In the Observer today, columnist Andrew Rawnsley picks up Labour’s ‘two-faced Tories’ meme.

He hits at Chris Grayling over his comments comparing The Wire to parts of Britain, which back-fired once it was revealed Grayling had barely watched the series.

Rawnsley says:

So long as Gordon Brown persisted with his transparently untruthful claim [about spending cuts], there was less attention paid to the essential dishonesty of the Tory position. At the moment, David Cameron and his team speak with two tongues. One Tory tongue declares that they will make deep cuts and asks us to salute the bravery of the Conservative leadership for saying so. “The public finances are awash with red ink,” he cries. “George Osborne and I have been straight about the need to sort out the public finances… spending plans need to be reduced.” Yet his prospective ministers are simultaneously talking from a contradictory script.

The other Tory tongue sprays us with implied promises that there will be more money for services under a Conservative government. From law and order to schools and hospitals, from defence to transport, Tory spokesmen and women routinely suggest that life will be radically improved once they are the owners of ministerial limousines. Mr Grayling introduced The Wire into our debate to promote the Tory trope of “Broken Britain”. He was factually wrong to suggest that “many parts” of British cities resemble the murderous streets of Baltimore.

He ends by saying:

The Tories are either conning themselves or they are trying to dupe the voters – it is probably a blend of both – when they suggest that you can have both deep cuts and better public services. As they say in The Wire: “A lie ain’t a side of a story. It’s just a lie.”