Prime Minister Jim Hacker, Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby, and Bernard Woolley are watching a news report about Fiona McGregor, a British nurse who has been detained in the Islamic state of Qumran. She has been charged with possession of a bottle of whisky, a crime punishable by 10 years imprisonment and 40 lashes. The PM asks if anything can be done to save her. Sir Humphrey tells him that the Qumranis assist Britain by sabotaging OPEC agreements and helping MI6 spy on the KGB in Baathist Iraq. Therefore, the Foreign Office's advice is to do nothing. Hacker protests that doing nothing will make him look both heartless and feeble. When he snaps that the Foreign Office's job is to protect British nationals, the Cabinet Secretary corrects him: its purpose is to protect British interests.

That evening, Sir Humphrey attends a dinner at his alma mater, Baillie College, Oxford University with the Master and the Bursar. They wish to sound him out about succeeding the current Master upon his retirement (which will coincide with Sir Humphrey's retirement from the civil service). The only obstacle is the Dean, who hates Sir Humphrey. The only way that he can be removed from Baillie is to offer him a bishopric in the Church of England, and Bury St Edmunds has just fallen vacant.

...
Wikipedia