I should have said "a direct direct and demonstrable falsehood" - those are the sort that are embarrassing. And it is so easy to write letters that avoid that kind of thing whilst being equally misleading. That is the supreme skill of the Sir Humphreys - and whoever put that shoddy letter together is no Sir Humphrey.

Perhaps the direct fibs were the bits actually inserted by Kim Howells? Thinking it over, that seems much more likely. I know people always say that politicians habitually lie, but they mostly aren't actually very good at doing so.