(a) following UK, German & wider EU reporting today is genuinely terrifying. Unless the UK can find a way to reintegrate itself into one of the two mission critical components of the Euro-Atlantic alliance - the EU - & the EU to accept it, .../2.
... we’re in serious trouble.
This isn’t about Bridlington Bangers to Belfast, or other such trivialising tropes used by some UK ministers.
And, if I were @SecBlinken’s chief of staff, I’d have this dossier, with options for US intervention, on his desk today; /3.
(b) “rebuke” is the correct word for @GermanAmbUK’s intervention, not “attack”: see my original tweet of 7 March. My fault. /4. End
A brief history of the last 70 years of 🇩🇪 - 🇬🇧 relations. Short 🧵/1.
Many Germans, including much of the diplomatic establishment, felt like this about 🇬🇧. Often despite considerable provocation, especially in the English tabloids. /2.
Some, usually only in private, but then quite vehemently, had a different perspective on 🇬🇧.
But still, with 🇺🇸 in charge, even those 🇩🇪 sceptics felt able to work extremely closely with 🇬🇧. /3.
.@robertshrimsley makes an important point👇 about the potential, unintended consequences of getting drawn into confected battles over flags, or for that matter songs at the Proms, statues & much else.
... which, left unchallenged, leads to circumstances in which challenge is no longer possible. More precisely, no longer permissible. Or safe. Safe for example to call for “freedom of speech [&] religion & protection of the individual citizen from [...] arbitrary action”./3.
No police force can command the confidence of the public, or the country’s democratic representatives, in the face of such appalling events. As the leader of the force in question, I fully accept that my position is untenable. /2.
I have submitted my resignation to the Home Secretary & have informed the Mayor of London.
The Deputy Commissioner will take over my duties on an acting basis until a successor is found. /3.
Statement not issued by the Prime Minister, @BorisJohnson:
Resignation of Home Secretary
As soon as I saw the shocking images from Clapham Common yesterday evening I called the Home Secretary for an overnight report on what had occurred. /1.
I reviewed the material this morning. There is no excuse for the police actions captured in the photos & videos I have seen.
Everyone will understand that I must not prejudge potential cases against individual officers directly involved. /2.
However, the failure of leadership revealed by the evidence presented to me is so profound & disturbing that the Home Secretary has asked for the resignation of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
And I have asked the Home Secretary to resign. /3.