Thread by @paddydocherty

A short thread about resisting the #kleptofascist takeover, with an added last-ditch family appeal. 😐✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #StopFascism #RuleOfLaw

When the execrable Cummings/Johnson regime launched its attack on Parliament back in August, I was horrified: this was in fact a coup against democracy. Like thousands of others, I hit the streets to protest. 😖✊🌹🇪🇺 #StopTheCoup #resist #JohnsonMustGo #RuleOfLaw

As a historian with Asperger’s & misophonia, the idea of giant crowds is truly horrifying to me, and I’d much rather be quietly writing books in the countryside… 😐✊🌹🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #autism #Aspergers #AutismStrong #resist

…but I had to do my bit... As the protest signs sometimes say, “When the Aspies/introverts/etc are protesting, you know it’s serious”… ☺️✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #protest #StopTheCoup #ToriesOut

This was actually personal for me, because my brother was on the other side of the police lines: he entered Parliament as a Tory MP in 2017, and Johnson made him a junior Whip when he besmirched No 10 in July 2019. 🤨🌹

members.parliament.uk/member/4600/co…

By this time, my (admittedly somewhat obsessive) private efforts to lobby my brother on #Brexit had failed entirely, so I tried another approach and wrote him an open letter:

😋✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #StopTheCoup

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

This similarly failed, and he told me that he would stay in government. Over the months since then it has become increasingly obvious that this administration is crooked, and unlawful by nature. 😖✊🌹🇪🇺 #crooks #resist #ReleaseTheRussiaReport #ToriesOut

Worst of all, it’s clear that this “government” is set on a ruinous No Deal #Brexit, regardless of the devastating impact on the lives of ordinary people. Today is the deadline for requesting an extension to the transition period… 😠✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist

With time therefore running out, with just hours to go before a devastating outcome is likely locked in, I will try one final, last-ditch appeal to my brother’s better nature. ☺️✊🌹🇪🇺 #hope

.@LeoDochertyUK Leo, I’m begging you please to change course before it’s too late, and do something *today* to speak out for reason. A No Deal exit will wreck the country, and you must surely know this… 🙂✊🌹🇪🇺 #Brexit #sanity

As you also know, our great-grandfather was a riveter in the shipyards on the Clyde, and a militant Communist in the Red Clydeside years… Here’s his entry in the union register of the United Society of Boilermakers & Iron & Steel Shipbuilders, 1912 (at the bottom). 🤓🌹

On paper, it’s an extraordinary journey for you to go from Clydeside shipyard to Scots Guards and Tory MP… But is it really worth it, if it means wrecking the life chances and living standards of millions? 😳✊🌹🇪🇺 #Glasgow #Scotland #Brexit #resist

I’m not asking you to be a Communist like our great-grandfather(!), but you could take a little inspiration from him in his efforts to create a better society for all: #Brexit is the *opposite* of that, being essentially a #kleptofascist smash & grab. 😖✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist

I am therefore asking you one last time to resign from this disgraceful government and demand a transition extension so that the country isn’t ruined. Many thanks, your brother, Paddy x 😊✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #Brexit