If you have to say your position is clear ...

The BBC website this evening is quoting Labour's Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer as saying that Labour's position is "clear" about Brexit.

They also quote him as saying that the party was "certainly not ruling out" the possibility of a new referendum and that "all options" are on the table."

Hmmm.

The terms on which Britain should leave the EU represent a fantastically complex issue and I'm not sure any party can claim to be completely clear about their position.

But there are some expressions in life which would never need to be used if they are true, and therefore whenever you hear one of those expressions you can be confident that the person using them is not being entirely truthful.

For example, the only circumstances in which the someone in the retail industry will use the expression "there's no demand for it" to a customer is when that very customer is asking for the product concerned and thereby proving that statement false.

And similarly when a political party has to say that their position on an issue is "clear" you can take for granted that their position is not clear at all.

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