Thread by @matjhope

Get your brain into gear this morning with this long read from @ChloeFarand and myself for @DeSmogUK on how US libertarians and fossil fuel interests are infiltrating the UK's #Brexit debate and pushing for environmental deregulation desmog.co.uk/2018/11/18/mat…

Here's a tldr THREAD

The story centres around a power couple in Brexit politics, Matthew and Sarah Elliott. Matthew was chief of Vote Leave and still has fingers in lots of Brexit pies. Sarah is chair of Republicans overseas, and used to work for fossil fuel magnates the Koch brothers.

In the US, the couple have strong ties to the #Kochtopus network and libertarian Trump-funder Robert Mercer. In the UK, they have strong ties to the remnants of the Leave campaign, and a network of groups lobbying for mass deregulation post-Brexit based out of #TuftonStreet

We show how ideology and resources have been exported across the Atlantic. But there's more to this story — it's also about tactics.

Matthew Elliott learned his lobbying skills from Grover Norquist, a Washington lobbyist that opposes all tax increases desmogblog.com/americans-tax-…

Matthew Elliott also has interests in using big data to win elections and referendums. He was chief of Vote Leave at the time the campaign communicated with Cambridge Analytica — a Robert Mercer outfit.

Elilott has also been involved in data analytics firms in the UK.

Matthew Elliott is also a prominent figure in the Tufton St network pushing climate science denial and a hard Brexit, on which @DeSmogUK regularly reports (video via @RealMediaGB)

For instance, Elliott founded Taxpayers' Alliance.

Last week, Taxpayers’ Alliance conceded in @shahmiruk case that it had coordinated with eight other Tufton Street organisations to push a free-market ideology and for a hard Brexit in the media.

But it's not just UK organisations that are working closely together.

Another Tufton outfit, the IFT, recently published an 'alternative' post-Brexit US-UK trade deal plan with the Cato Institute — which is funded by the Mercers and Kochs theguardian.com/politics/2018/…

Another Tufton big-hitter, the IEA, has close ties to the Atlas network — which receives millions of $ in Koch funding, and counts many Tufton orgs as members.

Atlas is actually listed as a 'related tax-exempt organisation' on the tax return of the IEA's US fundraising arm, the American Friends of the IEA. And the IEA staffs, funds, and runs Atlas' European wing: Epicenter.

The IEA, lest we forget, was the subject of an @UE sting earlier this year that suggested the org would allow prospective funders to influence its research — including big agri-businesses that want environmental regulations slashed unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/07/29/a-h…

Together, this network is pushing a radical "free-market" ideology that would see the UK slash regulations post-Brexit, all in the name of getting free-trade deals with big polluters like the US. Those cuts would include environmental regulations.

In its 'alternative' Brexit plan, IEA analyst Shanker Singham said raising env standards post-Brexit would "lead to “wealth destruction” and “push people into poverty” desmog.co.uk/2018/09/24/har…

@openDemocracyUK has more on this tactic opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/p…

Just last week, @OwenPaterson and @DavidDavisMP — key nodes in the Brexit Tufton St network — were over in the US talking to Trump cronies about what needed to be done to get a US-UK free-trade deal spectator.us/david-davis-ow…

And coal baron Matt Ridley, who is an advisor to the climate science denying lobby group in the Tufton network, the GWPF, has also promoted a highly deregulated no-deal scenario in his Times column - thetimes.co.uk/article/weve-n…

And a lot of the MPs that are part of the ERG, which just published a scathing analysis of the draft #WithdrawalAgreement, also have strong ties to the Tufton St network.

The ERG analysis is on Brexit Central, of which Matthew Elliott is Editor-at-Large brexitcentral.com/erg-publish-ri…

So that's the end game - profit before the environment.

The Kochs and Mercers have been playing this game a long time. A game the Elliotts learned to play in the US. And a game a network of UK lobby groups are now trying to win by pushing for a hard Brexit.

If you want to know more, check out the great work of @PeterKGeoghegan @AdamRamsay @openDemocracyUK, @peterjukes @Byline_Media, @MollyMEP, and of course @carolecadwalla (and many others i'm sure I missed).

And read the full story on @DeSmogUK here 👉desmog.co.uk/2018/11/18/mat…