The Assault on Truth, by Peter Oborne

Author: Peter Oborne. Review by John H Hall

by John H Hall 19th March 2021

When the Truth and Integrity in Public Affairs committee was laid down by Meeting for Sufferings in 2004, it seemed the right decision. Broadly speaking, public affairs were conducted correctly by a civil service dedicated to ‘integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality’, and by politicians who, if they lied to parliament, resigned. If we accept that ‘Democracy can function only when all sides agree some common basis of truth’, as Peter Oborne says here, then his description of current ministers’ disregard for the truth is disturbing.