Thread by @AndrewPRLevi

Oh dear.

@DavidGHFrost has been writing in @TheSun.

Not a pretty sight. But an interesting one.

It’s part of his leadership ambition. And he starkly reveals (yet again) the malignant emptiness of his Brexit.

I’ve gone through it line by line.

A 🧵/1.

thesun.co.uk/news/17465939/…

“Brexit was about change. It was about putting an end to those old ways of doing things which had failed to deliver for so many in this country”.

OK David. So far, so vacuous. /2.

“We need to get back on that track. We need to get back in line with what our voters want”.

Hmmm. More vacuum. Where’s the beef? /3.

“Our voters believe in this country. They like what it stands for in the world. They are proud of our history. They are happy to debate it but they don’t want to see it trashed. They don’t understand the obsession with identity politics & are increasingly fearful … /4.

… they cannot say what they think without falling foul of some enforcer who will destroy their lives”.

Right. Paranoid stuff. But whatever one’s view of the substance, it’s entirely irrelevant to whether the UK should be a member of the EU & its institutional structures. /5.

“They don’t necessarily want big government - but they do want a government that is effective & can do what it says on the tin”.

Also nothing to do with the EU. Or, if you think it is, you’re seriously deluded about what makes governments effective or otherwise. /6.

“That’s why they don’t understand why we still can’t control who comes into the country or why so many of those who shouldn’t be here still are”. /7.

Yes, David. Have you noticed all those EU citizens taking to dinghies & trying to cross the Channel? Attempting to link this “problem” (I disagree with your implied assessment of the migration situation in the UK) to the EU is just absurd. And an insult to intelligence. /8.

“They also know that wealth is created by businesses & individuals, not by the Government. The pandemic showed how flexible private business could be in the most challenging circumstances - in contrast to so much of the public sector”. /9.

This is simplistic to the point of plain wrong. In an unjustified, ugly insult to our public servants. But even if it were right, EU membership isn’t the issue. You know that G7 peers in the EU (& elsewhere) are doing better than us, right? /10.

“We need to encourage that spirit, by lowering not raising taxes, cancelling the National Insurance rise planned for April, getting rid of unnecessary regulations, encouraging business investment - especially in parts of the country that haven’t had much - & not making … /11.

… everyday costs, including energy & motoring, ever more expensive”.

So which (EU required) regulations *are* unnecessary, David? You’re consistently extremely coy about that . And what would be the benefit to UK economic output & therefore wealth? /12.

You’re even more secretive about that. It’s all an inverted pyramid of piffle. You know it. You always have.

As for taxes, encouraging investment & all that: nothing to do with the EU. (Yes, yes: some limited VAT constraints. But for goodness sake, don’t take us for fools). /13.

“There is not much more than two years until the next election”.

The EU has nothing to do with our election timetable. /14.

“So whoever is Prime Minister needs a clear plan for reform, a capable team & ruthless focus if people are going to feel the difference”.

The EU has nothing to do with who our PM is, what their plan is, who their team are, or how capable. /15.

“I want us to be on the side of people who want to control their own lives; people who want to build a business, to save, to learn, to support their families, to hand things on to their children”.

We’re all on their side. This is just more vacuum. British standard. Not EU. /16.

“In a high-tax, high-regulation, high-control society - which we risk becoming - only the rich, or those with special connections to the Government, get to do that. I believe everyone should”.

Nothing to do with the EU. You’re embarrassing yourself. /17.

“So let’s be on the side of freedom”. 

OK. It’s getting annoying now. This. Has. Nothing. To. Do. With. The. EU. /18.

“Here’s my rule of thumb for the future: If we are banning things, if we are telling people what to do, if we are making things more expensive or people’s lives more complicated, then we are getting it wrong”. /19.

David, you do get that laws & regulations are needed, don’t you? That involves banning things, facilitating others. Expense & complication can’t be avoided. They can be optimised, sure, to get the best results. /20.

How’s your insane Brexit going on that front? At the GB-NI frontier? At Dover? In the supply chain? Livelihoods? Maybe you don’t know. I do. Painfully well. You’ve created an escalating disaster. /21.

“In the referendum people voted for Britain to take back control. 
Now we need to hand on that control to the British people. That is the way forward - that is how we will succeed”.

Just words, David. Vacuous ones (yet again) at that. /22.

I get it. Leaving the EU means we can think differently about vacuums. You busy yourself with doing that. The rest of us will spend our time trying, in the short term, to mitigate the treacherous mess you’ve created. /23.

And as rapidly as possible thereafter ensuring GB & NI can again enjoy the full benefits of Single Market & Customs Union membership. Or substantially identical arrangements. While we transition back to sanity, integrity & competence. /24. End