A few weeks back, I asked Gordon Brown a question at PMQs. Given that Mr Brown claimed “he had no knowledge of the dodgy loans used to fund the 2005 election campaign”, and since “Lord Levy has revealed that the Prime Minister knew everything. “Is Lord Levy lying?”, I asked.
All I got was an awkward shuffle, then a dagger-stare, followed by a gruff “I knew nothing of these loans”.
Ummm…
Knowing how Brown sometimes uses evasive semantics, I've been reflecting on the precise meaning of those six words.
In one sense, Mr Brown's reply has to be technically correct. By definition, there had to have been a time at which Mr Brown did indeed know nothing of the loans. The issue is at what point did he become aware of the said loans? When did the “I know nothing” become an “I knew nothing”?
