'Labour is performing a public service by outing lying PM for his tax slur'

06 June 2024 , 18:14

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Rishi Sunak has been found out, not just by Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves but by his own Treasury mandarins, who repudiate their bosses’ claims (Image: Getty Images)

Winston Churchill was a master of words. That’s why he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, not for being a great war leader. And that’s why he was able to circumnavigate the House of Commons ban on MPs using the unparliamentary term “liar”.

Instead, he spoke of “terminological inexactitude”, which amounts to the same thing, once MPs stopped scratching their heads. If nobody lies inside the chamber (really?), anything goes outside it, as the Tories’ ill-tempered, mendacious and unprincipled election campaign demonstrates every day.

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves called slippery Sunak a liar over his unfounded slur that Labour plans a £2,000 tax raid on voters. And in the memorable words of a previous party leaders’ TV debate, I agree with Rachel.

At best, the Tories have manipulated, distorted and mangled the truth about Labour’s tax plans, at worst they have simply made it up, in a blind panic over impending electorial doom. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention”, and for this Prime Minister there is no greater necessity than the absolute imperative of staying in No10.

So he’s sticking with the lie, and he’ll carry on fibbing until polling day. The trouble is, this time it’s backfired spectacularly. Sunak has been found out, not just by rough-house Rachel but by his own Treasury mandarins, who repudiate their bosses’ claims.

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Any short-term electoral gain he may have got by lying has been completely buried by the exposure of his duplicity. This sordid episode goes to the heart of trust in public life.

The Tories have yet again shown they cannot be trusted to tell the truth. From spy-scandal John Profumo in the 60s to Boris Johnson... well, whenever.

Calling out the Prime Minister as a liar is a serious business. Labour must have taken this step, eyes wide open, possibly with legal advice. In doing so, they have performed a public service.

Paul Routledge