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@docrussjackson
Aug 21, 2022 • 15 tweets • 8 min read • Read on X
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By the end of her time as Secretary of State for Justice & Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss had lost the confidence of the entire legal profession & the judiciary. The Lord Chief Justice told the House of Lords Constitution Committee she was “constitutionally absolutely wrong”.
In November 2016, Truss was criticised by the former Attorney General Dominic Grieve & the Criminal Bar Association, for failing to support more robustly the judiciary & the principle of judicial independence, after judges came under attack from politicians & from the Daily Mail.
Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor, who had previously suggested that, like her immediate predecessors Chris Grayling & Michael Gove, Truss lacked the essential legal expertise that the constitution requires, called for her to be sacked.
And in March 2017, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, told the House of Lords constitution select committee that Truss was "completely & utterly wrong" to say she could not criticise the media & reiterated the importance of protecting judges, which she failed to do.
Truss, like virtually every Tory politician since 1931, is incapable of criticising Jonathan Harmsworth's Mail, Frederick Barclay's Telegraph or Spectator, or Rupert Murdoch's Sun or Times, as she is entirely dependent upon them to act as vehicles for anti-opposition #propaganda.
Following Liz Truss's failure to criticise the Mail for its dangerously irresponsible 'Enemies of the People' front page, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, said “I regret to have to criticise her as severely as I have, but to my mind she was completely & absolutely wrong.”
“I can understand how the pressures were on in November (2016), but she (Liz Truss) has taken a position that is constitutionally, absolutely wrong.”

It is was Truss’s duty, as lord chancellor, to defend the judges, the ex-Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, said.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law, & it is the duty of the lord chancellor to defend that independence.”

Coward Truss simply said she supported freedom of the press.

Who needs judges when you have the press?
The Tories would NEVER form a Government without the daily support of the toxic divisive billionaire-owned press, which is partly I believe #Leveson2, a Royal Commission, or an independent Public Inquiry is essential to protect Britain's fragile democracy.
Here's an article from 2016, criticising Liz Truss & powerfully asserting that far from being 'enemies of the people', in many other countries, judiciaries are rightly seen as defenders of freedom.

Without an impartial judiciary, democracy is dead.

theguardian.com/law/2016/nov/0…
In many countries like ours, which also have populist nationalist leaders & Governments, the judiciary is often the last line of defence of our freedoms: an independent judiciary can be a last bulwark against corruption, press censorship, & antidemocratic authoritarianism.
In 2020, the Law Society warned that the Government's proposed changes to the judicial review process would reduce the accountability of Government: some proposals "would allow unlawful acts by Government or public bodies to be untouched or untouchable."

theguardian.com/law/2021/apr/3…
Although Britain's legal system is on the verge of collapse, Dominic Raab refuses to meet leaders of the Criminal Bar, & the Tory voices calling for Britain to leave the ECHR - set up by Churchill after WWII to prevent another #Holocaust - grow louder.

kentbylines.co.uk/european-conve…
So what or who *are* the greatest threats to Britain & humanity? Well, that depends on who you listen to...
#EnoughIsEnough
Given Liz Truss's failure to protect the judiciary when she was Lord Chancellor, we can predict Liz Truss's response to the #barristerstrike. Please express your solidarity & get reliable information out about exactly why they're striking.

#EnoughIsEnough

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Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who focuses on political extremism and populism in Europe and the US, is, imho, one of the most important voices on the Left today.

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After eight years as US President, on Janury 17, 1961, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, former supreme commander of the Allied forces in western Europe during WWII, warned us about the the growing "military-industrial complex" (and Trump2.0) in his prescient farewell address. Image
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The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was a response to the atrocities of WWII and the Holocaust, designed to prevent such horrors reoccurring.

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