Andrew Levi Profile picture
Nov 19, 2021 26 tweets 14 min read Read on X
The UK’s Manchurian Cabinet & its facilitators are destroying the country. Bleeding out the economy. Wrecking security.

But there’s a parliamentary & popular majority for decency & sense.

There mightn’t ever be another election.

So, what now?

A 🧵/1.

rebootgb.today/opinions/guest… Image
If we don’t move fast, we’re toast.

The Vote Leave Johnson-Frost Brexit is being carbonised. Not least by its fundamental inability to cope with the Ireland/NI dimension.

But that’s no comfort.

If it continues, it’ll set fire to us all. /2.

rebootgb.today/opinions/the-u… Image
There’s a patriotic foreign policy available - to protect & promote the UK’s security, prosperity & well-being.

One which can command the support of a majority of MPs. And of the country.

An “Alternative Foreign Secretary” already set it out👇 /3.

rebootgb.today/foreignsecreta… Image
Foreign policy isn’t usually seen as central to voters’ concerns.

But be in no doubt: nothing you might care about in the UK can be fixed if the Johnson Brexit isn’t ditched & the western alliance repaired.

Our economy’s held hostage.

Our security increasingly undermined. /4. Image
Ken Clarke points out the UK’s on the verge of elected dictatorship.

You know what happens next. Fast.

Unelected dictatorship. Fake elections. Or none.

We need to escape the death spiral of our democracy, economy & security.

We’re out of time. /5.

theneweuropean.co.uk/tim-walker-int…
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. ImageImageImageImage
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. ImageImageImageImage
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. Image
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. ImageImage
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.

If it’s unavoidable, that’s one thing.

But it isn’t. Or needn’t be. /24. Image
Who can make this happen?

@Keir_Starmer, @Ianblackford_MP, @EdwardJDavey & other leaders & colleagues.

@DamianGreen, @Tobias_Ellwood, @TomTugendhat & like-minded MPs.

The UK needs a new government to save GB & NI’s economy, security & constitutional democracy. /25. End ImageImageImageImage
Take back control. Or risk all. Freedom. Democracy. Decency. 👇

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More from @AndrewPRLevi

May 8
While understanding the surprise (it was unexpected!) at Natalie Elphicke’s defection, I’m bemused by the shock, in some quarters, that Keir Starmer welcomed her.

No, not because Sir Keir is a “Red Tory” or a “short-term opportunist”.

His grand strategy explains it.

A 🧵/1.
Starmer’s Labour is on a mission, even if some in the party don’t yet realise, to make Labour *the* party of Britain, embedding it in government for decades.

Creating a national consensus, drawing in the widest feasible span of committed supporters. /2.
The purpose is to transform the country (more on that in a moment).

“Doing an Attlee”.

But succeeding.

(Before you raise both eyebrows, consider this: what might Attlee & his colleagues have achieved if Labour had been in power a lot longer?). /3.
Read 15 tweets
May 6
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, date of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

27 January, the liberation of Auschwitz, is UN Holocaust Remembrance Day.

We remember systematic, industrial, genocidal murder.

In 2022 I shared a letter from Peter.

I’d like to do so again.

A🧵/1.
Mauthausen, 13 May 1945

Dear Fritz, Dear Barbara!

After an infinitely long time I am allowed to write to you, the still existing branch of the family – or so I hope – and to tell you the events of the last 3 years. /2.
Oma is dead. She passed away peacefully and quietly in her sleep. She had been locked up in the “Home for the Aged” of the Jewish Community in Darmstadt. Mutti was put into jail. From there whilst in transit to a concentration camp she died, of kidney trouble they said! /3.
Read 20 tweets
Apr 26
The other day I took part in a seminar organised by perhaps the world’s most famous human rights organisation.

The subject was UN efforts to end mass atrocities & the need to prevent countries blocking the UN doing so.

Something unexpected happened.

A 🧵/1.
Much of the session focused on the use of international law, & on the role of the UN Security Council, particularly its veto-wielding five permanent members, China, France, Russia, the UK & the USA. /2.
So much was perhaps predictable &, although reasonably well-informed & coming from a humane & decent place, somewhat frustrating. We all know that nothing major is likely to change on the UNSC front for years to come, if then. /3.
Read 23 tweets
Apr 11
A Study in Scarlet

The human suffering of 7 October & since renders any but sociopaths deeply distressed. We're all covered in blood. Perhaps you're now angry with me for "moral relativism" or another modern deadly sin. Reading on may not help. But I hope you will.

A long🧵/1.
The most obvious reason for distress is the carnage. Then feelings of impotence & rage. Then, for the more honestly reflective, a recognition of complicity & guilt.

There is no "clean" way out. Nor has there ever been.

Don't be angry. Be determined. And realistic. /2.
Let's start with our complicity.

To recognise that, it's unnecessary to rehearse the history of the Balfour Declaration, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations (British) Mandate, the Holocaust, the multifaceted role of the UN & its major powers, & so on. /3.
Read 62 tweets
Oct 26, 2023
The US and us

Current world events are both highly distressing in many respects, and highly clarifying.

Whether we're in the US, of it, or neither; interested in the US or not; supportive of the US or critical - the US is indispensable, and unavoidable.

A shortish thread. /1.
When (or if ...) the US loses its leverage, anywhere significant, it spells deep trouble for us all.

If the US uses its leverage badly, we're also in deep trouble.

The UN, and the world, depend on the US using its leverage, and well. /2.
There is no credible alternative, in any foreseeable timescale. Just horrifically escalating disorder. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

So: what do we - that’s to say, our governments, and those of our fellow citizens who have more or less influence over that - do? /3.
Read 9 tweets
Oct 13, 2023
Israel-Palestine

You’re right, of course, @McFaul.

And you know this subject well. But many who are now, rightly, taking a close interest, don’t.

So, as a former policy-maker with relevant background, I offer some thoughts for social media users.

A 🧵/1.
Image
The kinds of ultimate resolution under discussion require a few things.

I’ll start with acceptance by all of Israel’s right to exist within internationally recognised borders. (Presumably those would be, or would be no less than, the pre-1967 “six day war” borders). /2. Image
Perhaps there would be some negotiation about security zones beyond those, but I won’t assume that right now.

It would also require Palestinians giving up all claims on territory within Israel’s recognised borders. /3.
Read 16 tweets

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