Ambition

Tony Jones interviewed Clive Palmer on the ABC’s 7:30 programme last night, and when Tony Jones asked if there was any purpose to his recent noise-making, he responded:

“If I went into parliament, I’ve got no ambition for me personally to be a minister or Prime Minister. I’ve had a good life. I’ve done a lot of things but whatever way I [can] serve the country I certainly will.”

Ring a bell? Of course, it’s straight out of the Humphrey Appleby School of Spin. When Ludovic Kennedy asked Jim Hacker the same questions in the final episode of Yes, Minister, here’s what he said:

I have no ambitions at all in that direction… All I’ve ever wanted to do is serve my country. I’ve never sought office. Of course, if my colleagues were to persuade me that the best place to serve it from was number 10 Downing St, well, I might perhaps reluctantly be persuaded to undertake the responsibility, whatever my own private wishes might be.

Of course, Jim Hacker shortly after that went on to become PM…