Quote of the day 24th May 2025

"'How an you tell when politicians are lying? Their lips are moving.'

It's a hoary old joke but it can still be guaranteed to raise a rueful chuckle among British voiters increasingly disillusioned with the political process.

I always thought it a tad unfair.

Yes, politicians deploy all manner of contrivances to avoid telling the truth when it's inconvenient."

"But outright lies? I have found that to be extremely rare - on either side of the political divide.

No longer. I have had to revise my opinion.

In the so far short and sad existence of the Starmer government, lying has become not just a feature to which it increasingly resorts - it's become its modus operandi."


The quote above is the start of an Andrew Neil article about lies by the Starmer government.

I stand by two opinions which may at first may seem contradictory - the first is that lying by people involved in politics has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished, and the second is accusations of lying are the most over-used insult in politics.

That's because accusing people of lying every time they merely express an opinion you don't agree with or make a statement of fact you think - all too often without checking - must be wrong, has debased and cheapened accusations of lying and made them less effective when used against people who really are.

Hence the paradox that, at a time when lying is far too common in every part of the political spectrum, false or unfair accusations of lying are themselves the most common type of political falsehood. At one point I became so fed up with them that I completely banned accusations of lying from this blog and those of my social media channels where I was able to apply such a ban.

I have since modified that policy to only making or allowing accusations of lying sparingly and when I am absolutely certain they are justified.

I believe the comments made by Andrew Neil in this article are indeed justified.

Neil points out in his article, the country has had untrustworthy governments in the past - he cites the Harold Wilson administrations and Boris Johnson's. In my humble opinion any list of untrustworthy governments should certainly also include the Blair "New Labour" government and Nicola Sturgeon's SNP administration in Scotland. Neil commented that "Whatever their achievements it was always wise to perform and independent audit of everything they said."

But he concludes that the present government has taken lying, gaslighting and deceit to a new level, adding

"It corrodes public trust which, once lost, is impossible to rebuild. Starmer is heading down a dark road from which, as he will soon discover, there is no return." 




ANDREW NEIL: In 55 years of covering politics, I've never accused any UK government of routinely telling untruths. But Starmer & Co have taken lying and gaslighting to a deplorable level | Daily Mail Online




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