Gordon Brown is not having much fun at the moment. Attacked from all sides for his pensions raid, he is being widely condemned as sneaky and secretive, avoiding the difficult questions about what he has been up to.

But that is not, according to a new study, a fair reflection of the Chancellor’s approach to interrogation.

Geoff Beattie, head of psychological sciences at the University of Manchester and the resident psychologist on Big Brother, has turned his attentions to the occupants of another madhouse.

And after examining television interviews with ten leading politicians from the past 16 months, he has concluded that Mr Brown is the most straight-talking of his senior Government colleagues.

The Chancellor gave direct responses to 47 per cent of questions put to him — not exactly marvellous but far better than Tony Blair (40 per cent), John Prescott (39 per cent) and John Reid (36 per cent).

In fact the Home Secretary, despite his reputation as a straight-talking tough guy, fared worst out of all three parties in the study commissioned by Teletext.

Mr Reid gave a nonresponse to almost half (44 per cent) the questions put, and only a partial answer to another fifth. His closest rival for the title of Britain’s most slippery politician was the Prime Minister, with a 42 per cent nonresponse rate.

Even when giving a direct response, the study found, Mr Blair was adept at doing so only in broad terms before moving his reply on to his own agenda.

To get a straight answer, it would appear that the best thing to do is to ask the opposition.

Sir Menzies Campbell pipped the super-smooth David Cameron on direct responses (54 per cent compared with 47.2 per cent), but the most nononsense of them all was David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, with 57 per cent.

His Liberal Democrat counterpart, the home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg, was least question-dodging of the ten, with a nonresponse rate of just 10.3 per cent.

All five opposition MPs in the study notched up lower rates of nonresponses than the five Government figures, with William Hague and David Cameron sharing the second-lowest tally on 16.7 per cent.

Even Sir Menzies’s 30 per cent was lower than the best of the Cabinet, with Patricia Hewitt and Gordon Brown on 32 per cent.

Professor Beattie said: “The Labour Party seems to be in legacy mode. There are certain statements they want to be remembered for and they are determined to get them out.”

But he warned that voters should not be fooled into thinking that the opposition parties are intrinsically more open or trustworthy.

“There is not some factor that makes them psychologically more straightforward than Labour,” he said. The Labour scores were affected, he added, by “the constraints of government”.

Professor Beattie was horrified at the suggestion that his study showed that the Conservatives were more honest than their rivals. He said: “I wouldn’t for a second say that Conservative politicians are more straight-talking. Once they get a chance to go back into government, I’m quite sure they will be equally evasive.”

Straight answers

47% Gordon Brown

40% Tony Blair

39% John Prescott

36% John Reid

47% David Cameron

54% Sir Menzies Campbell

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating