As first seen on Professional Manager
Politicians say sorry like small children: through gritted teeth
after a lengthy stalemate or quick, bright and breezy to avoid a telling
off. So why should their political opponents chase apologies so
fervently when neither approach communicates any real regret? Because
politics is the blame game, and apologies are a way of keeping score.
Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom broke ranks by calling on George
Osborne to say sorry for implicating Ed Balls in the fixing of Libor
rates. But Tory Grandee Norman Lamont used more fitting language when he
said the Chancellor had, ‘Overplayed his hand.’ This language tells us
everything about Osborne’s accusation, the demand that he withdraw it,
and the subsequent media storm. It’s all just a hand of political poker.
So how did the players perform? Osborne wasn’t dealt much, just a
suggestion that people close to the previous Government put pressure on
Barclays to fiddle the Libor figures. But he chose to make a big bet and
implicate the Chancellor. When Bank of England Deputy Paul Tucker told
the Treasury Select Committee that no Government figures pressured him
to influence Barclays’ Libor numbers, the Chancellor was left holding
nothing at all. That was his chance to fold with a quick apology.
Particularly since his aides had already set the record straight with
a briefing to the BBC’s Nick Robinson. But he decided to stay in the
game while the stakes increased and other senior figures like Foreign
Secretary William Hague came to his defence. Now, there are few cards
left that would turn his position round.
Politicians can apologise successfully. Apologise immediately or
withdraw a remark and people will put it down to the heat of the moment.
But try and make political capital from a situation that gets out of
control and an apology is simply an embarrassment. No apology will
improve the relationship between Osborne and Balls, and what does either
care? Unless he means it, Osborne should simply sit tight while the row
dies down and think more carefully before he throws political mud in
future. He’s already lost the hand, it’s just a case of how badly.
Jon Bennett
Director
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