Stop talking this country down: how ministers duck awkward questions

Turn on BBC Parliament at almost any time of day, and sooner or later you’re bound to hear the following phrase. Most commonly you’ll hear it when a minister is responding to a criticism he or she can’t dispute. The phrase is five words long, and it goes like this: “Stop talking this country down!”

From a Government point of view, the phrase is very useful. First because it’s a simple, off-the-peg riposte that enables a stranded minister to duck the question. But also because it treats the Government and the country as if they’re one and the same – thus implying that to criticise, or even to question, the Government is somehow unpatriotic. If the Opposition really cared about the British people, the phrase suggests, they’d turn a blind eye to the Government’s mistakes, and stop asking all these awkward questions. We seem to be hearing the phrase quite a bit at the moment.

At PMQS on Wednesday, for example, Jeremy Corbyn pointed out a flaw in the Government’s Universal Credit scheme, which meant that some workers at Greggs had been allowed to keep only £75 of a £300 staff bonus. Boris Johnson told him to “stop talking Britain down”.

And yesterday, at International Trade Questions, we heard the phrase twice. When the SNP’S Stewart Hosie questioned the wisdom of conducting trade talks with both the EU and the US at the same time, Tory minister Liz Truss retorted that the SNP was simply “talking our country down”. And when Labour’s Judith Cummins asked whether the Government’s “free ports” plan might unwittingly “displace jobs and investment from other parts of the country”, junior minister Graham Stuart complained that Labour was “always talking this country down”.

It’s quite fun to watch, in a way. They always make such a performance of it. The appalled frown. The puffchested righteousness. The indignantly jabbing finger. How dare the Opposition behave like this, Mr Speaker? Scrutinising the Government is an affront to all we hold dear.

The phrase isn’t original, of course, nor is it exclusive to the Tories. The SNP themselves have for years accused their critics of “talking Scotland down”. And if Jeremy Corbyn had won the election, he might now be using the phrase against the Tories.

“Quite frankly, Mr Speaker, it’s time the Conservatives stopped talking this country down. Instead of always focusing on the negative side of socialist economic catastrophe, they should start recognising the benefits.

Yes, the supermarket shelves may have sat empty for the past six weeks – but at a stroke this has ended the obesity crisis, thus easing pressure on our NHS. “And in any case, thanks to the Seventies-style strike by our refuse collectors, and the resultant mountains of bin bags left to rot in the streets, Britain is now home to the biggest, juiciest and most succulent rats in Europe – meaning no child need ever go hungry!”