Right to Silence

Gerry Sutcliffe, the junior Culture Minister in charge of pub licensing, has been getting a right kicking for telling a magazine that he didn’t agree with government policy on taxing beer and spirits, then attempting to backtrack by declaring: “My comments do not reflect my views.” His attempt at a retraction has been generally panned as the most moronic public utterance since Jade Goody asked: “Rio de Janeiro, ain’t that a person?” on Big Brother, and described, variously, as “ludicrous”, “twaddle” and “the most eyebrow-arching comment ever to pass from the lips of a minister”. But I disagree. I actually think Sutcliffe has inadvertently made a deeply honest remark that borders on the profound.

Browse through any political memoir and you’ll see what I mean: countless political careers that have been built on people spewing views that they don’t personally agree with. The constitutional convention of collective responsibility makes it necessary to do so. Meanwhile, a new book that I’m currently reading about life in the Square Mile has a broker remark that “the City requires people to say things extremely confidently that they don’t actually believe because, unless you give the impression of being confident in your convictions, no one will take you seriously”. Moreover, having just had a book of my own published, I’ve been repeatedly mortified by the things that I’ve supposedly spouted in interviews…

Read atTimes Online