handbrake turn

plural handbrake turns

1. automotiveAn automobile driving manoeuvre where the driver starts turning the vehicle and then pulls on the handbrake to make the rear tyres lose adhesion and thus cause the back of the vehicle to slide around (in the direction of the turn).

   The man did a handbrake turn, putting the car into a wild spin.

   2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

   Synonyms: bootlegger reverse, moonshiner's turn, broadie

2. figurativelyAn abrupt change of opinion.

   Can I turn now to your handbrake turn on SIPPs, where you have prohibited all investment in residential property.

   2005, The 2005 pre-Budget report : second report of Session 2005-06, Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee, published 2006, →ISBN, page 36

   4 more examples

   The Tony Blair who told his party conference that he has no reverse gear has performed a screaming handbrake turn for a man he once described as an 'absolute disaster'.

   2003 December 21, Andrew Rawnsley, “Washed out, not washed up”, in The Observer

   The argument that we cannot take part because of our history no longer holds true. This volte-face - a political handbrake turn, compared with the policies that Schröder's predecessor as SPD (Social Democrats) leader had stood for - was made simpler by the fact that the shift in German public opinion was as dramatic as the politicians' change of heart.

   2005, Steve Crawshaw, Easier Fatherland: Germany in the Twenty-First Century, Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 126

   Nevertheless, Rangers, hitherto wary of compromising any Champions League involvement, have now performed a handbrake turn and come out in support of such an arrangement.

   2006, Gary Oliver, “Eurovision”, in Power, Corruption and Pies, volume 2, WSC Books Limited, →ISBN, page 120

   It might make her look a bit ridiculous (she never criticised the delegate system when she thought she was going to win), but then Mrs Clinton seems to have what one of her supporters called the "testicular fortitude" to carry off that kind of handbrake turn.

   2008 May 13, Kevin Connolly, “Clinton set for West Virginia win”, in BBC News