‘They cannot, and will not, destroy the British sausage’

This is one of the best speeches in Yes, Minister. It’s the one where the Hon Jim Hacker MP becomes PM, from the episode, ‘Party Games’.
   The context: Jim Hacker’s party has a leadership change in the wings, and Sir Humphrey Appleby and his civil service cronies want a malleable candidate. Therefore, Hacker becomes their favoured candidate.
   In the meantime, the EEC in Bruxelles wants to change the name of the British sausage, and Hacker sees a way to seize the public imagination.
   This episode remains very true of politics today: find trivia, and use them to enhance one’s public profile. Antony Jay (later Sir Antony), who co-created and co-wrote the episode, actually did write ministerial speeches, including some for PM John Major. I believe Mr Jay came up with the ‘classless society’ speech.
   Starring the late Paul Eddington, the late Nigel Hawthorne (later Sir Nigel), and Derek Fowlds, with Ludovic Kennedy (also later knighted) as himself. The acting is superb.