United Kingdom, Accountability, Public Sacrifice

Carrying the Can

British English has a family of phrases for the person who takes the blame publicly.

To carry the can: To take the blame for something, often on behalf of others.

To fall on one’s sword: To resign so that the organization can move on.

To do the decent thing: To resign without being forced.

To consider one’s position: To think about resigning. When a newspaper says that a minister should consider his position, it means that he should go.

To be hung out to dry: To be left alone to take the blame while others stay safe.

Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982. On 5 April, the Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, resigned, together with two other Foreign Office ministers, Humphrey Atkins and Richard Luce. Carrington wrote: “But I have been responsible for the conduct of that policy and I think it right that I should resign.”

The later Franks inquiry into the origins of the war attached no blame to him.

Crichel Down

In 1954, an inquiry into the Crichel Down affair, a dispute over farmland in Dorset, was damning about the actions of those acting for the government. The Minister of Agriculture, Sir Thomas Dugdale, told the House of Commons: “the responsibility rests with me. That responsibility I wholly accept.” He resigned, and his resignation became the classic example of individual ministerial responsibility.

Papers released thirty years later complicated the story. They showed that Dugdale had known and approved of his civil servants’ actions, and had to an extent passed the blame to them himself.

In the Name of God, Go

In May 1940, the House of Commons debated the failing British campaign in Norway. Leo Amery ended his attack on Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with the words of Oliver Cromwell: “In the name of God, go.” Chamberlain resigned on 10 May 1940.

His successor was Winston Churchill, who as First Lord of the Admiralty had direct responsibility for the conduct of naval operations in the Norwegian campaign.

Greg Dyke Resigns

In January 2004, the Hutton Inquiry into the death of the scientist David Kelly heavily criticized the BBC’s news reporting process. The BBC chairman, Gavyn Davies, resigned on 28 January. The next day the director-general, Greg Dyke, resigned too.

On 5 February, BBC staff held protests over his departure, with banners reading “Hands off the BBC.”

Fifty-Four Days

George Entwistle became director-general of the BBC on 17 September 2012. Weeks later, a report on the BBC program Newsnight indirectly and incorrectly implicated Lord McAlpine in a child abuse scandal.

Entwistle resigned on 10 November 2012, after just 54 days in the post.

Ultimate Responsibility

On 9 November 2025, the BBC director-general, Tim Davie, and the chief executive of BBC News, Deborah Turness, both resigned. A newspaper had reported on an internal memo criticizing how the program Panorama had edited a speech by Donald Trump.

Davie wrote to staff: “Overall, the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as director-general I have to take ultimate responsibility.” Turness wrote: “As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me.”

Amber Rudd Resigns

On 29 April 2018, Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary over the Windrush scandal. She had denied that the Home Office had targets for removing people from the country. A leaked letter appeared to show such a target.

In her resignation letter, she said she had “inadvertently misled” the Home Affairs Select Committee. She wrote: “I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility that I was not.”

Admiral Byng

On 14 March 1757, Admiral John Byng was shot by a firing squad at Portsmouth. He had arrived at Minorca with too few ships, fought an indecisive battle, and failed to save the island from the French. He was the first and last British admiral to be sentenced to death. The government may have sought a scapegoat.

Voltaire satirized the execution in his novel Candide. Candide watches an admiral shot at Portsmouth and is told that in this country it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, pour encourager les autres, to encourage the others.

The Westland Affair

In January 1986, the Trade and Industry Secretary, Leon Brittan, resigned over the Westland affair. He had authorized the leaking of a letter from the Solicitor General that accused his cabinet colleague Michael Heseltine of inaccuracies. At the time, Brittan said he had misunderstood Margaret Thatcher’s wishes.

In April 1989, on the television program The Thatcher Factor, he said he had acted on the “express” instructions of Charles Powell and Bernard Ingham, Thatcher’s two senior advisers.