A young man named Gordon bought a donkey from an old farmer for £100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
When the farmer drove up the next day he said "Sorry, son, but I have some bad news. The donkey is in my truck but he's dead."
Gordon replied "Well, give me my money back then."
The farmer said "Sorry I can't do that as I've already spent it." Gordon sighed "O.K. then, just unload the donkey anyway."
The farmer asked "What are you going to do with him?"
Gordon replied "I am going to raffle him off." To which the farmer exclaimed "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
But Gordon, with a big smile on his face, said "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anyone he's dead."
One month later the farmer met Gordon and asked "What happened to that dead donkey?"
Gordon replied "I raffled him off , sold 500 tickets at £2 each and made a huge profit."
Totally amazed, the farmer asked "Didn't anyone complain about your taking their money because you failed to tell them that the donkey was dead?"
Then Gordon replied "The only guy who found about the donkey being dead was the raffle winner. When he came to claim his prize, I gave him back his £2 ticket money plus £200 extra which was double the market price of a donkey, so he thought I was a great guy. That still left me nearly £700 ahead."
Gordon grew up and eventually became Chancellor of the Exchequer. No matter how many times he failed to tell the whole truth or how much money he took from the British voters, so long as he gave back some of their money, most of them thought he was a great guy.
He then became Prime Minister.