Gisela Stuart MP tries to save both faces

I am listening to the BBC "Any Questions" Saturday broadcast (recorded and first broadcast last night.) About twenty minutes minutes ago on the broadcast, a questioner asked if it is acceptable to lie on a CV to get a job, and Gisela Stuart MP's answer concluded with the statement that politicians should not tell lies: her words were approximately as follows:

As a politician, if something is not true, don't say it.

As she should have seen coming, David Dimbleby then asked her about the £350 million figure on the side of the campaign bus on a campaign in which she was a prominent member.

She began her response by referring to the UK National Statistics authority, but did not mention that the head of that authority had condemned the figure as misleading.

She then said that the £350 million figure was an underestimate of the amount of money of which the UK has "lost control" because it leaves the country.

THIS IS NOT TRUE.

Mrs Thatcher's rebate is deducted from the notional payment to the EU before the money leaves the country.

Gisela Stuart was right when she said that politicians should not say things which are untrue,

She was wrong when she made an untrue statement a few minutes later.

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