Another balls-up by Calamity Chris!

Gaffe-prone work and pensions minister Chris Grayling has made another stunning statistical screw-up – over-estimating the proportion of London households in which no one has ever worked by a factor of more than 3:1.

Calamity-Grayling City AM reveals that Grayling’s DWP:

…rapped out a press release claiming that there are 71,000 households in London where no-one has ever worked, equivalent to 23 per cent of the capital. Perturbed by the maths, a conscientious City A.M.er rang up to check the figures, to be greeted by a red-faced spinner.

“It’s actually 61,000 households, equivalent to just seven per cent of London,” she explained, apologetically.

This isn’t the first run-in Grayling has had with a calculator, of course: earlier this year, as shadow home secretary, he was publicly rebuked by the head of the UK Statistics Authority for manipulating crime statistic comparisons in the election…

Since the turn of the year, Left Foot Forward has exposed and chronicled many more Grayling gaffes:

• February 3rd: Grayling claims there was a “98 per cent increase in serious violent crime” under Labour – the true figure is actually a 43 per cent fall.

• March 9th: Grayling claims there was a 44 per cent increase in violent crime – yet failed to release any details, figures or sources to back him up.

• March 20th: Grayling is caught on camera condemning the principle behind David Cameron’s unilateral bank tax at a public meeting.

• April 4th: Grayling is secretly recorded saying hotel owners “should have the right” to bar gay couples from their premises – putting him at odds with the image of the ‘new’ Tory party.

• April 9th: Grayling is filmed on a council estate near King’s Cross station and fails to make the link between poor social housing and drug use, then later that day blunders on the issue of youth reoffending.

• April 20th: Out of hiding, Grayling refuses to say he regrets his homophobic B&B remarks – only to be slapped down by David Cameron later that same day.

• April 23rd: Grayling fails to welcome the latest fall in violent crime, bizarrely claiming the fall in violent crime is evidence that Britain is a “more dangerous country” than before.

• April 27th: Two independent fact checking websites further undermine Grayling’s claims about violent crime; once again he refueses to provide any evidence for his claims.

How would we fill our webspace without him…

http://twitter.com/psbook/status/20978212170 Political Scrapbook

Oh, noes! >> RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/maggieedinburgh/status/20978243324 Cllr Maggie Chapman

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/alandunlopphoto/status/20978255745 Alan Dunlop

RT @psbook: Oh, noes! >> RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/goodoldmj/status/20978267995 Martin Johnston

berk RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/tugsandtost/status/20978307113 matthew bond

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/medavep/status/20978345504 David Pearce

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail < What is it with these guys and fact checking?
http://twitter.com/aishagani/status/20978391776 Aisha Gani

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
Thomas

Er, I hate to point this out, but it looks like you (or City AM) have got your maths wrong as well.
“…rapped out a press release claiming that there are 71,000 households in London where no-one has ever worked, equivalent to 23 per cent of the capital. Perturbed by the maths, a conscientious City A.M.er rang up to check the figures, to be greeted by a red-faced spinner.

“It’s actually 61,000 households, equivalent to just seven per cent of London,” she explained, apologetically.”

Have you (or they) got a comma in the wrong place and an extra zero? Should it be 6,100?
Patrick

Add to that the list his slightly dubious claim about the biggest jump in private sector employment in ‘a long time’ yesterday.

As this article shows, the figures didn’t back him up. At the very least, two quarters is a strange definition of a long time…

http://bit.ly/asYjgm
http://twitter.com/maizeyr/status/20978552564 Maizey R.

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/sunny_hundal/status/20978652146 sunny hundal

Love the mock-up RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/nadiashanaz/status/20978672256 Nadia

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
Thomas

Oh now I see! I’ll go and stand in the corner with Chris Grayling
http://twitter.com/sowadally/status/20978841513 Stewart Owadally

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail < < Absolutely outrageous.
http://twitter.com/nigelewisham/status/20978858444 Nigel D

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/yorkierosie/status/20978929125 yorkierosie

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/tonyhatfield/status/20978969186 tony hatfield

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/derekjohnbryant/status/20979003395 Derek Bryant

RT @sunny_hundal: Love the mock-up RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/lucyopenshaw/status/20979078778 Lucy Openshaw

Somebody find this man a statistics teacher, fast: RT @leftfootfwd Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/maryxmaguire/status/20979170270 Mary Maguire

RT @yorkierosie: RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/tommilleruk/status/20979358591 Tom Miller

RT @yorkierosie: RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/jamesasser/status/20979578607 James Asser

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/jordanbhall/status/20979851614 Jordan Hall

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/tess1959/status/20979962452 Teresa

RT @psbook: Oh, noes! >> RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/trakgalvis/status/20980208646 Trakgalvis

Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail via @leftfootfwd
Olly

This is shoddy reporting…..

You forgot the cock-up at Party Conference about the General’s appointment being a “cynical and populist move” only to be told it was an appointment made by Cameron.
http://twitter.com/joshuwahwah/status/20980359905 Josh Eades

Chris Grayling messes up again http://bit.ly/dqwybn
Mike S

A bit vintage I know, but this one was my favourite.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/5049146/Tory-MP-aims-to-woo-Liverpool-voters-by-applauding-role-model-Gary-Neville.html
http://twitter.com/houseoftwits/status/20980536954 House Of Twits

RT @joshuwahwah Chris Grayling messes up again http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/michael__ellis/status/20980763117 Michael Ellis

RT @joshuwahwah: Chris Grayling messes up again http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/alasdairross/status/20981004982 Alasdair Ross

Tories still can't add up!! Chris Grayling messes up again http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/anpa2001/status/20981172772 R Gordon

Chris Grayling over-estimates proportion of London households in which no-one's ever worked by 3:1 http://bit.ly/dqwybn via michael_ellis
http://twitter.com/tomkat_/status/20981199352 Tom Stanley

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/yorkierosie/status/20981242768 yorkierosie

RT @anpa2001: Chris Grayling over-estimates proportion of London households in which no-one's ever worked by 3:1 http://bit.ly/dqwybn via michael_ellis
http://twitter.com/stuwhitt/status/20981380486 Stuart Whittingham

RT @HouseofTwitsLab: RT @joshuwahwah Chris Grayling messes up again http://bit.ly/dqwybn
http://twitter.com/sarahbs_27/status/20981528126 Sarah Beattie-Smith

RT @psbook: Oh, noes! >> RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/andy_s_64/status/20981735751 Andy Sutherland

RT @anpa2001: Chris Grayling over-estimates proportion of London households in which no-one's ever worked by 3:1 http://bit.ly/dqwybn via michael_ellis
http://twitter.com/markwrightuk88/status/20982390984 mark wright

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/20986071119 Shamik Das

Such an easy hit! RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
http://twitter.com/davidcrow83/status/20986357461 David Crow

RT @leftfootfwd: Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! http://bit.ly/dqwybn #ToryFail
Fat Bloke on Tour

I think it should be noted that Mickey Mouse has a Chris Grayling watch.
Mr. Sensible

Well remembered, Olly.

And I think it was him who made that comment about the wire.

But Shamik said at the begining of the list that this was for this year.

What with Cameron doing the gaffs abroad, Clegg doing the gafs when let loose in the Commons, and Grayling doing the gaffs when let loose abroad, they make a fine team!
http://theoldpolitics.blogspot.com/ oldpolitics

Wait, so there are only 871,000 households in London (on the corrected figures) and about 310,000 (on the original figures)? That sounds like rather fewer than my experience of London would imply. What am I missing?
Mr. Sensible

Oh, and did I forget to mention what Bob Neil said in the Commons in June about the poorest areas bearing the brunt?
August

The question posed about what you’d do without Chris Grayling’s gaffe to fill your copy – well you’d probably make stuff up – or present it in a really biased way.

Some of his cock ups are accurate and highly funny – but the one you mention about the the bank tax is wrong and you bloody well know it – this website got panned last year by all and sundry for its shoddy reporting and then attempts to back track on that story.

That being said – leave him alone you bullys lol!
Stuartm

Another fine mess you’ve got us into

Following on from David Camerons anoucement that ‘Bounty Hunters’ were going to be used in the detection of fraud and credit reference agencies were to be used to catch ‘benefit cheats’, it has been reported that the Information Commissioner has asked for an urgent meeting with Lord Freud to discuss the issue of Data sharing with private credit ratings agencies.

Whilst the sensible use of data sharing has a useful role to play in detecting fraud, concerning has been raised about the possibility of fishing expeditions to catch ‘benefit cheats’. Concern has also been expressed at the civil liberties implications of extending the use of RIPA powers and the use of powers in the Fraud Act 2006.
The reliability of information held by credit rating agencies has also been questioned:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/aug/10/credit-agencies-benefit-cheats
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/10/chris-grayling-dragged-into-liam-fox-adam-werritty-row/ Grayling dragged into Fox/Werritty scandal – are Osborne, Gove and Hague next? | Left Foot Forward

[...] Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! – Shamik Das, August 12th [...]
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/04/calamity-chris-grayling-misuses-statistics-again/ Calamity Grayling misuses the stats (again) | Left Foot Forward

[...] Another balls-up by Calamity Chris! 12 Aug [...]