Falsehood and incompetence: the politician’s sweet spot.

To succeed in politics, a politician has to tread not one but two tightropes. You have to get the balance of incompetence, just right. You also have to find just the right level of mendacity. Not everyone can hack it, but get it right and yours is a world of intrigue, skullduggery, sycophancy, and, yes, power.

First, incompetence. You cannot be too good at what you do. No one likes a smartarse. In the UK, we advance by being the right sort, being a good sort. Don’t let application of ability (or similar wish-washy things like compassion or common sense) drag you down. On the other hand, there is a level of incompetence, admittedly quite high, that can work against you in extremis.

Second, honesty. Telling the truth. Don’t you just hate it? You simply cannot tell the truth. It will be held against you at some point. Here is the politician’s true competence: you have to be skilful in never telling the truth, but never being caught in an outright lie. Or at least, not being caught out by people who matter, at a time that matters, on a topic that matters to the people that matter. The bar is quite low here, but strangely some people fail to clear it.

Put these together; get the mix of incompetent muddling along without attracting derision for being too good or too bad, while also practising routine mis-truth in everything you say, and you have hit the sweet spot of falsehood and incompetence that marks a career politician in the United Kingdom, 2018.