The whole sorry episode

IT'S a pretty sorry state of affairs when we have to be given a lesson in how to say sorry by, of all people, a politician. But you've got to admit that when it comes to making an apology, Boris Johnson has few equals. Even if he didn't really apologise at all. Not for everything. Not quite.

There is something apologetic and sheepish about Boris even at the best of times. He has the guilty look of a shaggy Old English Sheepdog caught snoozing on his master's favourite sofa.

So there can't be many people who, when he was ordered by Tory leader Michael Howard to visit Liverpool and apologise to the people of that city in person for an ill-considered article in his magazine, The Spectator, didn't feel a little thrill of anticipation. The Tory toff about to get his comeuppance.

It should have been an exercise in ritual humiliation - especially when Boris was ambushed on local radio by Paul Bigley, the brother of murdered hostage Ken. Paul was unimpressed by The Spectator accusing Liverpudlians of "wallowing in victim status" over the way they mourned the death of his brother.

"You are a self-centred, pompous twit; even your body language on TV is wrong," Mr Bigley informed Boris, live on air. "You don't look right, never mind act right. Get out of public life!"

Somehow, however, despite this very public sandbagging, and despite having spent much of the day wandering forlornly around Liverpool pursued by a posse of hostile and hungry hacks, Boris emerged from the whole sorry episode with considerable credit.

His response to Mr Bigley was as dignified as it could be in the circumstances.

"I don't think I can say anything to you, Paul, that will alter your opinion of me. But what I would point out is that time and time again in the article, we extended our heartfelt sympathies to your family."

Despite admitting there was "something crushing" about the dressing-down he was given by Mr Bigley, he refused, throughout his day in Liverpool to be browbeaten by the media into giving more of an apology than he felt was due.

He apologised for causing offence; he apologised for any hurt done to the Bigley family; he apologised for re-opening the old wounds over Hillsborough; and he apologised for stereotyping the people of Liverpool itself. But he refused to apologise for The Spectator article in its entirety, insisting it made a serious point about our victim culture.

He even managed, in a column in the Daily Telegraph the next day, to deliver a sharp rap over the knuckles to his party leader Mr Howard, the man who had insisted he should go to Liverpool in the first place.

Howard had called The Spectator article "nonsense from end to end," Mr Johnson wrote. "Well, I know of no doctrine that means members of the shadow front bench have to see eye to eye about every article that appears in the press, and in my view Michael is wrong on that," he wrote.

Glory be: a politician who is not going to let himself be cowed by his party into saying something he doesn't believe. Good on you, Boris.

I wouldn't be surprised if as a result of his Liverpool trip he finds his popularity ratings soaring. Selby's Labour MP John Grogan thinks so too. "To some extent I suppose he's played a bit of a blinder," said Mr Grogan. "He carried it off in some style and he's probably the second most recognised member of the shadow cabinet at the moment."

Given the apparent success of the Johnson manoeuvre, you might wonder why politicians don't adopt it more often. Sorry is, after all, such a little word: and if an open, sincere (and possibly even abject) apology can boost your popularity, why not?

After all, even David Beckham realised the value of an apology after his howler in owning up to deliberately getting booked in England's recent 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Wales. And if Becks is smart enough to see what good an apology can do, surely some of our politicians are?

This raises the appalling prospect of the nation being inundated with tearful politicians, all desperate to apologise for something or other before the next election in order to boost their credibility and sincerity ratings.

Mercifully, that is unlikely to happen. There's nothing more irritating than the person who goes around saying sorry every five minutes, says John Grogan - and abuse of the 's' word simply devalues it.

"To some extent, to be meaningful, its uses should be few and far between," he said. Politicians are, thankfully, smart enough to realise that.

Even in politics, there is room for a timely and sincere apology, says Ryedale MP John Greenway.

"I think the problem with senior politicians - ministers, the Prime Minister, leaders of the opposition - offering apologies is what then follows," he said. "If you say sorry for one thing and admit you're wrong, then it occurs to people to think what else was wrong?"

Which does not mean a politician should always try to cultivate an air of invincibility and infallibility. "I think candour is often more acceptable to people than putting on this face that says we're never wrong. We are human, and I think a little candour goes a long way."

Tony Blair has been seriously damaged because of his failure to fully apologise over the decision to go to war with Iraq based on wrong intelligence, Mr Greenway said. "It has damaged his credibility, and I think that is part of his problem in people disbelieving him in terms of what he is going to do about sending troops to the north of Iraq."

And Mr Greenway himself? Does he find it easy to say sorry? "I never find it difficult to say sorry, if I think an apology is in order." Can he give an example? "As you know, my wife and I split up last year. That upset some people, personal friends who are constituents. I have apologised to them. I said I'm sorry if I have not come up to the standards you would expect, but we're all human."

Steve Galloway, the bullish leader of City of York Council, is another politician who sees nothing wrong with saying sorry, in the right circumstances. He, like John Grogan, would be wary of apologising too often.

"It is difficult, if you want to keep some credibility, to spend a lot of time saying how sorry you are," he said. But if there was a genuine reason to apologise, he wouldn't balk at it.

And a genuine reason might be...?

"When there is clearly an error of judgement."

You mean, like on evening parking charges?

Booming laugh. "That was a decision taken knowingly in order to get over a difficulty in balancing the budget. I don't think balancing the budget would be something one would apologise for. We would have been criticised even more if we had failed to do certain things."

So is there anything he would like to apologise for? "The council apologised for sending out council tax reminders to people who should not have received them," he said. "That was not council policy. It was a mistake, and it should not have happened."

Well, there's plain speaking for you. Other politicians, please take note.

Updated: 11:07 Friday, October 22, 2004