You’re in a political party dominated by extremists, who put their brutal fantasies & mangled emotions above the security, prosperity & well-being of the country.
When will you take back control? /1.
You know the leaked WhatsApp messages aren’t the half of it.
Nothing short of the dismemberment of constitutional, liberal, representative democracy, the rule of law, fundamental rights, economic & social justice is being attempted. /2.
By around 240 government MPs, most of 200,000 Party members & a minority of the electorate. Resourced & assisted by anti-democratic, anti-constitutional, self-serving backers within & beyond the UK. /3.
A good 260 opposition MPs share your determination to protect & promote constitutionality, our democracy, the rule of law & fundamental rights, & to care fairly for all in a prosperous, decent country. /4.
Join them. Form a governing majority. Save the people of GB & NI.
They don’t deserve to have disaster visited on them.
You want to be able to face yourself in the mirror, in years to come.
This isn’t just on you. But without you it’s impossible. /5.
It’s very urgent indeed.
The country’s in a tailspin. Economically. Politically. Constitutionally.
Our security’s fraying, in the face of internal & external threats, while our government’s now terminally dysfunctional & unable reliably or adequately to respond. /6.
At the same time, the zealots on the government benches & around the cabinet table - when not lurching dangerously from one incompetent mess to the next - are desperately trying to hang on until a Trumpian revival in the USA brings new momentum to their malign project. /7.
And trying to pass whatever wrecking legislation they can in the meantime: against the independence of the judiciary, fair elections, fundamental human rights, citizenship rights, access to healthcare, independent public service broadcasting, academic freedom … /8.
You know all this. You know what’s happening is profoundly wrong. You know you have to act.
When will you?
Don’t wait until the New Year. The Party’s over.
Have a happy 2022.
Best regards - ▫️ /9. End
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The key to understanding @DavidGHFrost is ambition & self-regard.
Those can be positives, or negatives, depending on how they’re used.
He wants to reach the top. He has for decades. And he believes he’s capable of pretty much anything.
A 🧵/1.
It’s impossible to see inside a mind.
So to say for sure eg whether Lord Frost’s adherence to the great “English” philosopher Edmund Burke is genuine, is impossible.
It seems unlikely though, given the mangled version of Burke he proclaims. /2.
Fans of “Yes Minister” will recall Sir Humphrey’s horror when accused of having “beliefs” or “ideas”. Think of Lord Frost as Sir Humphrey with high political ambitions.
Though not repelled by the idea of having a “vision”, he’s never had much of one.
“We are not living in the 1930s & the Secretary of State & his team are not Nazis”.
Extraordinary @wesstreeting is left to point this out, in support of @sajidjavid, during the Covid debate in the Commons.
He’s right. He deserves our thanks.
But there’s more to it.
A 🧵/1.
To compare genuine public health measures, which of course have to weigh multiple difficult factors, with the brutal victimisation of Jews on the invented pretext that they spread disease, isn’t just wrong.
It’s vile.
And something many would see as Holocaust denial. /2.
But we shouldn’t pretend a clear & concerted assault on human & citizenship rights, protest, the rule of law, judicial independence & more, is “normal” in a decent, liberal democracy.
The Johnson-Frost Brexit - dislocating the UK from the EU customs union & single market, & putting a border between GB & NI - is supported by about two thirds of Conservative MPs (& DUP).
About one third see serious & escalating damage to the UK from it. And never wanted it. /2.
Opposition MPs (ex DUP) also oppose the Johnson-Frost Brexit, precisely because of that damage.
Having voted in favour, with a “no deal” gun to their heads, doesn’t alter that.
Combined, that’s ~390 MPs who know it has to be reversed.
Brexit - Why? And What Next? An Empire On The Brink
The puffed-up nonentities - “Spartans”, “Bad Boys”, those posing as tough negotiators & defenders of sovereignty - are corks bobbing on a geopolitical ocean. Only able to wreck.
Serious people could help save the UK.
A 🧵/1.
The EU & NATO are American projects, central to the order the US has designed, built & led for 75 years.
The modern UK has flourished within, & strongly contributed to, both. And to the other main global security & economic structures of the US order.
As has the EU. /2.
The US has always been by far the single, leading, dominant force.
Brexit, & the wider turbulence within the EU, are late warning signs of a crisis of American power, one which has been a long time coming.
My suggestion that two foreign secretaries were extraordinarily bad at the job has led to a discussion of civil service impartiality, revealing deep misunderstandings about government in general & the civil service in particular.
Impartiality & objectivity are two core civil service (& diplomatic service) values. Integrity & honesty are others. I’ll focus here on the first two. But, of course, they’re all interlinked. /2.
Within the law, ministers, accountable to parliament, set policy. Officials advise on policy & on operational issues. They then execute ministerial decisions. /3.