Claims extracted
23
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
4%
1 of 23 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
68/100
Daily Mail's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
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John Swinney has been accused of a lack of respect for Scottish taxpayers after claiming he tried to ‘minimise costs’ when he ran up an £18,000 bill on business class flights for his trip to the United States for the World Cup.
asserted
he → see → Cup
The First Minister defended the spending on the British Airways flights rather than taking up a £1,000-per-head seat on the Scottish Football Association's ‘friends and family’ plane.
asserted
Minister → defend → plane
He said it was necessary so he could attend First Minister’s Questions on the Thursday afternoon, before flying out later the same day.
uncertain
he → say → afternoon
But Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: ‘John Swinney’s post-election flight upgrade utterly stinks and is consistent with the SNP’s lack of respect for Scotland’s hard-pressed taxpayers.
asserted
upgrade → say → taxpayers
‘There would have been nothing wrong with the First Minister flying on the SFA charter flight as was originally planned.
asserted
Minister → fly → flight
Had he done so, no-one would have missed him at FMQs because he never gives straight answers anyway.
asserted
he → do → answers
‘He needs to fully explain why he and his inner circle thought it was acceptable to splurge so much on their eye-wateringly expensive upgrade which is apparently in breach of the rules.’
asserted
which → need → rules
John Swinney spent £18,000 on flights for his trip to the World Cup
Business class flights for Mr Swinney and his private secretary John Webster to Boston and then Kentucky cost nearly £35,786, while the transatlantic business class flights for the First Minister’s chief of staff Colin McAllister cost £8,864.
asserted
flights → spend → 8,864
Defending the costs, Mr Swinney told LBC: ‘I felt it was important that I fulfilled my parliamentary duties to answer First Minister’s question time on both occasions, the Thursday and the Tuesday, that I was required to do so.
asserted
I → defend → occasions
‘I came back overnight on a flight from the United States, landed in Edinburgh Airport at 12 o’clock and answered questions at two o’clock in the Scottish Parliament because I thought it was important to fulfil my parliamentary duties.
asserted
it → come → duties
‘Now of course we try as much as we can to minimise the costs of travel but sometimes, particularly at the intense period of the run-up to the first World Cup match that Scotland was involved in in 28 years, flights were more expensive.
asserted
flights → try → years
We tried to minimise costs and we will always try to do so.’
asserted
we → try → costs
At the weekend, it was revealed that Mr Swinney and his aides had been due to take seats on the SFA’s ‘family and friends’ flight to Boston, which departed on the morning of June 11 ahead of the Haiti match in the early hours of June 14.
asserted
which → reveal → June
Four weeks before flying out, an SNP government official emailed SFA representatives to say the seats would no longer be taken up because of ‘essential business’ in parliament that day.
asserted
seats → fly → parliament
He instead flew from Edinburgh to London at 5.10pm on the same day, and then from Heathrow to Boston in business class at 8.10pm.
asserted
He → fly → 8.10pm
It was also revealed that Mr Webster, who sat with him on the flight, signed off an exemption to normal government travel rules to allow the business class travel.
asserted
who → reveal → travel
Mr Swinney also said: ‘The reason why we did not take the SFA flight is because I thought it was important that I answer First Minister’s Questions on the Thursday afternoon and on the Tuesday the following week.
asserted
I → say → Tuesday
‘I thought it was also important that I went to see Scotland compete in the World Cup for the first time in 28 years.
asserted
Scotland → think → years
‘That required us to undertake our travel at what was precisely the most expensive moment to try to undertake that travel.
asserted
what → require → travel
‘So I faced a simple choice – I either didn’t perform my parliamentary duties, or I went at a more expensive time.
asserted
I → face → time
I chose to fulfil my parliamentary duties.’
asserted
I → choose → duties
He added: ‘I felt it was necessary to do all of those things – to answer questions in Parliament and go to Boston to, yes, support Scotland.
asserted
it → add → Scotland
That’s my job and that’s what I was doing.’
asserted
I → ’ → what
The Aporia
