Friday, February 25, 2022
He's done it again
Boris Johnson may have a lot on his mind at the moment, not least a possible caution from the police, a potential party coup to remove him as leader, the poor economic consequences of Brexit and the war in Ukraine, but that should not excuse his continued lapses of memory during Prime Minister's questions in the House of Commons.
The Guardian reports that the Prime Minister has been formally reprimanded by the official statistics watchdog for the second time in a month after he misleadingly claimed that there are now more people in work in the UK than before the start of coronavirus.
They say that the reproach from Sir David Norgrove, the head of the UK Statistics Authority, follows concerns he raised with Johnson at the start of February about an incorrect claim that crime levels were falling:
In his new letter to Johnson, Norgrove noted that at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday the PM had said there were now more people in employment than before the pandemic began.
However, Norgrove said, this was only the case if you considered only workers on payrolls, which was misleading, as it was more than offset by a drop in numbers of self-employed people – if you include them, the total is now 600,000 lower.
“If, as seems to be the case, your statement referred only to the increase in the number of people on payrolls, it would be a selective use of data that is likely to give a misleading impression of trends in the labour market, unless that distinction is carefully explained,” Norgrove told Johnson.
He added: “I hope you will agree that public trust requires a complete statement of this important measure of the economy.”
A lack of public trust looks like it is going to be a major problem for Johnson.
The Guardian reports that the Prime Minister has been formally reprimanded by the official statistics watchdog for the second time in a month after he misleadingly claimed that there are now more people in work in the UK than before the start of coronavirus.
They say that the reproach from Sir David Norgrove, the head of the UK Statistics Authority, follows concerns he raised with Johnson at the start of February about an incorrect claim that crime levels were falling:
In his new letter to Johnson, Norgrove noted that at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday the PM had said there were now more people in employment than before the pandemic began.
However, Norgrove said, this was only the case if you considered only workers on payrolls, which was misleading, as it was more than offset by a drop in numbers of self-employed people – if you include them, the total is now 600,000 lower.
“If, as seems to be the case, your statement referred only to the increase in the number of people on payrolls, it would be a selective use of data that is likely to give a misleading impression of trends in the labour market, unless that distinction is carefully explained,” Norgrove told Johnson.
He added: “I hope you will agree that public trust requires a complete statement of this important measure of the economy.”
A lack of public trust looks like it is going to be a major problem for Johnson.
