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The Inside Story Of Government U-Turns – And What They Mean For Boris Johnson

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“You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning,” Margaret Thatcher told the Tory faithful in Brighton as part of her famous 1980 speech to Conservative Party conference.

The divisive former PM did not do compromise – not on privatisation, industry or her hated poll tax – and, in the end, that unyielding leadership style saw “the iron lady” ousted.

Fast-forward 40 years and there is a very different Conservative prime minister in Downing Street.

He won power on a landslide victory in December, taking so-called “red wall” former Labour seats by pledging to “level up” state spending and “get Brexit done”.

The former London mayor, it seems, is unafraid of U-turns.

Be it bending on the immigration health surcharge, which would have seen overseas health workers pay to use the NHS; backing footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign for free school meals over summer; or his climbdown over the early return of schools – Johnson has time and time again signalled he is prepared to be flexible.

In the midst of a global pandemic, and government and civil servants stretched to capacity, some turbulence is to be expected.

But with economic disaster looming on the horizon and the Covid emergency wages scheme set to be scaled down, is Johnson playing a dangerous game signposting his flexibility to voters, opponents and even his own backbenchers?

The backlash to Osborne's pasty tax was huge
The backlash to Osborne's pasty tax was huge

David Gauke was exchequer secretary to the Treasury in 2012 when chancellor George Osborne’s notorious “omnishambles” budget collided heavily with public opinion.

The government eventually buckled over plans to charge VAT on hot takeaway food – more commonly referred to as “the pasty tax”.

Gauke recalls sitting opposite Osborne, then viewed as Cameron’s likely successor, as Number 11 weighed up whether to stick or twist given “the political capital we were...

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