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Robert Saunders

@redhistorian

Nov 6, 2024

If Lincoln spoke to "the better angels of our nature", Trump calls to our demons. His return is a moral as well as political tragedy.

As others study his example, progressives will need to think harder about how to respond. As so often, I've been thinking about Gladstone...🧵

Gladstone saw politics as a moral struggle, for the conscience of the people.

It was a struggle that could be lost: humans were sinful, and could be corrupted or deceived.

But ultimately, "the demos" was the only tribunal in which a progressive politics could put its faith.

So at moments of crisis, Gladstone would take his case to working-class audiences, speaking for hours on complex questions of foreign policy or finance.

He treated working people with respect, as people of conscience; people who could handle complexity & rise to moral judgement.

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Robert Saunders

@redhistorian

Jul 7, 2024

The 2024 election saw the worst Conservative defeat in history, producing their lowest number of seats, lowest vote share & highest number of ministers unseated.

I've been writing about the "crisis of Conservatism" for years, and have collected some key pieces below. ⬇️ [THREAD]

In 2019 I wrote in the @NewStatesman about "The Closing of the Conservative Mind".

"British Conservatism has broken with three of its most important traditions. It has stopped thinking, it has stopped “conserving” & it has lost its suspicion of ideology". newstatesman.com/politics/2019/…

Later in 2019, I explored the abuse of history in talk of "Global Britain", showing how Boris Johnson & his allies "use the past to imagine the future".

"As so often, history becomes the mask worn by ideology, when it wants to be mistaken for experience".
newstatesman.com/politics/2019/…

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Robert Saunders

@redhistorian

Aug 19, 2023

The most powerful idea in British politics is "the economy".

Parties promise to "grow", "unleash" or "manage" the economy.

It tops lists of voter concerns.

But what if we had no concept of "the economy"?

Until the C20th, we didn't. And its rise has had major consequences...🧵

1. If you had told Mr Gladstone that "the economy has grown this year", he would not have understood what you meant.

Gladstone was the most financially literate statesman of the C19th.

But the idea of something called "the economy", which could "grow" or "shrink", did not exist

2. Even in the C20th, as economic questions roared up the agenda, talk of "THE economy" entered political usage quite slowly.

It first appeared in a major manifesto in 1950 & didn't get its own section until 1955.

That's also when terms like "economic growth" appeared in Parlt.

Read 16 tweets

Robert Saunders

@redhistorian

Jun 13, 2023

@GreenJennyJones

There's a hugely important vote in the Lords today, where @GreenJennyJones will attempt to kill a Statutory Instrument changing the law of protest.

The Lords almost never block SIs, so this raises big constitutional qs.

Here's why Labour *should* back the "fatal motion" 🧵...

https://twitter.com/RhonddaBryant/status/1656682087985057796

1. SIs are a form of "secondary legislation": law made directly by ministers, rather than by passing a bill through Parliament.

They are meant to fill in the details of "primary", or parliamentary, legislation.

But this one is being used to *overturn* a decision by Parliament.

2. When the government proposed these changes in the 2023 Public Order Bill, the House of Lords voted them down.

Ministers are now trying to overturn that defeat by issuing a Statutory Instrument.

That's a very new use of these powers, with serious implications for Parliament.

Read 10 tweets

Robert Saunders

@redhistorian

Jun 12, 2023

I agree with Anthony Seldon about the damage Boris Johnson has done and his unfitness for public office.

But there's a question he doesn't address here, which needs more attention.

It troubled me about his book, too. So let me try to explain... 🧵
thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-…

1. If Johnson was so manifestly unsuited to office - if his "deep character flaws" were formed so early - how did he rise to power?

What does that say about our democracy, or the qualities we reward in potential leaders?

And what was the role of the commentariat?

2. Unlike many of Johnson's chroniclers, Seldon was not always a critic.

In many respects, that strengthens his case. He didn't set out to write a hatchet job. He followed where the evidence led.

But his earlier writing tells us something important about Johnson's rise to power

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Robert Saunders

@redhistorian

Jun 9, 2023

This isn't a resignation statement; it's a temper tantrum.

And its central claim is untrue.

Johnson says he was "forced out anti-democratically" by a "kangaroo court".

So let's remind ourselves of the process from which he has chosen to run away... 🧵
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

1. Johnson was accused of a serious parliamentary offence: misleading the House.

That triggered a 3-step process.

Step one: an investigation by the Privileges Committee, which has a majority of Tory MPs.

Its chair recused himself, & the taxpayer funded Johnson's legal advice.

2. The committee has no power to remove an MP from the House.

It can only recommend a penalty to Parliament: in this case, that Johnson be suspended for more than 10 days.

That brings us to step two: a vote in the House of Commons, which has a Tory majority of nearly 80 seats.

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