Even if you accept this view of international relations, these tweets suggest an extraordinary contempt for democratic government at home. Let's take a couple of examples. [Thread]
"Nobody ... incl the PM thought there wd be a US deal".
But Johnson repeatedly told voters that Britain was "first in line" for "a fantastic trade deal". The 2019 manifesto promised a wave of deals "starting with the USA".
If Cummings is right, voters were misled.
"We intended to ditch bits we didn't like".
No one told British voters that. The 2019 manifesto insisted that "we have a great new deal that is ready to go", which would "get Brexit done", secure "friendly relations" with the EU and let the country "move on".
Was that not true?
"I always intended an IM Bill after we won a majority".
But you didn't plan to tell the electorate that before they provided that majority?
It’s as if elections are just some obstacle to be navigated, before getting on with the serious business of government.
The idea that "cheating foreigners is a core part of the job" is bad enough.
The idea that cheating *the electorate* is part of the job is worse.
This isn't just a grim view of diplomacy. It's a grim view of democracy.
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@lewis_goodall 1. The case for televising Parliament is that voters should know what their elected representatives are saying and doing in their name, so that we can hold them to account at the ballot box.
All those involved are public officials, who are directly responsible to those outside.
2. By contrast, court cases involve private citizens - most of whom have been accused of no crime, but who may be recounting situations of extreme distress, trauma or personal embarrassment.
Those involved are accountable for their conduct, not to public opinion, but to the law.
"The next war...will leave civilization a smoking ruin and a putrefying charnel house" (Ramsay MacDonald, 19292).
A great find, illustrating a point that's often overlooked in the memory of "appeasement": that "the next war" was widely expected to end European civilization. 1/5