by Tom Watson

Truth, for some politicians, is a percentages game. There is the platonic “noble lie”. There is the outright denial in the face of facts. There is the Nick Clegg pledge. And now the judges have added a new category. They’ve added the Woolas campaign leaflet to the taxonomy of political truths and lies. It’s a decision we will all regret.

The wikileaks debacle says a lot about truth and lies. None of the words published on the Wikileaks website belonged to Julian Assange. They were the secret communications of the elites of our international political system. They didn’t want you to know what they really thought. And when Assange published the documents that exposed elites to scorn and ridicule, somebody somewhere tried to stop you reading their candid words.

The powerful have gone to extraordinary lengths to stop you reading on wikileaks what three million security cleared Americans can read whenever they like. With state department operatives allegedly parked outside the home of his lawyer, can we politicians really be surprised to witness the morphogenesis of Assange into a mystical shaman of truth with a global following? (more…)