This isn’t about a fantasy of a perfect, once-existing UK.
The country’s past - recent, as well as further back - contains much which has been wrong.
But it is about being a decent country. For present & future generations.
Not a Greater Putingrad-On-Thames. /6.
The UK constitution is fragile.
It’s being trashed by those in currently in charge. Against the wishes of the majority.
The absolute power of a tiny minority - backed by a minority of voters - is close to preventing any orderly, safe way of recovering from the assault. /7.
Chaos & violence can take hold anywhere.
Especially in failing or failed states.
England & the islands of which it forms part have been there often enough before.
The outcomes are highly unpredictable. The process always involves mass tragedy. /8.
Once oligarchic power & oppression have taken hold, the way back is exceptionally difficult, long, paved with loss, & soaked in blood.
Dear reader, if - in late 2021, in the UK - you think this hyperbolic, I respectfully suggest that you’re kidding yourself. /9.
What we need: a peaceful transfer of power to a decent government, now.
How we get it: by a (perfectly constitutional) parliamentary take-over.
What we avoid: descent into the abyss & violent political, social & economic disintegration.
Bear with me. /10.
This isn’t a party political point. Although it inevitably involves political parties.
A majority of the Conservative Parliamentary Party supports the disastrous, disgraceful policies pursued by Boris Johnson & his inner circle. /11.
A substantial minority of Conservative MPs is opposed. But few have obviously done much about it.
It’s easy to dismiss them as beyond the pale, for not having tried hard enough. Or having failed.
They aren’t.
And, in any case, they’re essential to saving the country. /12.
DUP MPs appear, like the majority of their Conservative colleagues, to be beyond reach. Fully down the Johnson-Frost rabbit hole. With few exceptions, other opposition MPs are in favour of liberal democracy, & socially & internationally responsible governance across GB & NI. /13.
The parliamentary arithmetic may seem a little opaque.
Here are the current numbers by party.
The questions are:
- how many Conservative MPs sense there needs to be a fundamental & rapid change of direction?
- similarly, how many opposition MPs?
- & will they act? /14.
Based on their known positions, the answer to the first question is probably around 125.
On the second question, the answer’s essentially all.
Except the DUP, some of the independents, & Sinn Fein (who don’t take their seats).
So, around 265. /15.
A bare majority, taking into account SF’s absence, might require 322 MPs.
To achieve that, or more, to replace the government in the current House of Commons, needs most of the opposition to combine forces. And a significant proportion of the Conservative 125. /16.
I’m not pointing all this out because it’s looking likely.
I’m doing so because there’s no sign of it happening.
Yet it’s vital. And extremely urgent.
The Conservatives in question may think they can keep the rest of their party in check. So why cross the floor? /17.
The difficulty with that approach is twofold.
First, the wrecking ball being taken to the constitution means they can’t rely on their votes - their ultimate weapon against an out of control government - counting. Government by decree & illegality is invulnerable to that. /18.
Second, they may well all be fired ahead of the next election.
Particularly if the Johnson-led elite (whether or not he’s still there) get their wish & Joe Biden’s administration is disabled, or defeated - to be replaced by Trump Two. /19.
Unless the law’s now changed to introduce robust PR there’ll be nothing to stop a future extremist minority dismantling everything.
PR-based democratic governance is self-perpetuating. Even under the UK constitution! Provided there isn’t an anti-democratic voting majority. /20.
Maybe intense extra-parliamentary opposition is now needed.
If it is, it won’t be enough on its own.
Barring it becoming so extreme as to be out of anyone’s power to control.
In which case it would most likely take the UK to precisely the place we need to avoid. /21.
The forces of democracy, rule of law, capable government & social responsibility need to take charge of Westminster & Whitehall.
They need to do it with plenty of time to spare to take key actions, as outlined, ahead of the next scheduled election.
That means: strike now. /22.
The SNP & Plaid Cymru might not be essential to such a governing coalition.
But if it turned out they were, it would be strongly in their strategic interests, & those of Scotland & Wales, to participate.
Independence may or may not come. /23.
For it to do so on the back of an English political revolution of the sort currently underway would be terrible for the futures of all the nations involved.
Donald Trump saying “Ukraine is finished” once again, starkly, highlights the question of what the world’s first & only (with the possible exception of Britain), & still remaining, hyper power would do geopolitically under his leadership.
But it isn’t just about Trump.
A 🧵/1.
I’ll be unashamedly Eurocentric.
There’s a broader & deeper story, of course. But Europe is a vital part of it.
The decision the USA has to make, as it did in the 1940s, & repeatedly at intervals after that, is whether it cares about Europe, & if so how much of it, & why. /2.
Does that include all of western Europe? Does it extend to central Europe? And eastern Europe? If so, should Ukraine be part of what the USA cares about (in the 40s that didn’t really play a role, given Ukraine’s status within the USSR)? And if so, how much of Ukraine? /3.
Brexit ripped us out of our $19 trillion GDP domestic market & reduced us to one a 6th of it, thumped our economy, fractured the UK, threw our governance into chaos, & generated perilous geopolitical effects.
And (if you mean it seriously) wildly naive about what actually takes place, legally (although you’d say “in my opinion this is unconstitutional”: good luck!) in the USA.
Still, if we just look at England/UK: yes, there are many concerns. /1.
I never said or, I hope, implied (to a fair, reasonable reader) that there weren’t.
For example (not the subject of my already long 🧵which focused on the way criminal incitement & freedom of expression relate) I personally deeply dislike revocation of citizenship. /2.
But you know that’s a thing in the USA as well, including for natural born citizens.
Involuntary self-revocation (in the guise of “voluntary relinquishment”) of citizenship sounds about as Kafkaesque as it gets.
But there it is, lurking malignantly in the Land of the Free. /3.
Twitter’s full of people trumpeting near zero understanding of English law or of the convictions in respect of the violence of the last 10 days or so.
Nor does the US 1st Amendment mean what many (often Americans) seem to think.
Frustrated? Maybe this will be some use.
A🧵/1.
“Incitement” was an offence under English common law pretty much forever.
In 2008 the Serious Crime Act 2007 replaced common law “incitement” with statutory offences of encouraging or assisting crime.
Incitement in respect of specific statutory offences remains. /2.
“Assisting” means roughly what you probably think it does. But, for clarity, it doesn’t require direct presence at the scene of the crime being “assisted”, or actions which are themselves part of that crime: if they assist the commission of it, that’s a criminal act itself. /3.
I’m not sure we yet know the whole truth about these men’s possible involvement, potentially as inciters to or participants in violence or even terrorism.
There are legitimate questions.
A 🧵/1.
To be guilty of terrorism in England, you don’t have to be physically present (see CPS guidance ⬇️). Similar considerations apply to some other crimes relevant to the current violent disorder.
“I was only tweeting” or “I was just asking questions” are far from safe defences. /2.
For the likes of Mr Musk or Mr Farage one might think their respective, prominent positions could protect them from criminal charges and severe consequences.
One might.
If one thought the AG, DPP, courts, police etc in England to be corrupt, weak or both.