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The Right Honourable James (Jim) George Hacker, Baron Hacker of Islington KG Hon LLD (Oxon.) ( June 18 , 1927 – November 4 , 1995 )These dates are from the spoof obituary in ''Politico's Book of the Dead''. is a fictional British Politician . He is the Minister of the fictional Department Of Administrative Affairs , and later the Prime Minister , in the 1980 s British Sitcom '' Yes, Minister '' and its sequel, '' Yes, Prime Minister ''. He was portrayed by Paul Eddington . Hacker was an academic political researcher, polytechnic lecturer and editor of a newspaper, ''Reform'', before entering Parliament . In ''Yes, Minister'' he is the Minister for the Department of Administrative Affairs (a fictitious department of the British Government ) and is a Cabinet minister. He is joined by the department's Permanent Secretary , Sir Humphrey Appleby , who as a senior Civil Servant tries to control the minister and the department himself, and also by his Principal Private Secretary , Bernard Woolley . Hacker received his Third -class degree from the London School Of Economics , and is frequently derided for this by the Oxford -educated Sir Humphrey. He and his wife, Annie, have one daughter, Lucy, a sociology student who plays a major role in the first series episode "The Right to Know". Hacker gains an honorary doctorate from Baillie College, Oxford, (a possible reference to Balliol College ) in the second series episode "Doing the Honours". During the Christmas special episode, "Party Games", he is Party Chair , which gives him the opportunity — with the help of Sir Humphrey and other civil servants acting in their own interests — to become Prime Minister. ''Yes, Prime Minister'' follows on from this, with Hacker and Sir Humphrey raised to the highest levels in British government: Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary respectively. Bernard remains Hacker's Principal Private Secretary throughout. An obituary for Hacker, written by his creators, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn , appears in ''Politico's Book of the Dead''. This is the source of certain biographical details above, such as the dates of birth and death, which he shares with Eddington, the actor who portrayed him. Although the series itself ends with Hacker still Prime Minister, this obituary mentions his later career as a member of the House Of Lords . After his death, a college is named after him (Hacker College, Oxford). CHARACTER Jim Hacker first appears in ''Yes, Minister'' having been recently re-elected as Member Of Parliament for his constituency, soundly defeating his opponent. His early character is that of a very gung-ho, albeit naïve politician, ready to bring sweeping change into his department, unknowing that Sir Humphrey and the civil service are out to stop any semblance of change, despite their insistence that they are his allies. Hacker is also noted as having challenged Humphrey while he was in opposition by asking difficult questions of his Permanent Secretary while testifying at a committee: Sir Humphrey stated that Hacker had asked, "...all the questions I hoped nobody would ask," showing his new Minister to be an at least reasonably capable politician. Before long, Hacker begins to note that due to civil service tactics, hardly any of his planned changes are actually being put into practice. Bernard is sympathetic to Hacker's plight and tries to enlighten his Minister as to the tricks and techniques employed by government staff, but his ability to help is limited by his own loyalties in the Civil Service. Hacker learns and soon begins to lose his initial callowness, as he becomes more sly and cynical, using some of these schemes himself. While Sir Humphrey would nearly always get the upper hand, Hacker now and again pulls a trump card of his own, and on even fewer occasions, the two of them work towards a common goal. Hacker also learns that his efforts to change the government or Britain are all really for naught, as he discovered in the episode "The Whisky Priest", when he attempts to stop the export of British-made munitions to Italian terrorists. Throughout ''Yes, Minister'' there are many occasions when Hacker is portrayed as media-hungry, a bumbler, incapable of making a firm decision, and incredibly vulnerable to making mistakes that either embarrass him or his party, eliciting bad press and stern lectures from the party apparatus. He is continually concerned with what the newspapers of the day will have to say about him, and is always anxious for promotion from the Prime Minister (Hacker once assisted a political ally, the Foreign Affairs Secretary, in an attempt to challenge the Prime Minister for the party's leadership). He is thus equally afraid of either staying at his current level, or even being demoted. Just prior to the start of ''Yes, Prime Minister'', Hacker shows a zeal for making speeches and presents himself as a viable party leader after the Prime Minister announced his resignation, in the episode "Party Games". He is given embarrassing information about the two front-running candidates, and manages to persuade them (by insinuating that secret information pertaining to both may be revealed to the public) to drop out of the race, and lend their support to him. With help from the recently promoted Sir Humphrey and other senior civil servants, Hacker emerges as the alternative candidate and thus becomes head of his party and Prime Minister. In ''Yes, Prime Minister'' Hacker develops all the skills needed to be a statesman, by practising more grandiose speeches, dreaming up "courageous" political programmes, and honing his diplomatic skills, of which nearly all land him in trouble at some point. By the end, Hacker comes off as a domineering, almost bullying Prime Minister, as sleek and prone to corruption as Sir Humphrey when the time and occasion suits his needs. INTERESTS AND HABITS Hacker has many prominent habits that feature throughout the series:
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