Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins criticizes public figures’ reluctance to offer genuine, timely apologies. He highlights how apologies often come long after the damage, lacking sincerity or accountability. These apologies tend to focus on consequences, not the actions themselves, evading true responsibility.
Public figures hate apologising. Ministers tend to apologise for public scandals long after the event, safe in the knowledge that no blame could possibly attach to them. Thus in the case of Rishi Sunak for infected blood, David Cameron for Hillsborough and Keir Starmer for Grenfell. Tony Blair never apologised for the war in Iraq, only for some failures in planning the war and its aftermath. Liz Truss only apologised for going “too far and too fast” with her disastrous budget. The archbishop of Canterbury apologised for the Church of England’s most recent sex scandal, except that the apology was really for the hurt caused to victims by his farewell speech in the House of Lords. … This is stupid. People not only need apologies, they are likely to respect them. There is nothing nobler than sincere regret. Mistakes in public life are sufficiently common to merit apologies. Offering them might make the public less cynical towards those in power.