‘Let your yes be yes and your no be no’

It’s time to the name the elephant in the room. Our (not so newly) elected mayor struggles to answer questions.

“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37 (The Bible, New International Version)

As Bristol24/7 reported on Tuesday, Marvin Rees would not take a position on immigration on Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show, saying he was “not pleased and not unpleased” by Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement that Labour would (shamefully) not be that bothered by freedom of movement disappearing from the UK’s Brexit deal.

To be fair, Marvin’s in a tricky situation from the off in the interview when his leader Jeremy Corbyn communicates like this: “Labour is not wedded to freedom of movement for EU citizens as a point of principle, but I don’t want that to be misinterpreted, nor do we rule it out.” Thanks for clearing that up, Jeremy.

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Read more: ‘I’m not pleased and not unpleased’

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Then again, Marvin would not take a position on whether he is pro-Corbyn or anti-Corbyn in the first place. (My hot take: with the shapeshifting Andy Burnham his chosen 2015 leadership contender, it’s fairly unlikely he’s pro-Corbyn, so hopefully that wasn’t the reason you guys voted for him last May.) 

A few years back, when I was still “within the fold” of Christianity (I’m more of an agnostic dabbler these days), I visited an interesting religious community in rural Sussex. Alongside the whole-community mealtimes and segregated female and male companionship, one aspect of their community struck me as simultaneously old-fashioned and of our age: community members practiced the principle of straight-talking.

Without giving up their maxim to love and care for all people, they were exceptionally good at telling people what they thought of them and giving them advice in a forthright way, warts and all.

I have no intention here to criticise Marvin’s faith or Christianity in general. In fact, I think it’s refreshing that he clearly holds faith as more than just a badge used to court a particular demographic group (see David Cameron for details). I can see that it is the starting point of his political thinking. I learned a lot from some of the same people as him through my student years.

Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis were formative figures in my own belief in a social justice-orientated, political Christianity that takes the words of Jesus seriously when it comes to challenging and campaigning against structural injustices, rather than just ignoring the plight of the poor.

However, similarly to the common criticism of his predecessor George Ferguson, Marvin refuses to take positions or answer questions on national issues like austerity and free movement. As a self-styled “city leader”, Marvin prefers instead to pose hundreds of questions that he then fails to answer.

For me, the biggest problem is clearly found in print. I noticed Marvin’s infuriating unease with answering questions when reading an interview with him in our community magazine Up Our Street. He was asked to give some practical policies that will ensure Easton and Lawrence Hill residents can access good quality local employment.

Here’s some things he did:

– talked about building “an inclusive economy”

– identified that “unstable communities are not good for inward investment”

– highlighted that “educational inequalities do not build the kind of workforce that the world needs”

– claimed that “we are putting reducing inequality at the heart of everything we do”

– raised three questions around finance, health and inequality 

– talked up his City Office, which was never a job-creating tool

So, in short, say everything short of answer the question straightforwardly.

The answer, by the way, is quite simple although not what everyone wants to hear: “The Mayor has soft powers which can create the space for jobs and employers, but not the jobs themselves. This is something that needs to be understood more generally about local politicians. We must also remember that the government is slashing our council budgets which means we have to cut our services, leading to a worse situation for all. I’m sorry, this is going to be difficult.”

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Read more: Bristol City Council required savings rise to £100m

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When he does take a position, he can contradict himself within minutes. When Bristol Green councillors challenged him to work across the Core Cities’ leaders (all of whom are Labour leaders and so purportedly start from a common purpose and vision) to make a strong statement about the continued assault of austerity on Bristol residents’ lives – their health and social care, the council’s ability to deliver effective public services, their housing conditions – Marvin condemned this basic scrutiny and challenge as “for children”.

“The job of a city leader is not to take potshots and ask questions”, Marvin said. (The former may be true, but the latter is not.)

Soon afterwards, Marvin appeared before a throng of People’s Assembly activists who were asking what he was going to do about continued austerity cuts. The answer was somewhat different, with Marvin offering them his word that his administration would fight the cuts.

Yes, yes, Marvin is a politician – of course he doesn’t answer questions or keep his consistency all the time! But Marvin is also a vocal and prominent Christian. And Christians strive to be humble and honest and – as the Bible quote above suggests – should be straight-talking.

In studying theology at university, I found that a lot of my exegetical wonderings were about how far you can push the definitions and meanings of words to enable certain ethical and spiritual behaviours. It’s a very political type of thing to do – to parse words, to question meanings, to leave the audience confused and bamboozled.

Many of you will have seen that West Wing clip of President Josiah Bartlett admonishing a conservative talk show host for picking and choosing which bits of the Bible to follow or not follow. When Jesus spoke, there were multiple possible interpretations of what he meant – at least according to the liberal school of biblical criticism. But even the most liberal biblical scholar will struggle to deny that aspects of the biblical ethical framework are to the point and unambiguous, and letting your yes be yes and your no be no is, in my view, one of them.

Trump or Clinton. Brexit or Bremain. Tribal or plural. Open or closed. When so much of modern politics seems to be playing the polarised game, I can see the appeal of not giving a simple answer.

However, people want the truth. They are fed up with automaton politicians and non-answers, and this has knock-on effects on voting rates. This has led to a deep malaise, where “straight-talking” is seen as a political value that endears those on the populist and hard-right of politics to people in a seemingly new, fresh way no matter how hateful, divisive and dangerous their politics might be.

Those on the centre and centre-left need to sit up and take notice of this trend and acknowledge the malaise that comes from more than a decade of their soundbite politics. They may need to frame their language carefully and with nuance, true, but they need to leave everyone with a clear understanding of where they stand on each issue.

This works in winning independently-minded people over who aren’t already convinced. See Caroline Lucas, Nicola Sturgeon and Bernie Sanders as good examples of politicians who speak clearly and straightforwardly to address the questions asked, steering clear of soundbites and triangulation. Sure, you may lose some people by taking a clear stand, but you may gain more as a result of being a principled politician who takes that stand.

Not everyone is always going to agree with you. Live with it.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure Marvin has learned this lesson, still believing that he and the Labour Party can be all things to all people. So my advice is simple and straight. Hopefully this will be taken in the spirit of Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

Marvin, “let your yes be yes, and your no be no.” Or, in more secular terms, answer the bleeding question.

Rob Telford is policy coordinator for Bristol Green Party and he has a theology degree from Cardiff University. He was formerly the Green group leader on Bristol City Council and councillor for Ashley ward.

Read more: Marvin Rees: ‘We need a sovereignty shift’