The politics of saying sorry
Peter Hoskin 6:09pm
Patrick Wintour's write-up of the continuing expenses scandal today contains a neat insight into a recent Cabinet meeting:
"Only one cabinet minister, Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, told his colleagues that if he had contributed to the problem through his expenses claims then he was quite willing to offer his apologies. No other cabinet minister followed his lead, even if there was a widespread view around the table that the only way to draw a line on the issue would be to ask miscreants to pay back some of their claims."
There's a lesson in all this for polticians. You sense that Burnham's Cabinet colleagues have shied away from the s-word because they feel it would indicate culpability which, in turn, would be politically damaging. I certainly think this is one of the factors which lay behind Brown holding off from an apology for so long.
Yet David Cameron realised that the opposite is true: a parliamentary crisis such as this demands apologies from parliamentarians. In this case, saying "sorry" - and, of course, showing that you mean it - has actually been the best thing to do, politically. Maybe the Cabinet should have followed Burnham's lead, after all.
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Anton Howes
May 13th, 2009 6:28pm Report this commenthmmm
It appears that David Cameron has actually been following a strategy very similar to Brown's.
Both generally say sorry for things they haven't done. Cameron said sorry for the financial crisis, Brown says sorry for the Tories in the 80s and 90s. Cameron says sorry for others in his party, Brown says sorry for all parties, or sorry for e-mails sent by someone in his office.
Rarely, if ever do they say sorry for what is generally recognised to be their own mistake.
To supporters of each, it immediately makes them look more statesmanlike to say sorry and take the hit for something they haven't directly done.
However, only Cameron has turned out to be any good at pulling it off, whereas Brown has just seemed unable or reluctant to say the word meaningfully.
That may be down to the fact that he has rather more to apologise for!
kit salopian
May 13th, 2009 6:45pm Report this commentOf course the Cabinet should have said a collective Confiteor - but nothing would become Speaker Martin's sojourn as the leaving thereof were he now to uttter the words Mea Culpa
A.F
May 13th, 2009 7:50pm Report this commentI'm surprised that these cynical people haven't preceded their sorrrry with "without prejudice"
De Rigueur
May 13th, 2009 9:03pm Report this commentThink about it guys. How are these slease balls going to pay back the cash stolen from us?
If I was their bank manager I wouldn't give them a loan because they would almost certainly default on it - due to lack of regular employment.
Max Kaye
May 13th, 2009 9:43pm Report this commentA bit off-topic, but does anyone have any idea when the Telegraph will be addressing the expenses of Smith, McNulty, and the Balls-Cooper partnership?
Saving it for a Sunday blast, perhaps?
anoneumouse
May 13th, 2009 9:43pm Report this commentA resignation followed by the word SORRY is the only political action that would do it for me.
Otherwise its just a word used politicaly.
Sorry
Verity
May 13th, 2009 11:47pm Report this commentHow strange that De Rigueur can spell de rigueur but not sleaze.
Lee Jakeman
May 14th, 2009 12:25am Report this comment"How strange that De Rigueur can spell de rigueur but not sleaze."
Is he French?
Wilhelm
May 14th, 2009 5:25am Report this commentPhoney Tony Bliar was always saying sorry,
Sorry for slavery.
Sorry for Diana's death.
Sorry for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
Madasafish
May 14th, 2009 8:31am Report this commentSorry is cheap.
Action means something.
Anyone who believes a politician is sorry when they claim to be is a naive credulous idiot who wants to believe they are sorry.
Not one politician has lost his job or been de-selected.
Not one.
So sorry means nothing...
I am certainly going to vote soon but for none of the lying amoral thieves we call mainstream parties.
Collusion in theft is theft. They are all guilty protecting the guilty.
Obnoxio The Clown
May 14th, 2009 9:51am Report this commentPaying back the money will not draw a line under this.
We want sackings and lots of them, too.
Obnoxio The Clown
May 14th, 2009 10:36am Report this comment"there was a widespread view around the table that the only way to draw a line on the issue would be to ask miscreants to pay back some of their claims."
"Ask"? "Some"?
They really don't get it, do they? They're still trying to minimise the cost to themselves and really are planning to just carry on troughing once this has all blown over.
The Preston Park Panther
May 14th, 2009 11:51am Report this commentNow that Broon has created his merciless, no-excuses, guilty-till-proven-guilty HMRC Stasi, isn't it time they picked up this wide, trampled trail? Come on, Hector - here's your chance to do a good deed, for once.
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