Thread by @AndrewPRLevi

The good news. After today’s disgrace in the House of Commons.

13 Conservative MPs voted against the govt. For integrity & democracy. Dozens more abstained. All in the face of a 3-line whip. It takes 50 - 60 to oppose the govt to bring it down.

Bear with me.

A 🧵. /1.

If, after today, you still think a free & fair UK general election will take place, I respectfully suggest you’re as far out of touch with reality as Owen Paterson is with his better self. Sure, there’s a possibility one might. But that’s now low, & getting lower by the day. /2.

Govts are formed by whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons. We clearly, desperately & urgently, need a parliamentary majority & govt which respect democracy, the rule of law & proper constitutional order. Such a majority already exists. But no such govt. /3.

If 13 Conservative MPs felt able to vote against the strictest instruction their leadership could give them, & dozens more rejected the same instruction, the govt’s in deep trouble. Only exceeded by the trouble the country’s in. Something I happen to care about far more. /4.

You’re not naive. Nor am I. One vote - won by the govt, after all - doesn’t resolve the UK’s appalling political crisis. Broken Brexit. Broken Britain. International near-isolation. Floundering on climate. A Covid charnel house. Corruption & chaos on a Hogarthian scale. But …/5.

… that one vote shows there are +/- 100 Conservative MPs who know right from wrong & are willing to take a stand. They, & all opposition parties also willing to do so, must put country before party. Now. In the current House of Commons. And form a new majority & govt. /6.

A coalition which will use the next couple of years to protect & promote the UK’s security, prosperity & well-being. Repairing its constitution, democracy, economy, environment & international alliances. Then go to the people. In a free & fair election. /7.

A few words on the parliamentary arithmetic. The highest working majority Boris Johnson has had so far is 90 (taking account of deaths & suspensions of MPs, & other factors). There are 8 DUP MPs who might be persuaded to ally with the govt, adding 2x8 (16) to that figure. /8.

A few words, also, on the SNP, Plaid etc & the UK. The democratic, decent, prosperous, secure & peaceful future of all people living in Great Britain & Northern Ireland is at stake. All else is secondary, whether or not the Union is, ultimately, capable of surviving. /9.

The current govt’s driving UK breakup. If the SNP (to take that example) demands an independence referendum as a “price” of joining a coalition, so be it. I doubt it will help their cause. But if they stand up for what’s right, who are the rest of us to stand in their way? /10.

As for anything up to 100 or so Conservative MPs deciding to join forces to create a democratic unity majority & govt with the current opposition parties, & those parties reciprocating, by all means tell me how terribly difficult it all is. /11.

Then tell me when the next free & fair UK general election will be. And why you think any of us have the luxury of waiting to find out if you’re right. /12. End

Update on parliamentary arithmetic: Daily Mail reports “over 50” Conservative MPs refused to obey the govt 3-line whip. The Guardian says “scores”. We’ll no doubt get more detail as the political correspondents dig & collate the numbers. We know 13 voted against the govt.