In the nicest possible way, talking about politics is the only way politicians can make it more boring

In 2014, just hours before the polls closed in the Scottish independence referendum, a BBC reporter was finishing a piece on the huge turnout to vote. In a final flourish, he looked straight down the camera and said: “They said people weren’t interested in politics. They were wrong.”

In the eight years since then, he has been proved correct over and over again, but in ways he could probably never have imagined.

As the UK lurched from crisis to crisis, political news has dominated. Brexit, Donald Trump, Theresa May’s “meaningful votes” – and a total of three prime ministers being toppled in four years.

Even the pandemic, the biggest health crisis the world has seen in generations, was led by the political response, as people huddled separately in front of their television screens every night for the 5pm press conference and possible news on when they might be able to leave their homes.

The impact politicians have had on the day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens has always been enormous, of course. But there have been times in the past when it has felt much less frenetic; even managerial – a phrase not often associated with excitement. And it appears the new prime minister is keen for a change of pace.

That will be an uphill task, given the circumstances – soaring inflation; the cost of living crisis; a looming general election, which polls suggest will see the UK change its governing party for the first time in 14 years.

So reports that Rishi Sunak is set to reduce the amount of time his government ministers spend on the airwaves, with a “flexible” approach to appearances, are interesting.

If the idea is not quite to make politics boring again, it could certainly make it less heady. But the plan risks failing if the narrative becomes that there was “no one available” to discuss the latest crisis. That will risk, in the lingo, “giving it legs”.

In the end, as numerous politicians have learned to their cost over the years, often there really is no substitute for fronting something up and attempting to explain it. And, some waspish observers might suggest, the only way to make politics boring is to have certain politicians talk about it more often, not less.