As Runciman very properly remarks: "In the end, there is no escape from the messy and unmanageable hypocrisies of domestic democratic politics in the seemingly cleaner and crisper compromises of liberal imperialism. In fact, there is no escape at all."

It is no way out to call for the press to clean up its act, a recurring theme from Jefferson's complaint that "nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper" through Trollope's savage portrait of Quintus Slide, editor of The People's Banner, to John Lloyd's present-day lament for the decline in media standards. The licence of the press to be rude and irresponsible is part of its mission to criticise and denounce, as well as to report and explain. Nor is it an alternative to resort to quangos and management-speak of roll-outs and partnerships and consultations and performance indicators, for this is only a fresh form of humbug, in which central control puts on the appearance of democracy.

Well, what is the way then? Orwell cannot avoid appearing as the hero of the enterprise, the plain man ex machina who appears in the final act to keep us honest. Runciman easily sees off those of Orwell's critics, such as Stefan Collini, who detect in Orwell's polemics against intellectuals a degree of internal contradiction and humbug. But I am not sure that Runciman puts his finger on what Orwell is teaching us. Certainly it is not to avoid hypocrisy at all costs. On the contrary, Orwell says in England, Your England that "British democracy is less of a fraud than it sometimes appears", not because there isn't much hypocrisy about it, but because there is: "Even hypocrisy is a powerful safeguard ... [It is] a powerful symbol of the strange mixture of reality and illusion, democracy and privilege, humbug and decency, the subtle network of compromises, by which the nation keeps itself in familiar shape."

I am sure Orwell would have agreed with Runciman's conclusion that "sincerity of personal faith or belief is an overrated virtue in politics ... By putting the premium on personal sincerity, political leaders make it too easy for themselves to ignore the difficult facts." That was the ultimate corruption of Blairism: the warping of the system so that facts and their honest interpretation were smothered and spun to suit the Prime Minister's mission.