How to win the big political arguments – the art of a well-timed briefing

‘Pitch rolling’ – or fully preparing the ground, including public opinion, for an important policy announcement – has become a key part of the Tory government playbook, writes Andrew Grice. But it doesn’t always go as planned

‘Pitch rolling’ is a term first coined by David Cameron but what is it and how have subsequent prime ministers used it? (Getty/The Independent)

When Jeremy Hunt delivered his autumn statement in November, there were remarkably few surprises, in a break with the usual practice of the chancellor pulling a “rabbit” out of his Budget hat.

The other Budget tradition – secrecy ahead of the event – has long since died. In 1947, the chancellor, Hugh Dalton, resigned for tipping off a journalist about one of his measures minutes before he announced them. Today the Treasury pumps out press releases in the week before a fiscal event to spread the jam more thinly and secure more positive headlines.

Hunt appeared to take this process to new lengths by pre-briefing £55bn of tax rises and spending cuts in an unusual level of detail. It was an example of what politicians call “pitch rolling” – preparing political, media and public opinion for a big policy announcement so it “lands well,” in the spin doctors’ language.