The Incompetent Magician

I can't remember where I saw it, but I have an image of a magician finishing a trick, only for someone in the audience to call out exactly how the trick was done. He completed his next trick, to be met with the same result from a different audience member. This cycle went on. Eventually the red-faced magician left that stage. Embarrassed. Shambling, with the boos of the crowd ringing in his ears.

This image came to me today, as I reflected on another disastrous day at the office for Mr. Cameron and his friends. It seems at present that every day, some Minister or other makes some pronouncement that is soon, and easily, shown to be factually false or deliberately misleading.

Today was no different. It didn't start well. On BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Housing Minister Grant Shapps claimed that household rents were falling in London, and he accused the Labour-controlled council of Newham of "playing politics" by attempting to rehouse tenants in cheaper areas of the country as a result of the Government's cap on Housing Benefit. No sooner had the interview finished, it emerged - with precious little effort - that rents in London were in fact rising, and Conservative-led councils in Westminster and Kensington were running similar schemes to rehouse tenants in less expensive locations.

As if this wasn't enough, a simple search of the record shows that when the cap was first announced, London's Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson said he would "not accept any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London" adding: "The last thing we want to have in our city is a situation such as Paris where the less well-off are pushed out to the suburbs."

"Playing politics", Minister? I apologise if I appear at all cynical, but it seems as though YOU might be the one playing politics. Perhaps he ought to try a few card tricks; maybe he'd be more successful at that. However, on present form I rather fancy we might spot the said card poking out from a sleeve.

The day went from bad to worse as James Murdoch arrived to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. It does appear to have dropped at least one more Minister in the mire. For now, we must wait to see how this particular disappearing act plays out.