Lies,spin and boosterism
By johnredwood on December 8, 2025
I would like the PM to offer us some optimism about our individual futures and about the mission of our nation. Instead the government offers us a mixture of lies, false forecasts and gloom.
When talking about the future you can offer an absurdly optimistic forecast which is similar to a lie, you can offer an optimistic forecast which you might be able to hit which is spinning, or you can set out a positive direction which is safer.
The government’s problem is an increasing number of its promises are turning out to be lies.
The promise to avoid tax increases on working people has been broken.
The promise not to increase National Insurance has been broken with higher NI for those saving for a pension .
The promise not to increase rates of Income tax has been broken for the people who will be dragged into higher tax bands
The promise to smash the gangs shows no signs of being met, with numbers well up instead
The promise to get 1.5 m homes built is becoming increasingly impossible to keep
The promise to cut energy bills seems very difficult to keep
How many of these promises were lies?
When it comes to the past lies are clearer cut.
They lied over black holes in the finances to blame the previous government for their decision to raise taxes when higher taxes were needed for their large spending increases.
They lie that Brexit cut GDP by 4% and damaged our trade.
They lie that Truss crashed the economy because she raised the ten year interest rate for one day only to 4.38%. All this year the ten year rate has been above 4.38%, the Reeves penalty, but they say that has not crashed the economy. The Truss excessive deficit was reversed before it was implemented. Reeves makes excessive deficits regular features .
They lie they have stabilised the economy, when they have undermined the bond market, driven unemployment and inflation up and growth down.
The petty lies also serve to undermine the credibility of what they say. Rachel Reeves misled us about her past jobs, her abilities as a junior chess player and her compliance with rules applying to her as a landlord. Angela Rayner misled over paying taxes on her homes. The anti Corruption Minister had to resign before being given a 2 year prison sentence for corruption abroad, a verdict she says is wrong .