A man who is casual with the truth

In his Saturday column for The Times, Matthew Parris highlighted some less-than-honest words from gordon Brown during his speech to the TUC:

"Two untruths, one trivial, one large, were both thrown casually out by the Prime Minister in his speech to the TUC on Tuesday. I’ll start with the smaller: a sneaky little fib and hardly worth rebutting, but revealing of character because it was something Gordon Brown certainly knew to be untrue, didn’t need to say, but said anyway just to purchase some minuscule and momentary advantage for himself. In words cut from the text distributed to the media, but which I heard him deliver, he said this: “The current Conservative leader was the principal economic adviser to the Chancellor of Black Wednesday and he stood alongside Norman Lamont...”  David Cameron was not, of course, the principal economic adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He wasn’t an economic adviser at all. He was a special adviser; there were scores of them; still are. They don’t count for diddly-squat, many are barely out of university, their opinions on big economic decisions are neither relied upon nor, in most cases, even sought, and Mr Cameron, as it happens, was 26, an age at which the young Gordon Brown was still railing against Margaret Thatcher’s legacy.  Nice, however, to see him paying homage to her on Thursday.  Anyway, just make a note and file it away: an illustration of how carelessly Mr Brown twists when it doesn’t matter..."

Read more of Matthew Parris' commentary here.

Comments

[David Belchamber]

I think that what Matthew Parris says should be built upon by others; Gordon Brown affects a moral viewpoint and appears keen to be seen as the son of the manse.
I am all in favour of greater honesty in politics (vide Michael Gove's article), so all GB's deceits and spin should be given maximum publicity.