Yes, Prime Minister1986

James Hacker:
But it wasn't my fault. I didn't know he was being bugged.

Bernard Woolley:
Prime Minister, you are deemed to have known. You are ultimately responsible.

James Hacker:
Why wasn't I told?

Sir Humphrey Appleby:
The Home Secretary might not have felt the need to infrom you.

James Hacker:
Why?

Sir Humphrey Appleby:
Perhaps he didn't know either. Or perhaps he'd been advised that you did not need to know.

James Hacker:
Well I did need to know.

Bernard Woolley:
Apparently the fact that you needed to know was not known at the time that the now known need to know was known, and therefore those that needed to advise and inform the Home Secretary perhaps felt that the information that he needed as to whether to inform the highest authority of the known information was not yet known and therefore there was no authority for the authority to be informed because the need to know was not at this time known or needed.

James Hacker:
What!

Sir Humphrey Appleby:
We could not know that you would deny it in the House.

James Hacker:
Well, obviously I would if I didn't know and I were asked.

Sir Humphrey Appleby:
We did not know that you would be asked when you didn't know.

James Hacker:
But I was bound to be asked when I didn't know if I didn't know.

Sir Humphrey Appleby:
What?