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Economical with the truthEconomical with the truth : PhrasesMeaning: Conveying an untrue version of events by leaving out the important facts. A euphemism for lying, in short. Example: Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth. Origin: Recorded from the 18th century, although rarely used. It was brought into the contemporary language by the UK Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, who used the phrase during the Australian 'Spycatcher' trial in 1986.
What Armstrong left out (perhaps he knew but was being economical) was that the 'one person' was Edmund Burke. In 1796 Burke wrote:
In 1992, Alan Clark was cross-examined during the Matrix Churchill case and embroidered the phrase a little:
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