Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Jan 31 21 tweets 5 min read
Our system is broken. The Prime Minster is a shameless liar abusing House of Commons rules to tell lie after lie, knowing very well, no MP can point this out, as it is against House rules, to say another member is lying, even when they self-evidently are.
1/
It is not my opinion that Boris Johnson has seriously misled the House and has made no attempt to correct the clear cut false statements he has made to the House, again and again. What's more this well precedes so called "partygate".
2/
Our system is broken, because self-evidently if the PM makes extremely false and misleading statements to the House of Commons, and makes not attempt to correct these false statements, nothing can be done.
3/
The whole system relies on the PM having a conscience and admitting he made a false statement. However, when the PM is a shameless liar and simply doesn't care that he is telling bare-faced lies in public, self-evidently the system doesn't work.
4/
Because unless the police go to No.10 and drag Johnson out on chargers of misconduct in a public office or perverting the course of justice, he will just carry on telling bare-faced lies, and his shameful supporters will support him.
5/
The whole tradition our government is based on is a simply assumption and the ministerial code enshrines this - it assumes that those in high office, like the PM, will resign if they mislead the House. But as we can see, this relies on said minister or PM, having a conscience.
6/
If the PM lacks a conscience, is a shameless liar, and just carries on lying and making false and misleading assertions, as today, there is nothing which can be done. The House rules, assume no PM could be so dishonest.
7/
The House rules that demand no member can call another a liar or say they deliberately misled the House is a charter to facilitate bare-faced and shameless liars. Trying to claim the rules are the rules is a false argument. No rule overrules fact, truth and evidence.
8/
As I say, when Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle ordered Ian Blackford to say that Boris Johnson "inadvertently misled the house" instead of Johnson deliberately misleading the House, he was in essence demanding Ian Blackford lie and mislead the House.
9/
When such an event happens, you know the system is broken. At the very least Sir Lyndsay Hoyle should have at least acknowledged this, because he knows very well that Johnson has deliberately misled Parliament, and has made no attempt to correct what he said.
10/
If the House of Commons facilitates a shameless, bare-faced pathological liar like Boris Johnson, and ejects anyone for saying an obvious truth about this, demanding they lie to deny what is going on, the system is broken.
11/
No system, no set of rules, should facilitate bare-faced lying and suppress those simply trying to point to the truth and facts to House and public, and then demand they lie, to cover up the shame of what those rules and that House is facilitating.
12/
The House of Commons proceedings are televised, so if an MP is forced to say someone "inadvertently misled the House", when they mean that member, deliberately misled the House, this is seriously misleading the public. They are being forced to say things they don't believe.
13/
If the contrivance is that the PM is incapable of knowing he is lying, then self-evidently he is mentally unfit to do the job, and should be immediately removed from office.
14/
Any system that facilitates lying, and protects liars is corrupt. Both actually corrupt, and morally corrupt and morally bankrupt.
15/
There has long been a very simple remedy to this problem and that is to make all members of the House of Commons swear an oath to tell the truth, similar to that of witnesses in legal cases, adjusted of course to the context.
16/
That if an MP inadvertently misleads the House, that they must as soon as they become aware of this, make a full correction at the earliest opportunity, and if need be apologise.
17/
However, if there is strong evidence to suggest that this false assertion cannot have been a mistake, like repeatedly lying about parties you attended, or that happened in your flat, an apology does not suffice. That they should then face criminal charges, and a trial.
18/
There's nothing remotely unreasonable or oppressive about this. When an ordinary person has to fill in an official form, it is usual for that person to have to sign a declaration of truth and to face criminal charges if they lied.
19/
It is utterly bizarre that those in the highest offices, can blatantly mislead the House of Commons and the public, and to go on lying and lying with impunity. Then to be protected by the House rules.
20/

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More from @SteB777

Feb 2
I'm alarmed at how most people don't understand the danger our democracy is and are focusing on the wrong part of the scandal.

Never before has a British PM being allowed to tell one barefaced lie after another to parliament, and to not be properly challenged about it.
1/🧵
This is not just another scandal. This is unprecedented in the history of British democracy. Yes, it has been alleged that other British PMs lied or misled parliament. But this is the thing, there has never been clear cut evidence to contradict them.
2/
Before I go on, I will make it crystal clear why this is so serious and dangerous. If a British PM is allowed to lie time and again to the House, without challenge, there is the very serious danger we could sleep walk into a dictatorship.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Read 23 tweets
Feb 1
It is my contention that the climate and ecological emergency, all injustice, dictatorial regimes etc, are all facilitated by one singular thing and that is LYING TO THE PUBLIC to seriously mislead them. That the system as it is facilitates this lying by the powerful.
For clarity, I am saying the system as it is, which was designed by the powerful for their own benefit, has built in mechanisms to protect powerful liars, and to stop anyone properly challenging them. That the media are complicit in this. That is must be changed.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 1
This is very important to understand.

It's all very well to have a principle which forbids an MP from accusing another of lying. It is quite another thing to demand an MP say that false statement was inadvertent.
1/🧵
To insist as happened yesterday, when Sir Lindsay Hoyle insisted that Ian Blackford MP, say Boris Johnson "inadvertently misled the House", was in effect a demand that Ian Blackford lie to the House of Commons and mislead the public who were watching.
2/
To say that an MP's false statement was "inadvertent" i.e. accidental, is a positive statement of fact. It would be highly misleading if that statement were not true, a knowing lie - if the MP making the original the false statement, was knowingly lying.
3/
Read 27 tweets
Feb 1
I want to very quickly explain why I was absolutely certain Boris Johnson was going to become very unpopular, very quickly, in about 2-3 years after the December 2019 General Election. I am not psychic.
People with ingrained personality disorders tend to behave in the same way throughout their life. They keep behaving in the same way over and over again, and just can't stop themselves. See this for proof.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Boris Johnson has 2 primary behavioural traits, which made this scandal entirely predictable.

1) He behaves recklessly as if rules don't apply to him, meaning he will get involved in one scandal after another. He ever learns from experience.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 1
This is my take on why the Metropolitan Police left it so long before suddenly mounting an investigation, just before Sue Gray's report was ready for publications. Up until this point, the police were quite happy to say, let's see Sue Gray's report first.
Then for whatever, reason, the police launched a sudden investigation, just before the publication of Sue Gray's report. As I explained, there was a very simple explanation for this. That a number of Downing St police officers, had been only too willing to speak Sue Gray.
It was widely reported 8 days ago, that Downing Street police were only too willing to speak to Sue Gray, even though they could not be compelled to speak to her. That they'd given Sue Gray damning evidence.
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
Read 11 tweets
Jan 31
Absurdly, the Speaker of the House, Lindsay Hoyle, is repeatedly demanding Ian Blackford, leader of the SNP withdraw his comments that Boris Johnson lied and misled the House of Commons, and to replace it with "inadvertently misled the House". Then ejecting him from the House.
This is everything wrong with politics in Britain. Every person, even Johnson, knows darn well that Johnson lied and lied and deliberately misled the House. Yet MPs are forced to say it was inadvertent, which itself is a huge and serious lie.
Therefore not only is the PM allowed to provably lie and lie to the House of Commons, but all MPs are demanded to go along with the lie that Johnson's lies weren't lies at all, but that they were inadvertent mistakes i.e. not lies.
Read 4 tweets

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