Share this page!

Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Twitter logo
Feb 5 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
This #CarCrash interview, is just the latest in a series of TV interviews with the Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, in her desperate attempts to protect Boris Johnson. You have to pinch yourself to believe this is actually happening.
1/🧵
I don't normally deal in political trivia like this. However, I think it's time to remind people who Nadine Dorries the Culture Secretary is, and her past history, which the media seems to have forgotten about.
2/
Nadine Dorries first got herself in trouble with the Conservative Party, and got the whip suspended in November 2012, when she arranged to appear in I'm a Celebrity, without telling anyone or getting permission.
3/
 bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
Meaning that for up to a month, her constituents in Mid-Bedfordshire, were suddenly left without an MP they could contact. In other words, someone being paid a large salary to do a job, just took off for a month off without permission.
4/
 theguardian.com/politics/2012/…
The irony was she wasn't actually on I'm a Celebrity for a month. In fact she was the first contestant to be voted off i.e. the audience didn't much take to her. So humiliating herself by eating Ostrich anus etc on TV, was all in vain.
5/
 independent.co.uk/voices/comment…
If anyone wants to watch the current Culture Secretary eating Ostrich anus on TV to become a celebrity, take a peak. I think this was a first. How many ministers have eaten Ostrich anus on prime time TV?
6/
Nadine Dorries then got herself in trouble by failing to disclose the fee paid to her for appearing on I'm a celebrity. After being referred to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Office IPSO, she bitterly complained about being "hounded".
7/
 huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/08/nad…
She then had to formally apologise to the Commons Standards Committee for her failure to disclose this fee, and for her attitude to IPSO, including trying to take legal action against them for merely asking questions and accusing them of a "witch hunt".
8/
 theguardian.com/politics/2013/…
In other words, this sort of behaviour is really not surprising given her long history of this sort of thing.

This is not really about Nadine Dorries herself, but how she ever became a Cabinet Minister, given her past history of such responses when questioned.
9/
What the issue is about here, is the Prime Minister Boris Johnson's judgement. Where he makes completely inappropriate ministerial appointments, seeming based entirely on the loyalty of the MPs to him personally. Not on the basis of their suitability for the job.
10/
It's not very dissimilar to how Donald Trump ran the White House and his appointments. Where it was all about their personal loyalty to him, and nothing to do with their competence and suitability for the job.
11/
What is happening is beyond surreal and satire. If someone had told you 2 years ago, that this would be happening now, no one would have believed you, because it is so outlandish.
12/

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Stephen Barlow

Stephen Barlow Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SteB777

Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Feb 8
There is a widespread false narrative that all people are equally to blame for the climate and ecological emergency, and I repeatedly get attacked for pointing out that the richest in society are most responsible for this crisis.
1/
It is demonstrably untrue that all people, the public are equally responsible for the climate and ecological crisis. This for 4 main reasons I will list here.

I) When the industrial revolution started in the UK, the vast majority of the public had no vote and no influence.
2/
I cont...) Even after the 1832 Reform Act which greatly increased who could vote in England:

"Rodney Mace estimates that before, 1 percent of the population could vote and that the Reform Act only extended the franchise to 7 percent of the population."
3/
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Ac…
Read 46 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Feb 7
I'm a bit conflicted about Boris Johnson. Half of me wants to see him get his legal comeuppance and to see him be the first British PM to be charged with serious criminal offences like Misconduct in Public Office and Perverting the Course of Justice.
1/4
Whilst the other half of me wants to see the Conservative Party circle the wagons around Johnson, and keep him in office for as long as possible, to make them all complicit - do maximum damage to the Tories, and to make certain they become totally unelectable.
2/4
It's a bit of a quandary about which is best in the long term. Whatever, I am laughing about the whole idea that he will recover from this, and will once again be able to baffle the British public with his bullshit.
3/4
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Feb 6
"‘Partygate’: Johnson’s removal is now inevitable, warns loyalist"

I don't think Tories are too bright. Johnson's removal has been inevitable, since the day he held those parties, and sacked Cummings.
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
The parlous state of political analysis in the media is dire. These highly paid media political commentators spoke as if Johnson could survive. The Tory politicians even worse. They just don't understand how systems work, they are clueless.
I will say what signed Johnson's fate, it was his arrogance, and his compulsive lying. Actually, Johnson could hypothetically have survived, if the moment the story broke, he didn't try lying his way out of the situation. Once he did, his fate was sealed.
Read 4 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Feb 4
This was my 2 tweet thread from 12th December 2019. Well was I right?
Here's where I "guaranteed" on 19th December 2019, just after Johnson got elected, that he'd suddenly become very unpopular, very quickly at some point. The time period I predicted for that was 2-3 years i.e. Dec 21 to Dec22.
These were not guesses. I am not a psychic. I use what I call big picture analysis to come to these conclusions. Anyone can do this if they open their eyes. Actually it's not about learning something, it is about unlearning our bad thinking habits.
Read 11 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Feb 3
You know all these massive price rises we face.

"Ten richest men double their fortunes in pandemic while incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall"

"The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion ..."
1/
 oxfam.org/en/press-relea…
What we see is a malignant system, I mean that quite literally, like a cancer. The richer these billionaires get, plus the ones just below them, the greedier they get, the richer they get, and the more control they have over our societies.
2/
What does an individual need $1 billion for, let alone $269 billion? A billion is a thousand million. It's difficult to get your head around these figures. If your total net worth increased by 1 million a year, you'd need to live to a thousand years to accumulate a billion.
3/
Read 34 tweets
Stephen Barlow Profile picture
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

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @SteB777 has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @SteB777!

Read all threads by @SteB777

:(