Politics & Power Quote by Douglas Hurd

Hurd’s line is a politician’s small act of candor disguised as reassurance: the public isn’t apathetic, it’s allergic to the packaging. “Politics” has become a dirty label, shorthand for tribal shouting, backroom deals, and the sense that outcomes are pre-decided. So he performs a neat rhetorical judo move, separating the substance (power, money, rights, schools, borders, wages) from the brand. People care intensely about the decisions that govern their lives; they just don’t want to feel they’re stepping into the slime.

The intent is practical, almost tactical. If you’re trying to rebuild trust in institutions, you don’t scold citizens for disengagement; you reframe their engagement as already present. That shift flatters the voter (“you’re not indifferent, you’re discerning”) while indicting the political class (“we made the word unbearable”). It’s also a clue to how successful operators communicate: talk about “common sense,” “doing the right thing,” “getting things done.” Avoid the procedural language that reminds people of parties, lobbying, and compromise.

The subtext is darker: depoliticization is itself a political strategy. If voters prefer issues without the label, leaders can sell contested choices as neutral “management” or “necessity,” draining them of ideological visibility. Hurd, a British Conservative who moved through government in an era when “spin” hardened into a profession, is pointing to a lasting reality of modern democracies: citizens want outcomes and accountability, but they recoil from the messy theatre that produces them. The line works because it names that hypocrisy without sounding accusatory.