Political humans

I’ve been away so not following things as closely as I might. I missed the launch of the giant Dave posters (yes, I think a bit over-corrected but they are massive so they had to make them look ok); I missed the not very exciting Labour dossier of non-existent Tory spending plans (most people seem to have ignored that anyway); I missed the marriage tax gaffe (or was it…) and I spent yesterday afternoon glued to Sky News but not seeing much that would make a real difference.

To return to the marriage tax gaffe. I said above ‘or was it?’ – I don’t mean that in a ‘David Cameron can do no wrong’ way. When I first heard about it, I thought it could be the start of a refinement of the policy – much as Andrew Lansley’s 10 per cent cuts in government spending was the start of a whole new battleground. Given the clarifications and corrections that have since come out, I think it was probably a slip of the tongue that caused a few more ripples than it might have done.

Which brings me on to what I want to say. We are in for a four month election campaign. I was talking to someone the other day who said ‘You absolutely must support and promote the Tories – don’t damage them in any way.’ My response to him was that of course I want to see a Conservative government in May – but that however hard I try, I can virtually guarantee that someone somewhere will misinterpret something I write here or say somewhere. We are all only human. People complain about the dullness of politics, the on-message spinners and the media management machines.

The problem is, if anyone does make a slip or say something even slightly different or say something that could be interpreted as being unsupportive, they are immediately battered with wave after wave of criticism.

If we want politics to be interesting, and radical, and imaginative, we must allow participants a certain amount of leeway. I’m not saying that anyone should say anything that pops into their head at any moment. But I am saying that, where politicians make a mistake, they should be able to admit it and correct it.

I’m surprised and a little disappointed that it took CCHQ so long to admit it was a mistake. I’ve long argued that admitting to errors is a key part of how politics needs to change; I don’t want a bunch of politicians who remain adamant that a clearly failing policy is actually a glittering success. I want politicians who are sufficiently confident to say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘It’s nothing to do with me’ or ‘I got that wrong, I’m sorry’ – because otherwise all we’ll have is a tiny group of people who are willing to entirely cut off any personality they might have had in order to gain power.

I don’t want to see that. I want to elect real human beings, with failings and blind spots and warts and all – because they are the ones who understand that simply passing a law is not going to change anything. They are the ones who understand what life is really like, and they are the ones who have the ideas that will help them to help society to change.

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