General Lies

Ministers rarely say anything that is flatly untrue. They rely instead on a small set of familiar constructions that sound like denials without committing to anything. This section logs them and checks them against what the documents show.

2 articles in this section

General Lies

A short guide to the phrases ministers reach for when the honest answer would be damaging

Ministers are bound by the Ministerial Code to give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, which is precisely why the interesting work happens in constructions that are not lies. Here is how each one functions, and the question that tests it.

FTG Newsroom06 Aug 20262 min

General Lies

The promises index: what was said, and what the documents show happened

A running index pairing public commitments made about the DWP, the Child Maintenance Service, HMRC and public procurement with what the inquiries, select committees and audit reports subsequently found.

FTG Newsroom05 Aug 20262 min