Quote, misquotes and the truth about my appearance in the ‘Stronger In Europe’ leaflet - Martin Lewis' Blog...
Blimey there is so little real support they are stealing peoples quotes in desperation.
Arriving home a few days ago, I picked up the Stronger In Europe leaflet that had dropped through my letterbox, and almost dropped my wallet (and you can imagine how tightly I cling to that) to see my picture at the top of it. After all I’d not been asked, nor had I given my permission, nor am I backing either campaign in the EU referendum.
Yet the quote attached to the picture is accurate. I did say it. It is on a leaflet headlined, “What experts are saying about the EU referendum”. Here’s a picture of it.
Martin's EU quote
My frustration is the impression this gives that I am backing the ‘in’ campaign. It doesn’t say that overtly, but certainly by the mass of tweets (and some abuse) I’ve received, many people read it as meaning that.
Yet the quote attached to the picture is accurate. I did say it. It is on a leaflet headlined, “What experts are saying about the EU referendum”. Here’s a picture of it.
Martin's EU quote
My frustration is the impression this gives that I am backing the ‘in’ campaign. It doesn’t say that overtly, but certainly by the mass of tweets (and some abuse) I’ve received, many people read it as meaning that.
What the quotes relates to…
A few weeks ago I was on ITV’s The Agenda with George Osborne. Unsurprisingly the subject of the referendum came up and I was asked about it. I explained that there are no facts, no rights or wrong, it’s all about assessing risk and your attitude to that (sadly no longer on the ITV Hub, or I’d link so you could see it yourself).
Then the presenter Tom Bradby pushed me to come out with a view, asking on the balance of probabilities will we be better or worse off if we leave the EU.
When asked a direct question, I try to answer (I’m not a politician), so said, “On balance of probability, it is more likely we’ll have less money in our pockets if we vote to leave”. And that’s the quote in the leaflet.
On its own it isn’t actually a glowing endorsement – just in the context of the leaflet it seems more. From memory, I then went on to explain that this doesn’t mean it will happen, it’s simply that on a 50-50 assessment, I think that is the more likely outcome, but of course no one truly knows.
A few weeks ago I was on ITV’s The Agenda with George Osborne. Unsurprisingly the subject of the referendum came up and I was asked about it. I explained that there are no facts, no rights or wrong, it’s all about assessing risk and your attitude to that (sadly no longer on the ITV Hub, or I’d link so you could see it yourself).
Then the presenter Tom Bradby pushed me to come out with a view, asking on the balance of probabilities will we be better or worse off if we leave the EU.
When asked a direct question, I try to answer (I’m not a politician), so said, “On balance of probability, it is more likely we’ll have less money in our pockets if we vote to leave”. And that’s the quote in the leaflet.
On its own it isn’t actually a glowing endorsement – just in the context of the leaflet it seems more. From memory, I then went on to explain that this doesn’t mean it will happen, it’s simply that on a 50-50 assessment, I think that is the more likely outcome, but of course no one truly knows.
Comment