At the Leader’s Debates last night David Cameron said:
What matters is what comes out. I went to a Hull police station the other day. They had five different police cars, and they were just about to buy a £73,000 Lexus. There’s money that could be saved to get the police on the frontline. The Metropolitan Police have 400 uniformed officers in their human resources department. Our police officers should be crime fighters, not form-fillers, and that’s what needs to change.
But while Cameron criticised the police for opting for a Lexus model, he had no qualms doing the same. In 2006 he confirmed that he had opted for a large Lexus luxury car because it was necessary for his big entourage.
That was taxpayer funded.
But that isn’t the only problem with Cameron’s statement.
1) He didn’t go to Hull “the other day”. According to Channel 4 the last time he went was over eight months ago.
2) Cameron’s facts on the Lexus were wrong. The police aren’t about to buy a Lexus – they already have one. And it didn’t cost anywhere near £73,000, but closer to £50,000. And it included a lot of necessary computer equipment.
3) The Met Police today hit back saying the 400 “form-fillers” in their HR department weren’t doing that – many of them were actually training other police.
In other words pretty much every single fact Cameron cited in that was wrong.
