Dare to say ‘I don’t know’, Robinson urges politicians
POLITICIANS must be brave enough to say “I don’t know” rather than confuse the public with meaningless sound bites, Nick Robinson has said.
The presenter of Radio Four’s Today programme has called on ministers to accept their ignorance on Covid-19 and not give guarantees through slogans.
The BBC’S former political editor has criticised politicians for using language plucked from “a set menu of ovenready sound bites” and urged them to be more open with “the uncomfortable truth”.
He has taken issue with Government guarantees that its Covid-19 response would be “ground-breaking” and “game-changing” and he is also frustrated with assurances given by Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, that students would be provided a “triple lock” and a “backstop” prior to the exams furore.
While Robinson, 56, has lost patience with politicians using interviews to air these sound bites, he has pledged not to aim for “gotcha” journalism, but instead allow for people to admit their ignorance.
He wrote in Radio Times magazine: “My resolution is to do my best to reward those who are willing to be open about the choices they face and who are willing to say the three most truthful words in politics: ‘I don’t know’. Straight talking; plain speaking; to be treated like a grown-up. That is what I crave. Many leaders believe that what we want from them is certainty. Look, they say, at the evidence of what works: simple, memorable slogans like ‘Make America Great Again’, ‘Take Back Control’ and, yes, ‘Stay at Home, Save Lives,
Protect the NHS’.” But Robinson has argued that those both for and against Government policy should accept that cast-iron guarantees cannot be made about the way the coronavirus crisis will pan out.
“Whether it was the coronavirus app, the test-and-trace regime or buying millions of antibody tests, no one knew. No one could know because no one had tried these things before,” he added. His comments came after Cabinet ministers returned to the show following a boycott claiming it was “irrelevant”.