High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A "flip-flop" (used mostly in the United States), U-turn (used in the United Kingdom and Ireland), or backflip (used in Australia and New Zealand) is a sudden real or apparent change of policy or opinion by a public official, sometimes while trying to claim that both positions are consistent with each other. Often it will occur during the period prior to or following an election in order to maximize the candidate`s popularity.