Hearts & Minds: How not to apologise

When does an apology make a bad situation worse? When it’s made by Gregg Wallace or Justin Welby. In the space of a week, we’ve witnessed two mea culpas that showed their issuers to be tone-deaf and fully deserving of the opprobrium heaped upon them. 

Wallace’s was “for any offence that I caused” and directed to “middle-class women of a certain age”. He then turned it on himself by referencing being in a “poor headspace”. We went from the blokeish but honest MasterChef presenter, as Wallace would like to portray himself, to the House of Lords and the departure of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anyone who imagined Welby would exit with impressive grace, justifying his position as spiritual leader, was forced to think again. His speech was so lacking in humility and understanding, as to bury any lingering doubts about his departure. 

“The reality is,” Welby said, “that there comes a time, if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility, where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll.” This, in relation to the charge that he failed to respond, as head of the Church, to compelling evidence of horrific child abuse. Confronted by a backlash, Welby later had another attempt at doing contrition: “I would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt that my speech has caused.” Too late. The damage was well and truly done. 

Between Wallace and Welby was Clive Myrie, who omitted to declare to the BBC at least £145,000 in external earnings: “An apology – I’ve had several administrative issues, and I didn’t fill out the correct paperwork for some of my external public events, so they haven’t been published until now.” Uncaring, from someone who when he reads the nightly TV news, wants us to see him as caring. 

What does this tell us? That such statements have become dangerously ritualistic, issued on autopilot. They’re not being run past PR advisors, or if they are, that guidance is not being heeded. It’s possible they might have received poor advice but no decent comms professional would suggest such a response. No, they appear as having come straight from them, without assistance. They think they know best but they’re not making it better. If you’re in a hole, shout for expert help, and listen - otherwise you will remain stuck and you could find yourself sinking deeper. 

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.