Politicians should be allowed to make mistakes, they are human after all - Neil McNicholas

We cannot have avoided hearing the word ‘U-turn’ used in reference to the decision-making of the Prime Minister and Chancellor gathered at the Conference in Birmingham.

To err is human, so the saying goes, and the more that humans are involved in political decision-making, the more room there is going to be for error.

What is needed is less expectation of the government to function perfectly, and more allowance for ‘wiggle room’ defined in the dictionary as ‘scope for negotiation, especially in order to modify a previous statement or decision’.

We may quite rightly expect a fairly low batting average of our political leaders when it comes to making mistakes, because the system of informed consultation by individuals and committees and the Cabinet ought to ensure all the possible wrinkles have been ironed out before ministers, and especially the Prime Minister, stands up in parliament or in public and makes a policy proclamation.

We need to have a degree of confidence in that process, and on a consistent basis, otherwise our thoughts will very likely turn to words such as ‘incompetent’ and ‘unfit for office’.

That said, there are going to be occasions and situations when we will expect to see a little humility on the part of our political leaders, and we need only to cast our minds back to the previous administration for an example of the complete absence of that quality.

Why is it so hard for them to admit that they have made a mistake and to therefore immediately set about correcting their error of judgement?

Why, also, is it so hard for the media to accept that process without immediately branding it as a ‘U-turn’ – which always sounds worse and which is, of course, their intention?

We all make mistakes and errors of judgement and at least, usually, the consequences aren’t as far-reaching for us as they might be for our politicians – local or national. But they too will make mistakes from time to time and the media, and we ourselves, might be a little more gracious and accepting of their humility when they admit it.

If it is indeed true that male drivers will get hopelessly lost before they will swallow their pride and consult a map, I wonder how many as a result have found themselves having to drive fruitless miles along a motorway to the next exit because they missed the one they were supposed to take?

How many have had to retrace their journey to find out where it was they missed the sign they should have been looking for? This is what happens when we try to bluff our way through a situation of our making, when all we need to do is stop, admit our mistake, and this time check the map.

This past week, did we really want to see either the Prime Minister or the Chancellor continuing to bumble along the wrong financial policy road simply because they were reluctant to admit an error of judgement or an error in policy-making, when stopping and checking the proverbial map was such a simple step to take? And if it involved a U-turn so be it – better that than driving for miles in reverse and hoping no one will notice.

Having said all of that, we wouldn’t want to see our political leaders constantly lurching from one error of judgement to another.

Rev Neil McNicholas is a parish priest in Yarm.