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.
Oh. And did I forget to mention that the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition used to be the head of the CPS?
That shouldn’t matter. Naturally.
Misconduct is misconduct. The law is the law.
Of course.
But how do you think it feels sitting in No 10 right now? /4. End
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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.