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Friday, January 24, 2014

Fourteen - no, fifteen - lies that David Cameron has issued

David Cameron has a penchant for issuing falsehoods. OK, he is a politician, and politicians are known for their mendacity, but Cameron is developing lying into a form of creative self-expression.
This may be simply because as well as being a politician, he is by profession a PR man. His fibbing proclivities are also undoubtedly enhanced because he can rely on the mainly supine British media not to pick up on his lies.

Whatever the reason, it is good for us, the electorate, to keep tabs on his lies.
I present here a list of 14 Cameronian lies, with a grateful hat-tip to the Daily Mirror. I am sure that the esteemed readership of the Mabinogogiblog will want to add their own cherished Cameruntruths in the comment slot below.

Let's start with an innocuous little pork pie, and move forward from there.


  1. In a  Conservative Party Conference 2008 Keynote Speech he passed on the old canard that HSE rules mean that a teacher cannot put on plaster. This is a dear little Porkette.

    Now let's move on to the hard stuff:
  2. He promised his Government would be the "Greenest Government Ever". 
    Where to start? CO2 cuts reduction, Woodland sell-off, badger cull, HS2, Green Belt threat, threat to kill Natural Wildlife Crime Unit, 30% cut to DEFRA offered, abolition of the Sustainable Development Commission, retreat from all new houses to be zero carbon...the list goes on. Here's Jonathon Porritt's review for FoE in 2011. His conclusions: It is hard to find substantive evidence of the Prime Minister using any of his personal political capital to promote more sustainable outcomes off the back of the Coalition Agreement.
  3. Cameron claimed that "My  Government is paying down Britain's debt". Falsehood. Cameron got told off by his own statistics agency for that one.
  4. "No top down reorganisation of NHS" An outright Lie of the Barefaced variety. In fact the Daily Mirror has found 9 more lies he told about the NHS, copied from the mirror as follows:
  5. "We’ll ensure waiting times are kept low"
    Reality: Patients waiting longer than 18-week ­guarantee up by 34%
  6. “We will increase health spending every year.” Conservative ­Manifesto, April 2010. Reality: A Nuffield Trust study shows a “real terms reduction of 0.5% over next four years”.
  7. “We will save the maternity and A&E units at Chase Farm hospital, London.” (2007). Reality: Health Secretary announced the units would be downgraded
  8. Royal Colleges of General Practitioners, Physicians and Nursing “all supported” his health reforms. September, 2010.
    Reality: All three oppose the reforms.
  9. “We will increase the number of midwives by 3,000”. January 2010.
    Reality: The Government has cut the training places for nurses and midwives.
  10. “We will not endanger universal coverage — we will make sure it remains a National Health Service.” June 2011.
    Reality: The health service has already begun breaking up into local GP commissioning groups. (And all hospitals are to become Foundation Trusts - RL)
  11. "Reforms were needed as there were 5,000-10,000 needless cancer deaths a year compared to other EU countries".Reality: The NHS has helped achieve the biggest drop in cancer deaths among 10 leading countries.
  12. “We are not reorganising the bureaucracy of the NHS, we are abolishing bureaucracy.” March 2011.
    Reality: The NHS will be saddled with even MORE bureaucracy with hundreds of new bodies set up to replace sacked managers.
  13. “The Government is fully behind the Health Bill.” Prime Minister’s ­Official spokesman.
    Reality: Three Tory ministers have come out against it.
  14. And finally, Cameron's current lie:
    "Fracking will reduce energy bills" 

    But: His own Energy Minister says that's wrong
    Former BP Chairman says that's wrong
    Director of Energy Research Centre says that's wrong.
  15. No, not finally. He's just lied about workless households doubling under Labour.

Conclusion

The conclusions are twofold:

  1. David "Liar" Cameron is a lying liar who habitually tells lies.
  2. Most of the UK press and broadcast media cannot distinguish between our Prime Minister's lies and actual reality.







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