DAMAGE LIMITATION

noun (Politics) The action or process of minimizing the damage to one's cause (usually a political one) after an accident, mistake, etc. has occurred. Also sometimes called damage control. Etymology: Formed by compounding. History and Usage: The term damage limitation was first used in the mid sixties to refer to a policy in US politics of planning for the disaster of nuclear war, so as to have mechanisms in place for minimizing the damage to the US of a first strike by the enemy; damage control originated in international shipping law and later came to be used figuratively in politics. Both terms were applied in new contexts in the eighties as a series of political scandals and mistakes involving individual politicians or whole parties threatened to affect the polls unless damage-limiting measures were taken. The meeting decided to put Lord Whitelaw in charge of a 'damage limitation' exercise. Part of this would be a speech by Mrs Thatcher distancing the government from the [Channel] tunnel. Economist 14 Feb. 1987, p. 19