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.

　　迪斯累里首相認為在政治問題上，給別人道歉行不通。我明白個中的緣由。議會斗爭的本質(zhì)就是如此，在政治問題上，道歉只會招致新的詰責(zé)和進一步要求交待讓你左右為難的詳情。還是哈羅德·威爾遜擔(dān)任首相的時候，有一次我向他進言：“哈羅德，偶爾承認一下政府的錯誤，并且道個歉，不失為一個好主意吧�！� 他答道：“你這個建議高，保羅，本人完全贊同�！�(哈羅德畢竟是哈羅德，我知道一句言不由衷的話就要脫口而出了。)“然而難辦的是我實在想不出有哪些錯誤，因此，也就沒有甚么好道歉的嘍�！� 這正是以威爾遜的方式表達出了迪斯累里的意思。