article_snippet.sent: a British civil servant added: 'I have to admit that I'm not sure that the FM's tongue would be quite so loose on that kind of thing in a meeting like that, so it might well be a case of something being lost in translation'.
article_snippet.sent: he said: 'I do not know where this comes from, because it is certainly not in my report that anyone gave any preference.'
article_snippet.sent: The real issue is how a second-hand and inaccurate account of this meeting - which was not even attended by the UK Government - came to be written by a UK Government civil servant and then leaked to Tory-supporting newspapers at the start of a General Election campaign. '
article_snippet.sent: It suggests a Whitehall system out of control - a place where political dirty tricks are manufactured and leaked.
article_snippet.sent: And the Foreign Office now appears to be denying the very existence of such a document.
article_snippet.sent: I am therefore writing to the head of the UK civil service, Sir Jeremy Heywood, requesting an urgent inquiry into the circumstances of such a false account being leaked for transparently political motives.'
article_snippet.sent: Conservative Culture Secretary Sajid Javid told Sky News: 'Who knows what the reality is there?
article_snippet.sent: And we know what's in the ransom note: £148 billion more wasteful borrowing, higher taxes on ordinary families, weaker defences and more debt than our children could ever hope to repay.'