What is wrong with honesty?

It was sad to see Theresa May this morning. An excellent example of the debased nature of public debate.

20-40,000 public sector jobs will go due to wastage. It is said that there should be no need for sackings as there is a high turnover in the public sector. Now, this is quite right. Millions are employed in the public sector, so a turnover of just a few percentage would allow for these sort of cuts in job numbers to be made.

But, in her need to stay on script, she appeared evasive and was evasive:

1. What is wrong with admitting that there may be job cuts? They cannot be ruled out, but on their calculations it should be avoided. It is after all the truth, and people understand it. But, in her mind is the fear of the headline it would provoke.

2. If a job represents waste, why should it only go when someone is good enough to retire from it? Or why wait until someone near to them in a useful job retires, allowing the pointless civil servant to be re-allocated?

3. Why not point out that the NHS has at least 1 million staff, and 40,000 jobs would represent a turnover of 4% - not difficult when many of the workers a temporary migrants who go home after a few years. But - ho dear, that would touch on immigration!! That would touch on the ring-fencing of the NHS, where any efficiency savings must find a home (hopefully efficient) in the NHS lest someone cries "they are cutting our health service!!"

4. Why not point out that the credit crunch has cost hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs, so to absolutely guarantee public sector jobs would be wrong? Diane Abbott may say that it is wrong for public sector workers to pay the price of bailing out the bankers - but that is a crude approach to the economic crisis. Car workers and so many others have paid the price of the asset bubble exploding in our faces, and that has included bailing out the banks. But why this should fall only on the innocent parts of the private sector and exempt the public is a mystery?

5. Why not point out that a failure to make cuts in the deficit will lead to a crunch in the government's credit. That will lead to externally imposed austerity measures. Then here will be real and horrible cuts.

But now, we just get Mrs May dragging in the talk of "jobs tax", "endanger recovery", "our provisional figures say..." and lots of other talk that blanks the dangers that lie beneath.

There is a real danger for the Tories in this. It is unsustainable to pretend that there is no risk of job cuts, it will have to be admitted. When they admit it, they will appear not just as bad people to those who simply hate the cuts - but evasive and dishonest to those who recognise that such things are a horrible necessity.

A double whammy in trying to please everyone.