“Lying has become a policy option” – Gavin Esler on truth, trust and the future of democracy
Award-winning journalist Gavin Esler delivers IDEA Centre anniversary lecture on truth and trust in public life
As part of IDEA, the Ethics Centre’s 20th anniversary celebrations, the University of Leeds welcomed back one of its most distinguished alumni this week: former BBC Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler.
In a compelling, sold-out public lecture at Cloth Hall Court titled ‘Dead Cats, Strategic Lying and Truth Decay’, Esler drew on insights from his recent book Britain Is Better Than This, exploring themes of trust, truth, and the challenges facing politics and the media in the 21st century.
He argued that growing public distrust in politicians, journalists and institutions reflects a deeper “democratic recession” and described how “the politics of distraction” and deliberate forms of misdirection are contributing to “truth decay” – the corrosion of shared facts and values essential to healthy public debate.
“Lying in public life in the 21st century has gone from being a sin to a policy option,” Esler said. “Deliberate lying begins as a tactic. It then becomes a strategy, and it has an objective… truth decay. Taken together, this process undermines public life, our faith in democracy and even our trust in each other. Frequent and deliberate falsehoods in public life destroy confidence in public life itself.”
This truth decay is also a consequence, Esler said, of the new ways we receive information, including social media and 24-hour news, and the fact that education systems do not teach media literacy or critical thinking – all of which leads to “the erosion of civil discourse, political paralysis, alienation and disengagement of individuals from political and civic institutions.”
Referring to comments by Hannah White, Director and CEO of the Institute for Government, Esler highlighted the danger of a malevolent politician deliberately abusing the UK’s unwritten constitution. “There are lots of holes in the American constitution,” he said, “and in our shambolic constitution – whatever it is – the guardrails aren’t there.” But he ended on a more hopeful note, arguing that the UK public is increasingly aware of the politics of distraction. “We know we’re being lied to,” Esler said. “We’re not stupid. Unfortunately, that turns people off. I would like it to turn people on and lead to a better system.”
Esler then took questions from the audience on the negative unintended consequences of criticising politicians for changing their minds, whether the public really has an appetite for truth, how to boost the number of people who vote, and why the problem of lying and truth decay has accelerated since 2015.
Professor Simon Kirchin, Director of IDEA, the Ethics Centre, said:
“It was a privilege to welcome Gavin Esler back to Leeds as part of the IDEA Centre’s anniversary celebrations. His reflections on truth, trust, and political discourse resonate strongly with the core mission of the Centre and the values we seek to champion.”
The event forms part of a series of public activities marking 20 years of IDEA, the Ethics Centre, a national leader in applied ethics research, teaching and public engagement. Founded in 2005, the Centre has built a distinctive reputation for bringing philosophical insight to real-world ethical challenges.
