Purdah Sock In It
Purdah is the Persian word for curtain. In the far-flung places of the world, it refers to the practice of concealing women from men through segregation or dress. Here in Britain, it is the somewhat curious term applied to the pre-election period in which the government is, more or less, prevented from making major policy announcements. Prima facie, the reason for its existence is obvious. It stops the incumbent government gaining an unfair advantage by pulling the strings of state to woo voters. But, as I’m increasingly coming to see, it is being used disingenuously to conceal even the most basic information from the public.
I’ve come across the term purdah quite a lot in the last couple of weeks. Writing for a publication concerned primarily with tax law, I’ve found myself on the phone to Treasury and HMRC more than a few times in recent days. Every time, even the broadest, most general line of questioning has been met with the following response: ‘computer says no’. Or, more precisely: ‘I’m afraid, due to purdah restrictions, we can’t comment on that’.
The first time this happened, I accepted it. But after it cropped up again and again, even when my request for the simplest of statements had nothing remotely to do with new policy announcements, or even old policy, I began to get the feeling I was being bullshitted. Or bullshat. In any case, it involved bulls and they were shitting all over me. I tried to call them on this, but I was met with a wall, not a curtain, of silence.
The truth, as I’m beginning to see it, is that purdah is being used unscrupulously by government departments to ignore journalists during election periods. Whilst a practice that prevents the government from commenting on major new policy announcements just before an election is necessary, press officers are using it as an excuse to dodge questions they simply don’t want to answer. By using purdah in this way, not only are they fobbing off reporters, they are concealing information from the public in the run-up to the election, regardless of whether or not it relates to new policy. This is not only uncomfortable for the intrepid reporter, it is dangerous for democracy as a whole.
