I've now found clarification of this issue, from Jimbo Wales in a post here:
http://mail.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2003-September/006653.html
This seems to provide verification of the issue.
I replaced the existing paraphrased text with Jimbo's verifiable
quotes, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view&a…
But editors are telling me that:
1. Policy pages aren't subject to the verifiability policy
2. Jimbo is not the supreme lawgiver. The only thing he has made
"law" is that having a policy of writing from a neutral point of view
is a must. Everything else he has said are contributions from a
respected member of the community, as the policies are community-decided.
Comments?
Regards,
Ian Tresman