U-turns tend to be humiliating events. When performing them in a car, there’s the shame of your GPS incessantly ordering you to turn around amid the angry honking of drivers’ horns; in government, the shaming is gleefully carried out by the media and the opposition.
Political U-turns are perceived to be so ignominious, in fact, that lawmakers seem to feel the need constantly to insist they are not guilty of them. “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning,” Margaret Thatcher told the Conservative party conference in 1980, seeking to show her strength and mark a conspicuous change from the previous Tory prime minister, Edward Heath, whose reversal on economic policy in the early 1970s had provided the original impetus for the metaphor.
We have certainly seen our fair share of government U-turns during this pandemic. In Britain, the most notable recent one was the decision to extend the provision of free meals to underprivileged children to cover the school summer holidays, after pressure from a campaign led by footballer Marcus Rashford. According to Hansard, the term was used in Parliament more often in June 2020 than in any other month ever, with the two dreaded syllables uttered a total of 69 times.
Yet the U-turn doesn’t seem to be something that those outside political circles deem particularly worthy of denunciation. Rashford himself said he was “grateful that the prime minister did change his decision”, and told the BBC he had thanked Boris Johnson personally.
It’s an example worth following: we should stop chastising politicians for changing their minds, and start cheering them for doing so instead. Rashford had pushed for something he believed in, and the government had listened. One needn’t imagine that Johnson’s about-face was motivated by anything other than public relations, but if it also leads to good politics, shouldn’t we be happy about that?
Contrary to its negative image, a U-turn is a sign of a healthy and functional democracy; a demonstration that a government is willing to listen and that the media, opposition parties and general public have the power to hold their leaders to account. As Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, put it to me: “Democracy isn’t just about an election every five years. It’s a continual process of back and forth: listening, calibrating and adjusting.”
In US politics, the U-turn is referred to as the “flip-flop”, but jeered just as often. An online store dedicated to “president flip-flops” offers punters the chance to wear contradictory statements from Donald Trump on each foot, so you can “go back on your word, one step at a time”. (We regret to tell you that all items are currently sold out.)
In the world of business, however, no such negative connotations exist — quite the opposite, in fact. Companies know that if their business model isn’t working, they must change course to keep shareholders happy. This is commonly referred to as a “pivot”, a term made famous by Silicon Valley, and tends to be welcomed by the market.
In our personal lives too, we tend to see those who are able to take criticism on board and adjust their behaviour accordingly as praiseworthy and broad-minded, while regarding those who are unwilling to listen to other opinions or advice as pigheaded or arrogant.
Political U-turns do carry potential hazards. Perform too many of them and you risk being seen as lacking in conviction and authority, even by your own party. That must be particularly abhorrent to the cabinet ministers who are sent out to defend the indefensible, only to be publicly humiliated hours later by a leader who says the policy was dreadful after all.
The main problem with U-turn shaming, though, is that the punishment is doled out at the wrong moment; we should be criticising our leaders before they change their policies, not afterwards. Yet the term continues to be used as a way of creating a juicy splash or headline, as it has since its concoction by William Rees-Mogg when editor of The Times.
Very often, this oversimplifies a complex narrative by creating a binary division between what the government had intended to do and the policy it would now be pursuing — a recent example being the alleged 180-degree turn on herd immunity. In so doing, it stokes tensions and divides us.
If we don’t start to destigmatise the U-turn, we are just encouraging our leaders to become more inflexible and dishonest, further breaking down trust in government. A new name for it might help. In Australian politics, the U-turn is known as the “backflip”. While that doesn’t feel quite right, given that one ultimately ends up in the same place facing the same direction, at least the overtones it carries are impressive, rather than embarrassing.
Whatever we call it, if we truly want better politics, with less tribalism and more robust debate, we need to learn to love the U-turn.
Jemima Kelly is a reporter on FT Alphaville. jemima.kelly@ft.com; @jemimajoanna.
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VICTORIA – Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau has lost her seat in the legislature after changing ridings to Victoria-Beacon Hill.
Furstenau lost to Grace Lore, the minister of children and family development in the previous NDP government.
The Green leader was first elected 2017, when her party played a key roll in helping the New Democrats form government with a confidence and supply agreement between the two parties.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
DETROIT (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris appeared with Lizzo on Saturday in the singer’s hometown of Detroit, marking the beginning of in-person voting and lavishing the city with praise after Republican nominee Donald Trump recently disparaged it.
“All the best things were made in Detroit. Coney Dogs, Faygo and Lizzo,” the singer joked to a rally crowd, pointing to herself after listing off the meat-on-a-stick and soda that the city is famous for.
She said it was time to “put some respect on Detroit’s name” noting that the city had revolutionized the auto and music industries and adding that she’d already cast her ballot for Harris since voting early was “a power move.”
Heaps of praise for the Motor City came after Trump, the former president, insulted it during a recent campaign stop. And Harris continued the theme, saying of her campaign, “Like the people of Detroit, we have grit, we have excellence, we have history.”
Arms wide open as she took the stage, Harris let the crowd see she was wearing under her blazer a “Detroit vs. Everybody” T-shirt that the owner of the business that produces them gave her during a previous stop in the city earlier in the week. She also moved around the stage during her speech with a hand-held mic, not using a teleprompter.
More than 1 million Michigan residents have already voted by mail in the Nov. 5 election, and Harris predicted that Detroit turnout for early voting would be strong.
“Who is the capital of producing records?” Harris asked when imploring the crowd to set new highs for early voting tallies. “We are going to break some records here in Detroit today.”
She slammed Trump as unstable: “Somebody just needs to watch his rallies, if you’re not really sure how to vote.”
“We’re not going to get these 17 days back. On Election Day, we don’t want to have any regrets,” the vice president said.
Lizzo also told the crowd, “Mrs. Commander-in-Chief has a nice ring to it.”
“This is the swing state of all swing states, so every last vote here counts,” the singer said. Then, referencing her song of the same title, Lizzo added, “If you ask me if America is ready for its first woman president, I only have one thing to say: “It’s about damn time!”
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement that Harris needed Lizzo “to hide the fact that Michiganders were feeling good under President Trump – real wages were higher, prices were lower, and everyone was better off.”
Talona Johnson, a product manager from Rochester, Michigan, attended Harris rally and said that Harris “and her team are doing the things that are required to make sure that people are informed.”
“I believe she’s telling the truth. She’s trying to help the people,” said Johnson, who said she planned to vote for Harris and saw women’s rights as her top concern.
“I don’t necessarily agree with everything that she’s put out, but she’s better than the alternative,”
In comments to reporters prior to the rally, Harris said she was in Detroit “to thank all the folks for the work they are doing to help organize and register people to vote, and get them out to vote today. She also called Detroit “a great American city” with “a lot of hard-working folks that have grit and ambition and deserve to be respected.”
The vice president was asked about whether the Biden administration’s full-throated support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza might hurt her support in Michigan. Dearborn, near Detroit, is the largest city with an Arab majority in the nation.
“It has never been easy,” Harris said of Middle East policy. “But that doesn’t mean we give up.”
She will get more star power later Saturday when she holds a rally in Atlanta featuring another wildly popular singer, Usher.
Early voting is also underway in Georgia. More than 1.2 million ballots have been cast, either in person or by mail.
Democrats hope an expansive organizing effort will boost Harris against Trump in the campaign’s final weeks.
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Associated Press writers Matt Brown in Detroit and Will Weissert and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed.
Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is set to be on the road today as the provincial election campaign continues.
Moe is set to speak in the city of Yorkton about affordability measures this morning before travelling to the nearby village of Theodore for an event with the local Saskatchewan Party candidate.
NDP Leader Carla Beck doesn’t have any events scheduled, though several party candidates are to hold press conferences.
On Thursday, Moe promised a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected.
The NDP said the Saskatchewan Party was punching down on vulnerable children.
Election day is Oct. 28.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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