I think Labour has been reading Nineteen Eighty-Four — the book that introduced ‘doublethink’. You remember — doublethink is the trick of holding two contradictory beliefs at the same time — and accepting both. It was the brain-child of another public-school-educated Socialist. His name was George Orwell. But actually it wasn’t. That was his pen name. His real name was Eric. His surname? You’ve guessed it. It was Blair. Eric Blair. He changed his name. I can’t say the same thing about my opposite number. He’s changed everything else. His politics. His principles. His philosophy. But to the
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