One truth in the leadup to the 12th December: UK politics is entangled in lies.
The general election taking place in the UK on the 12th December may well be one of the most important in modern British history, deciding the course of Brexit and potentially the future of public services such as the NHS. However, British democracy is being threatened by the rampant lies being spread by politicians themselves; about their own campaigns, and others.
Thanks to our dear friend President Trump, the term ‘fake news’ has gathered much attention of late. However, it is not just the media who are responsible for its production, but also politicians themselves. Recently, in the UK. Boris Johnson, current PM, has come under significant fire for his apparent ‘disinformation spree’ in his election campaigning. Fact-checkers have found much of the content of Johnson’s speeches to be either misleading, unsubstantiated or down-right false. He has been accused of following in the path of Trump who is often accused of similar behaviour, as President.
This is not a party issue and it should not only be Johnson who’s claims are scrutinised: others including Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, have also been accused of lying in their campaigning and any false information they spread should be fact-checked in the same way and similarly criticised. However, the sheer volume of falsehoods, fabrications, and deliberate attempts to mislead the public sets the Conservative Party’s campaign apart. Whether you support his policies or not, the Prime Minister of our country should be held accountable for his deceitful behaviour.
During the ITV Leadership debate on the 19th November, Johnson repeatedly claimed that his government will build 40 new hospitals, a claim which various fact-checking organisations have discredited. Full Fact noted that the government has committed the money to upgrade only 6 hospitals by 2025. Up to 38 others have received money to plan for building work between 2025 and 2030, but no work will be carried out until after the next term of government.
Fabricated figures have been used by Johnson to attack other leadership contenders. On the 10th November 2019, before Labour’s 2019 manifesto was even published, never mind accosted, Johnson claimed, unsubstantiated, that ‘Corbyn’s Labour would spend £1.2 trillion over the next five years if they get elected.’ Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), claimed Johnson had lied about the SNP’s plans for an independent Scotland, saying that they wanted it to have the euro as its currency. She stated that ‘we have got a Prime Minister who has shown, since he came to office, that the truth is a disposable commodity for him.’
On a visit to a hospital in Nottinghamshire, Johnson even claimed that he had had to ‘give up [drinking]’ until Brexit is done, despite being filmed the day before tasting whisky during a distillery visit and the day after sipping a pint at a pub! Instances such as this could almost be amusing if the rest weren’t so politically important.
The Conservative party, in their election campaigning, are testing the limits of just how much they can get away with deliberately misleading voters. Unfortunately, it seems they can get away with a lot. During the ITV leadership debate, the official Conservative press office Twitter account changed its name to ‘factcheckUK’ which Twitter concluded was an attempt to ‘mislead people by editing verified profile information.’ Days later, the party pulled a further stunt, creating a website with the URL ‘labourmanifesto.co.uk’ which attacked Corbyn’s plans. Allegedly they paid for a Google advert, meaning that internet users were directed to the website when they searched for “Labour” on Google.
Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman, Chuka Umunna, has gone as far as to say that Johnson’s record of lying, as well as his prejudice, make him unsuitable to be PM. To some, this may seem an extreme statement, after all, aren’t politicians known for being untrustworthy? Is this not just part of politics? Trust in politicians in the UK has always been low, but that does not justify them living up to their perceived dishonesty.
The dishonesty is a trend that was seen before, in Brexit campaigning, with Vote Leave infamously plastering the £350 million lie across the side of a bus. In this instance, Lewis Power QC gave a statement that sums up the crisis in UK politics:
“It matters not whether you are a Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat… or whether you are a Leaver or a Remainer… Democracy demands responsible and honest leadership of those in public office.
The crisis of information inherent in Brexit and the electioneering leading up to the 12th December is synonymous with a crisis in democracy. In a properly functioning democracy, political actors should be held to account – Johnson should not be able to get away with such systemic lying and deceit. However, there seems to be no real political price to pay for those who go down the road of dishonesty. The media, whose role in politics includes that of a watchdog, are arguably not fulfilling their responsibility, letting false claims slide in TV debates and interviews. Furthermore, it seems as though we, the public, have become desensitised and accept lying politicians as inevitable. Only time will tell whether Johnson’s stunts will affect his level of support in the election.
Unveiling of the dishonesty inherent in the campaigns leading up to the general election begs the question of how the public can have any semblance of trust in the information we receive, and how we can decide who to vote for when it seems we cannot believe politician’s campaigning. Fact-checking websites – the real ones that is – such as Full Fact provide a useful service in verifying politician’s claims. Alternatively, we can carry out our own fact-checking by taking politicians claims during debates with a pinch of salt and referring primarily to their official manifestos. Some of the most damaging claims are those that politicians make against each other, as they are as much personal attacks as they are political claims, so it may be best to ignore them completely. Most of all, we must not let ourselves become apathetic, and accept an attitude of fatalism, believing that politics is destined to be full of lies. It has been posited that perhaps regulations similar to those for advertising could be implemented, making it illegal for politicians to lie about the campaign which they are selling in a similar way to a product. For this to happen, complaints would need to be loud enough, our voices used to bring about consequences for lying politicians.
Cover Image Source: Picture: Ed Everett / (CC BY 2.0) licence
