John Howard is correct in thinking that the public can discern between a grand lie and a little lie. He’s not, really, a grand liar. Throughout his political life he has stood for much the same things and also actually believes them, thus avoiding the perception of a carefully crafted public image. And he has some respect for argument, or at least some recognition that one does not win them, in the public’s eye, by mere abuse. So he listens courteously, acknowledges the sincerity of your views and then puts his own. The Robert Menzies remark about Alan Brown—that he could see further through a brick wall than most—applies equally to Howard.
All of which suggests that credibility has not been Howard’s problem. But it is, and increasingly so. Howard is careless with little facts. If caught out he will bluster, but never admit, simply, that he was wrong. He was not told. Or he was told, but was not untold. He misunderstood the question as
being narrowly phrased. You are omitting the caveat he put on it, which puts an entirely different complexion on what he said. Or the error, if error it was, has been taken completely out of context, and was in no way central to what he was saying.
Twenty years ago John Howard, as Federal Treasurer, was ambushed by John Stone, his Treasury Secretary, a week out from an election. Whether the Budget was moving into deficit was a live political question. John Howard and Malcolm Fraser were insisting that all was well. Then Stone came to see Howard, with witnesses, and told him that the Budget had blown out by $7 billion—more in proportionate terms than the celebrated black hole he ‘discovered’ when he became Prime Minister in 1996. Howard was shocked, not by the figures but by the prospect of trying not to lie in the week ahead. He was lucky and got away with it. But no public servant has since been allowed into his inner sanctum without Howard, or his staff, knowing what he or she is going to say. And if it is news that Howard does not want to hear, or to be known, for a fact, to know, the messenger will be intercepted by a staffer, who will undertake to tell the Prime Minister what he needs to know. What Howard is told will be oral. One can follow the