The Conservative Party has been in power in the UK for 13 years, and in that time they have normalised lying, dishonesty and deceit to an unprecedentedly visible degree in the British political system. The government and backbench MPs have emboldened themselves to lie with relative impunity and a complete lack of media scrutiny, which has had devastating impacts on UK democracy. Let’s take a look at our top 10 Tory lies:
“Brexit Means Brexit”
The lie that changed a nation – the Brexit campaign came out of nowhere in British politics, a thoroughly top-down campaign forced upon the country by the elites, not the grassroots movement it at times claimed to be. Brexit has proven to be an absolute farce with no benefits to our economy, democracy, or society. Countless lies were told to support and force through this far-right ideological project.
“We’re All In This Together”
It’s no secret that Tory MPs and ministers are raking it in, often with the help of the public purse. Whether its Nadhim Zahawi using public money to heat his horse stables or Rishi Sunak ordering changes to the national grid to help power his new pool, one thing is for certain: it is one rule for us, and other entirely for them.
“There’s No Magic Money Tree”
Since taking power, successive Tory governments have raised the national debt by roughly £1 trillion, bringing it from £800 billion to £1.8 trillion in just over a decade. At the same time, they’ve enacted brutal austerity and cut public expenditure while funnelling money to their own donors and vested interests. The UK economy is perfectly capable of funding our public services when the money isn’t being embezzled into offshore accounts.
“World Beating”
The term “world beating” has been championed by several Tory governments now, most notably during the tenure of Boris Johnson. “World beating” has been used to describe everything from the UK’s pandemic response to its sanctioning of Russian oligarchs. The only consistent part of its usage is that it’s always demonstrably a lie.
“Lefty Lawyers”
This particularly nasty piece of propaganda has been utilised most aggressively by home secretary Suella Braverman and her predecessor, Priti Patel. It refers to lawyers bringing legal challenges against the government’s plan to illegally and forcibly ship refugees to Rwanda, a nation with a concerning human rights record. The truth is, lawyers are only able to bring legal challenges because the plans are illegal. It has nothing to do with the political alignment of individual legal professionals, and everything to do with breaking international law.
The UK Tories are highly proficient liars with absolutely no regard for the consequences of their dishonesty. Check back next week for part two of our top ten Tory lies, or check out our anti-Tory t-shirts in the meantime!