# Political Slang

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-slang/959784>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 19, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-slang/959784 "2022-02-19T15:15:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-slang/959784/21 "2022-02-21T04:55:25Z")

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Even better:

“Despite strong support from my fellow (Canadians, etc) I have no _current_ plans to run for elected office…”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-slang/959784/22 "2022-02-21T07:22:42Z")

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A safe answer, whenever a senior UK politician\* is asked if they’ve any leadership ambitions, is “There isn’t a vacancy” - “yet” is unspoken, of course. Alternatively, and a bit more negative, is something like “I’m very busy with the job I’ve got.”

“I’m 100% behind the PM/Leader” can mean “That’s so s/he can’t see the knife”.

\*A junior backbencher, of course, can say things like “One day, perhaps, why not? You go into politics to get things done”.

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