The un-quote

In today's column, Polly Toynbee writes of Blair's farewell speech:

The deftness of his opening Cherie joke - "She won't run off with the bloke next door" - was all the reminder they needed.

I'm enough of an old-fashioned pedant to think that when you put something between quote marks, it should be what someone actually said. Polly clearly disagrees. What Blair actually said was:

"At least I don't have to worry about her running off with the bloke next door."

This is according to the Guardian, the BBC, the Herald, the Telegraph, The Times, the Independent, the Financial Times, the Mirror, and, well, you get point. You can even watch the speech here -- the quote comes at about 1m50s.

Polly's disdain for the truth is a thing of wonder.