The Derb wrote the other day how he many of his (fellow) Americans could not understand the dislike he felt for Tony Blair. I come across the same thing myself. Well, here’s one example of the way in which this most repulsive of prime ministers (his putative replacement, Britain’s twitchy nutcase of a finance minister, weird Gordon Brown, would be even worse however) operates, an example that shows rather well the sort of man that he is.

Britain is about to go through an election campaign. Notwithstanding a few freak polls, the unlovely, hopeless and rather disgusting (but better-than-Blair) Tories have no chance of winning. Despite that, there seems to be little in the way of limit to the depths to which Blair will descend in order to win a vote or two. On Thursday he and the oddball Brown posed in front of a poster that claimed that the Tories were planning some $70bn in cuts from public services, a claim so dishonest that even the BBC reporter who was there objected.

In fact, all that the Tories are planning to do (more’s the pity) is reduce the rate of increase in spending on those services from five per cent a year (Labour’s plans) to four percent.

That’s not a cut, Mr. Blair. And you, Mr. Blair, are a liar.