Thread by @Sakura509

"There is no obvious way out for the prime minister. It was not a one-off, it was not an ambiguous situation, it definitely happened. That hasn’t stopped him trying all of those excuses, it has just meant each time one fell down marked another full news cycle of the scandal."

"Johnson’s personal ratings are in the toilet, his party now lags hugely behind in the polls, and just like phone hacking the scandal stretches beyond just government. The Sun faces questions having had its deputy editor, James Slack, as the central figure of one of the parties."

"The Met Police are comprehensively failing to look anything other than incompetent in their response: they have, somehow, prioritised a civil servants’ investigation over their own, handily ignored the presence of police in Number 10,"

"...and face questions over their clumsy and heavy-handed treatment of Sarah Everard vigil attendees, in stark contrast to this laissez-faire policing."

"Johnson has rotted the standards of British life from the top, in a way that will take decades to repair."

"He has dragged down most of the top of the civil service with him, even if they are currently escaping much of the ire directed at politicians."

"He has put the Met in an impossible position that they are still, somehow, making worse. He has – surely to the enjoyment of its rivals – left The Sun so compromised that they are having to all but ignore the only story most of the country is talking about."

The article makes no explicit link between activities of both individuals - only that both have damaged 'British values and standards'.

theneweuropean.co.uk/boris-johnson-…

An attempt to defend the indefensible - by none other, than #Dacre that #LiarJohnson sought to (unlawfully?) appoint as chair of ofcom.

theneweuropean.co.uk/paul-dacre-and…

thenational.scot/news/19710931.…

20 Nov 2021:

"Paul Dacre has pulled out of the running to be the next chair of the media regulator, Ofcom, after concerns were raised about the transparency of the recruitment process."

"After failing in his first attempt when an interview panel decided the former editor of the Daily Mail did not fulfil the required criteria, ministers then cleared the way for him to be given another shot."

Moving 🥅?

"But when the Guardian revealed a lobbyist at a company with close connections to the Conservative party was picked to help select which candidates should be approved, ..."

"Dacre announced he would not proceed with an application again despite being urged to “by many senior members of the government”."

"The government had spent more than a year trying to ease Dacre’s application for the job."

Evidently, this was a PRIORITY for UK Government!

"After he failed the first interview process the government spent the summer trying to find people willing to sit on a fresh interview panel for the job, with many individuals reluctant to put their name to the process."

Perhaps many felt the process was tainted with bias?

"The job description was also rewritten to favour a more confrontational candidate, in another move seen as favouring Dacre."

There go those moving 🥅 again!

"Following the suspicion that senior politicians had interfered in an attempt to install Dacre despite his apparent unsuitability for the role, Boris Johnson was urged to rule him out of the running."

"The Conservative MP Julian Knight, the chair of the culture select committee, said earlier this autumn: “Where a previous candidate has been deemed to be unappointable for a post, they should be ruled out of reapplying.”"

"It came as the Scottish and Welsh governments raised concerns about interference in the recruitment of Ofcom’s next chair, saying it could “adversely affect the standing of the public service broadcasting system”."

"In a letter to the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, ministers for both the devolved administrations said “delays, changes and an apparent lack of transparency have caused us to lose further confidence in the process”."

"They questioned the level of Downing Street’s interference, saying the appointment process had been “tarnished by delays and questions about the real independence of those involved”."

"Accusing Dorries and her predecessor as culture secretary Oliver Dowden of overseeing a selection that was “falling below the standards we expect”, the Welsh and Scottish government demanded to be brought in on the process."

"They wrote: “Given the importance of public service broadcasting to our nations and the real impact for our nations of any decision on selecting the Ofcom chair which is not transparent or impartial, ..."

"... we urge you to involve us fully in the process as is right to protect a system which is so important to the public in Scotland and Wales and all the UK.”"

theguardian.com/media/2021/nov…

"The culture secretary’s recent attacks on the BBC – freezing the licence fee for two years, promising a dire funding vacuum when the royal charter rolls around in 2027 and the TV licence isn’t renewed – lack the power to terrify."

Evidently, UK Government aim to pursue THEIR agenda by fair means or foul!

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@threadreaderapp unroll, please

Correcting an error in the attached images of article from The New European:

theneweuropean.co.uk/paul-dacre-and…