In this episode, first aired in April 1980, the recently appointed Minister of Administrative Affairs, , attempts to gain political leverage from an upcoming visit by the President of Buranda (a fictional African nation).
: The Private Secretary caught between his political master and his bureaucratic boss.
: The idealistic but often bumbling Minister.
: Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary, opposes the plan, leading to a classic struggle between political ambition and the "status quo" of the Civil Service.