Is there a moral duty to tell truth to power?
15th Jul 2024
Like some of you, I am watching events across the pond with a sense of bewilderment and dread.
The speculation around the health and ability of the US President is disturbing. It troubles us, partly out of concern for an individual, but also because he is arguably the most powerful figure on earth. And if people have concerns, is it their duty to tell truth to power or stay silent, hoping things get better but fearing they won’t?
Let’s leave that question for friends of the President to make, back home we have the same moral question to ask, albeit on a considerably smaller scale of importance. With a new Energy Secretary in post, with a new team of ministers, is it a moral duty to tell the truth to them?
I pose this question because when I first took on this role I witnessed several meetings where industry representatives would sit in front of ministers, tell them what they thought they wanted to hear, for example that “the Green Deal is a great scheme”, only outside the meeting to say “it will never work”. So, the policy went forward, full steam ahead, only to fail. The Minister must have wondered why, given all the positive signals they had received from industry. But the truth wasn’t told to power.
So, what should industry do, faced with a new government, likely to be in power for the next ten years? Tell the truth and face the immediate consequences or stay silent in return for a seat at the table?
Good Ministers, those with confidence in their ability to make the right calls, would welcome the truth. Only the weak, less able Ministers want to be told the emperor’s clothes are just perfect.
As challenging as it can be, industry has a moral duty to tell the truth to power. Ministers need the full facts at their disposal. If their assumptions and beliefs need confronting, in the public interest, then that’s our responsibility. If nothing else, we would at least have a clear conscience.
Mike Foster
EUA's Chief Executive
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