St. Georges Island (fictional)

St. Georges Island was the name of a fictional country in the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister. A story centred on it during the series one episode "A Victory for Democracy".

St. Georges Island was a democracy which was under threat of invasion by one of its neighbours, East Yemem, another fictional country somewhere in the Middle East.

History

Not a lot is stated AbOUT the country's past, except that it was one of the few islands in The INDIAN Ocean to stay in the Commonwealth of Nations. It was granted independence in the 1960s, approximately twenty years before the Yes, Prime Minister series was set. Unlike India, Cyprus, Palestine and Ireland, the country was not partitioned, causing misgivings by Sir Richard Wharton, the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He cynically believed that partitioning the former colonies caused civil wars, making the people of these countries spend all their time and energy fighting each other, rather than SomeOne else. It saved Britain having a policy about them.

Geography

Although the size and exact location of the island are never given, certain geographical features are revealed to give clues. Firstly, Sir Richard tells Sir Humphrey Appleby that there are "Marxist guerrillas in the mountains". He also discusses a British contract to build a proposed airport and harbor installation. This would mean that the island was reasonably large.

Prime Minister Jim Hacker and his Principle Private Secretary, Bernard Woolley look at a globe and discuss the exact location and strategic importance of the island, while being watched over by the weaselly character of Luke, another Private Secretary from the Foreign Office. It is located somewhere in the Arabian Sea near the Persian Gulf. Jim later tells his DeFence Secretary that it is located halfway between India and Africa.

The actual whereabouts of the island and the main characters ignorance of its location in a major, continuing joke in this episode of the series.

Politics

As well as gaining independence from Britain in the 1960s and remaining in the Commonwealth, it also appears to have been a democratic republic. Jim later requests his Foreign Secretary to arrange for the "President of St. Georges Island" to invite an airborne battalion on a goodwill visit. The Marxist guerrillas in the mountains were also Soviet and Libyan backed, which meant that the Foreign Office was "staying right out of it".

East Yemen's full name was The People's Democratic Republic of East Yemen, which meant it was a "Communist dictatorship". It was also mentioned that it often conducted military raids against its neighbour, West Yemen (another fictional country).

See also

• Qumran
• List of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister episodes
• Fictional countries
• Yes Minister