Chris Patten was wheeled out on Question Time last night and displayed all the lucidity to be expected from a 79 year-old Europhile. At the start of a diatribe on, you guessed it, Brexit, the Chancellor of Oxford University came up with some dubious claims. He first had this to say about Britain’s GDP per Capita:

“Our GDP per capita now… is lower for heaven’s sake than Lithuania”.

It sounds questionable… because it’s not true.

According to the IMF’s 2023 forecast, Britain’s GDP per Capita (at purchasing power parity) is $56,471, Lithuania’s sat on $49,266. Britain’s nominal GDP was forecast at $46,371; and Lithuania’s was $28,094. A mere 40% lower…

Chris’s confusion didn’t end there, as he then took a leaf out of the Keir Starmer playbook to talk down Britain’s prosperity relative to Poland:

“The poorest 20% in Britain are poorer than the poorest 20% in Poland”.

Guido isn’t quite sure where Chris found this figure, although data from the Financial Times, extending to 2021, showed this couldn’t be further from the truth. British households are better off than their Polish counterparts across every percentile.

You would expect a better grasp of facts from the Chancellor of Oxford University…