Who’s pulling the wool over our eyes?

For a while today the most read story on The Guardian website was a piece implying that the government had suggested that in the wake of the recent energy price rises people should put on a jumper to keep the bills down. The story originated with the Secretary of State for energy and climate change, Ed Davey, who it was reported said he wore a jumper at home to keep the bills down.  The Guardian reported that that Prime Minister’s spokesman, perhaps aware of the potential damage such suggestions might cause, refused to be drawn on the issue. However, in The Daily Telegraph, a much more forthright report appeared under the byline, ‘David Cameron believes that millions of people facing rising energy bills should consider “wrapping up warm” and wearing jumpers’. This time, referring to the same press briefing, it was claimed the PM’s spokesman had indeed suggested people should pull on a jumper to save money. So far, nothing unusual. The story fits with a common narrative about an out of touch government insensitive to the difficulties of the poor, and the fact that the same story appeared in newspapers representing opposite sides of the political spectrum suggested it must be true. However, this report by the BBC’s political correspondent Chris Mason, presents a quite different account of the same story…