Disraeli thought that, in politics, apologies don't work. I see why. Such being the nature of parliamentary conflict, an apology in politics merely leads to fresh accusations and further demands for embarrassing details. I once said to Harold Wilson when he was prime minister, "It would be a good idea, Harold, to admit the government's mistakes occasionally, and apologise." He replied, "That's a shrewd suggestion, Paul, and I entirely agree with it." (Harold being Harold, I knew an untruth was coming.) "The trouble is, though, I can't actually think of any mistakes, and so there's nothing to apologise for." Which was to make Disraeli's point, though in a Wilsonian way.
迪斯累里首相认为在政治问题上，给别人道歉行不通。我明白个中的缘由。议会斗争的本质就是如此，在政治问题上，道歉只会招致新的诘责和进一步要求交待让你左右为难的详情。还是哈罗德·威尔逊担任首相的时候，有一次我向他进言：“哈罗德，偶尔承认一下政府的错误，并且道个歉，不失为一个好主意吧。” 他答道：“你这个建议高，保罗，本人完全赞同。”(哈罗德毕竟是哈罗德，我知道一句言不由衷的话就要脱口而出了。)“然而难办的是我实在想不出有哪些错误，因此，也就没有甚么好道歉的喽。” 这正是以威尔逊的方式表达出了迪斯累里的意思。
