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.
I’ve been asked why I think there mightn’t be another general election in the UK if the decent majority in the House of Commons doesn’t take back control now.
(i) I see what happens around the world. The UK’s in trouble.
(ii) The offence of misconduct in a public office.👇 /1.
It has its complications, being an offence at common law, with a centuries-long history.
Still, here’s a thing. It carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The definition of the offence centres on “abuse of the public’s trust”. /2.
And the case law specifically involves “frauds & deceits”. Another closely related term which comes to mind is “corruption”.
There’s also “wilful neglect of a public duty”.
This is taken from the Crown Prosecution Service guidance. /3.
It’s probably too late for the Greenland ice sheet.
The Gulf Stream could collapse any time.
We’re headed for well over 2 deg warming, not well below.
In brief: we’re out of time.
A 🧵 /1.
Unless the #COP26 outcome is rapidly, radically enhanced, with far more extensive & binding commitments & associated urgent, sustained actions.
The alternative is a high probability of hell on Earth. Sooner than your think.
You absolutely ain’t seen nothing yet. /2.
Nearly 20 years ago I had the great privilege of leading the UK’s first ever international energy & climate strategy - on the back of the publication of the UK’s first energy (& climate) white paper in decades. /3.
BETTER BRITAIN. BETTER WORLD – A PATRIOTIC FOREIGN POLICY FOR OUR ERA
When you’re Foreign Secretary, there’s no time to sun yourself. Even with your mobile phone on. As the outgoing holder of that centuries old office discovered to his cost. /2.
The job’s often described as being ‘the country’s chief diplomat’. Which is true.
But I’d put it differently.
It’s about patriotism. Upholding & promoting the United Kingdom’s security & prosperity, & the well-being of its population. /3.
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.
What @gideonrachman’s @FT piece doesn’t quite say is that there can be no EU without a deep, powerful Franco-German alliance. (And vice versa). The US needs a successful EU, which it can work with. (And vice versa). /1.
And that any deep Franco-British arrangement, & any US “intervention”, will be a function of those factors. If it isn’t, it will fail. Or, if it “succeeds”, it’ll destabilise the EU & the Euro-Atlantic alliance. /2.
Under the previous US president that might have been a US strategic objective. Whether France, Germany & the EU would have been foolish (or desperate) enough to fall for it is another matter. The current US administration is of a different stripe. /3.