It doesn’t get any more embarrassing than this. Grant Shapps suffered a double humiliation on Sunday, after he was caught lying TWICE during his morning media rounds. Even Laura Kuenssberg wasn’t putting up with the Energy Secretary’s tall tales.
Lie #1 – Grant Shapps gets his facts on Gordon Brown wrong
Mr. Shapps was sent out to defend the resignation honours list cooked-up by Boris Johnson. The chaotic former PM wants to give a knighthood to Jacob Rees-Mogg, a damehood to Priti Patel, and an OBE to his former hairdresser. Yes, really.
Some of BoJo’s close cronies have also been nominated for peerages, keeping them in the House of Lords for life. The much-maligned list has sparked an almighty backlash, and it was left to Grant Shapps to go into bat for his former boss.
- So, naturally, he went with an absolute whopper:
“I think Gordon Brown in his resignation list, back in 2010, appointed 50 new peers – that’s 50 new people to the House of Lords. In contrast, we’ve seen a very small number from this current list [from Boris Johnson].” | Grant Shapps
Lie #2 – Brexit voting status under scrutiny
BBC host Kuenssberg took 20 minutes before setting the record straight. This, after he also falsely claimed he voted to Leave the EU in 2016.
Speaking before the country voted, Shapps told Sky News: “In the end I have come to the conclusion that because of concerns about the uncertainty of leaving, what it would mean for business, I will vote for Remain.”
However, the senior Tory told Sky News that he DID vote for Brexit this morning. Social media users immediately pointed out Shapps’ double-speak, reminding him of those previous statements.
Grant Shapps has probably had better Sundays…
His first lie of the morning was eventually shut down by the BBC – and the following correction was issued:
“For all of you political pub quiz champions out there, you might have noticed that Grant Shapps said that Gordon Brown had a resignation honours list. In fact, he had a dissolution honours list which actually gave rewards to members of all political parties.” | Laura Kuenssberg
Still, not everyone was impressed by this act of real-time fact-checking. LBC presenter James O’Brien took exception to the language Kuenssberg used in her correction, accusing her of letting Shapps ‘lie unchallenged’ at the time.
“Outrageous to suggest that only ‘pub quiz champions’ would know or care about the recent history of honours, and the fact that Shapps just lied unchallenged about Gordon Brown. Basic background knowledge for anyone hosting discussions about honours on!” | James O’Brien