Do politicians lie?

An odd title for an article but it is something that has been weighing on my mind more and more recently. These are just some of the matters that have concerned me: the claims made that the Reform Treaty is as similar to the EU Constitution as fish is to fowl, Denis MacShane's comments that "The new treaty is 44,000 words long. The dead constitution was 157,000 words long. Unless there is a new EU mathematic directive abolishing the laws of percentages 44,000 cannot be 90, or 95 or even 50% of 157,000." see here for more details and some of Gordon Brown's non-answers at PMQs on Wednesday and the press conference on Monday.

The Ministry of Truth as you may have seen on television last night is an organisation trying to get a bill through Parliament to make it a criminal offence for a politician to lie. You can read the proposed bill and see trailers etc. on their website.

Makes one think doesn't it? Watch Lord Falconer's response on the blog page under 4th October, hmmm. Maybe you think as Jack Straw said that there is no law against lieing elsewhere, well watch the piece of video on the blog at Monday 8 October for some good examples and Jack Straw's views, apparently he can't think of any examples of a Cabinet Minister lieing in the lifetime of the current Government; Peter Mandelson on his mortgage application? Government ministers stating that having an ID card and being on the National Identity Register would be 'on a voluntary basis' when "papers, released under the Freedom Of Information Act, state that from 2014 - Year 7 of the project - 'The identity card scheme is now compulsory'" (see here and here? The government figures on gun crime, read this? The government figures on education funding, read this from a new source to me? The claims about the predicted levels of immigration when the EU expanded and the interviews ever since on this topic? Gordon Brown's "tax cutting" budget that was exposed as a tax increasing budget? Government departments claims to have cut costs by £13.3bn when the Public Accounts Committee challenges the validity of £10bn of this? Hmmm...