[Vocabulary] Political Stomach

[yamadew]

Hello.

While reading BBC news website, I came across this sentence:

"the key countries that would have to contribute may not have the political stomach and the temerity."

What does this political stomach mean? And is this phrase frequently used?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Richard1]

Hello,

An adjective like 'political' when used with the noun 'stomach' always conveys the same idea. There is always some controversial decision to be made, and making it is likely to upset a large proportion if not all of a population and hence cause a backlash.

In this example the suggestion is that the populations of the key countries are not generally in favour of making the level of contributions required, and to do so is likely to have a 'political' cost at any subsequent election or referendum, and result in a vote against the government in power.

It is in fairly common usage.

Regards

 

[Raymott]

Hello.

While reading BBC news website, I came across this sentence:

"the key countries that would have to contribute may not have the political stomach and the temerity."

What does this political stomach mean? And is this phrase frequently used?

Thanks in advance.

I agree with the above.
The politicians don't have the 'guts', or the 'balls' to do something which they probably should do. These are slang terms for the concept.