[Frank Weisel is quoting an article in the Express about the fact that Inland Revenue has more employees than the Royal Navy.]
"Perhaps the government thinks that a tax is the best form of defence."
Yes, Minister · Season 1, Episode 3
“The Economy Drive” · Season 1, Episode 3
In this episode: Sir Humphrey Appleby (2), James Hacker (2)
[Frank Weisel is quoting an article in the Express about the fact that Inland Revenue has more employees than the Royal Navy.]
"Perhaps the government thinks that a tax is the best form of defence."
How many people do we have in this department?
Ummm... well, we're very small...
Two, maybe three thousand?
About twenty-three thousand to be precise.
TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND! In the department of administrative affairs, twenty-three thousand administrators just to administer the other administrators! We need to do a time-and-motion study, see who we can get rid of.
Ah, well, we did one of those last year.
And what were the results?
It turned out that we needed another five hundred people.
[There is a government building with a reinforced concrete basement in case of a nuclear war.]
There has to be somewhere to carry on government, even if everything else stops.
Why?
Well, government doesn't stop just because the country's been destroyed! I mean, annihilation’s bad enough without anarchy to make things even worse!
You mean you'd have a lot of rebellious cinders.
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