Clive Merrison credited as playing...
Dr. Peter Thorn - Minister of State at the DHSS
- Dr. Peter Thorn -Minister of State at the DHSS: You read my paper?
- James Hacker: Oh, absolutely.
- Dr. Peter Thorn -Minister of State at the DHSS: How did you react?
- James Hacker: I wonder if you could summarise it in your own words.
- Dr. Peter Thorn -Minister of State at the DHSS: Those *are* my own words
- James Hacker: [Jim is a bit flustered] Ah, yes, but...
- Bernard Woolley: The Prime Minister often finds that a brief verbatim summary clarifies the emphasis and focuses on the salient points...
- James Hacker: ... salient points - precisely!
- Dr. Peter Thorn -Minister of State at the DHSS: Well, briefly, I'm proposing that the government should take action to eliminate smoking: complete ban on all cigarette sponsorship and advertising, even at the point of sale, Fifty million to be spent on anti-smoking publicity, ban smoking in all public places, and progressive deterrent tax rises over the next five years until a packet of twenty costs about the same as a bottle of whisky.
- James Hacker: Isn't that rather drastic?
- Dr. Peter Thorn -Minister of State at the DHSS: Absolutely.