Thread by @SteB777

This is very interesting and serious.

Lord Kerslake: ‘You cannot have a situation where a civil servant will make a pronouncement that could end the office of a prime minister. The consequence is that Sue Gray will inevitably have to stop short of that.’
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…

"Downing Street was spinning the report as a “get out of jail” card because officials were confident there would be no finding of the prime minister breaching lockdown laws, since the matter was not in the inquiry’s remit."

"Powell [Jonathan] said he had high regard for Gray, but it was “totally inappropriate” for the inquiry to be conducted by a civil servant reporting to the prime minister. ..."

Continued quote

"... He said it would be “career-shortening” for her to deliver a judgment that the prime minister had potentially broken the law or breached the ministerial code and it would be better to have an independent non-judicial inquiry conducted in the space of a few weeks."

"Adam Wagner, a barrister and expert in Covid law, said Gray had a conflict of interest because she was investigating more senior figures in government. ..."

Continued

... “It is clearly compromised,” he said. “It wouldn’t pass muster as an independent investigation in any legal setting.”

In other words, what is being said by these former senior civil servants, and legal expert is that it would be impossible for Sue Gray, to mention in her report, any serious law breaking she found, or that threatened the PM's position.

The only reason Boris Johnson put Sue Gray in charge of this report, and previously Simon Case - is that it would be impossible to report any serious illegality, because of their compromised position.

Therefore, this inquiry was deliberate set up in a way, where it could never be highly critical of the PM, no matter how much evidence a working civil found, because if they did say this, it would be career ending.

From memory, the previous way such inquiries operated, was to put them in the hands of a retired civil servant, so if they found against the PM or a minister, it wouldn't threaten their career, and allow them to report, objectively.

So this is a rigged inquiry, that would never be directly critical of the PM, and tone down any adverse inquiry, allowing the PM to spin it, that he had been cleared.

Here is my prediction, for posterity. No matter what the report says, Boris Johnson will spin it, that he has been cleared. However, this will cause public revulsion and anger, and it will be another public scandal.

Already in this opinion poll yesterday:

"Some 63 per cent said they did not trust Sue Gray’s inquiry to uncover whether rules were broken ..."
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

Plus:

'A clear majority of respondents said the “cover-up” of the parties was worse than the staging of the lockdown-busting events, by 56 per cent to 32 per cent.'
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

The reason this is such a dangerous situation, is Boris Johnson is determined to hold onto power, by hook or by crook. Yet he is at an all time low in approval/popularity, and is just about to trigger more public outrage/unpopularity.

This government is becoming ever more authoritarian.

'The UK is “dangerously close” to becoming an “elected dictatorship” under Boris Johnson, veteran Tory Ken Clarke has warned'
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

My take on history, is that most dictators don't set out to be dictators. They're usually narcissists, who mistakenly believe the whole public will love them always. If the public turn against them, they attempt to seize power to avoid them being ejected as leader.

This then leads to a slippery slope towards an authoritarian dictatorship, when they have to become ever more oppressive to stop them being ejected as leader, and where the public might become openly disdainful of their leadership.

For the narcissist, and Johnson most definitely is a narcissist, it is unthinkable that they have to step down from leadership, because they think they are the only person who can do the job. These are very frightening times.

Johnson, as Eddie Mair said to him in an interview, is a "nasty piece of work". Not at all like the affable harmless buffoon he portrays himself as.

This harmless affable buffoon act, which got Johnson a lot of popularity has now failed, when 70% of the public want him to resign. Yet he is determined to cling to power, come what may.

Dangerous new authoritarian laws will give the government oppressive new powers, no other government in Britain has ever had.

https://twitter.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1481609629486440449

@GeorgeMonbiot

@threadreaderapp Please unroll?