19 November 2014 }}</ref> However, the episode "[[The Compassionate Society]]" does feature an audio recording of ''Yesterday in Parliament'' in which Hacker speaks in the House of Commons, and other episodes include scenes in the [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]]'s House of Commons office ([[The Writing on the Wall (Yes Minister)|"The Writing on the Wall"]]) and a Committee room ("[[A Question of Loyalty]]").

The fictional Department of Administrative Affairs is the focus of the series. In "The Skeleton in the Cupboard", Woolley mentions that the DAA was founded in 1964 alongside the [[Secretary of State for Economic Affairs#Department of Economic Affairs (1964–1969)|Department of Economic Affairs]] (the chief inspiration for the DAA). In "Open Government", the Department was referred to as a 'political graveyard', with Hacker's appointment as Minister of Administrative Affairs likely being punishment for managing the leadership campaign against the new Prime Minister. In "Big Brother", Hacker reaches out to his predecessor in the previous government Tom Sargant, for help to overcome Civil Service resistance to the introduction of safeguards for the National Integrated Database, to which Sargent outlined the Civil Service's five step stalling technique and reveals the existence of a White Paper. Being responsible for overseeing the administration of other government departments, government archives, the purchase of office equipment and the enactment of [[European Economic Community|EEC]] directives, it serves as a vehicle to explore different political themes, such as foreign policy, education, the environment, health, defence, [[European Union|Europe]], international trade, local government, and national security. In "The Death List", the DAA is mentioned as being responsible for the government's surveillance equipment. The DAA has gained other responsibilities through departmental reshuffles, namely the arts (albeit to prevent Hacker from closing down an art gallery in his constituency to save a local football team from bankruptcy). The DAA has also been given responsibility for enacting policies or programmes which no other department would want to deal with due to their unpopularity or any other fallout, such as in "[[The Bed of Nails (Yes Minister)|The Bed of Nails]]" when Hacker was made Transport Supremo and given responsibility for an Integrated Transport programme as the Department of Transport did not want to incur the wrath of any disadvantaged sector.