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@docrussjackson
Feb 4, 2023 • 9 tweets • 8 min read • Read on X
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#THREAD

Who is Alan Mabbutt?

A new Tory website paints union donations to @UKLabour, collected from workers in every sector, as some kind of problem.

In 2017, @Conservatives received 10 TIMES MORE in donations than Labour, much of it from dodgy Russians & non-dom tax-avoiders! Image
The website is "Promoted by Alan Mabbutt on behalf of the Conservative Party".

In 2021 he was (still is) the Conservative Party DG & Registered Treasurer, & was named by the Electoral Commission in this damning report into Johnson's #wallpapergate lies.

electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and… Image
In 2015, the Tories were embroiled in a scandal under Cameron when it was revealed they were spending £100,000/month on Facebook ads, the bulk spent on collecting email addresses - back then a new method of bombarding voters with political messaging...

theguardian.com/politics/2015/…
The Tories had several non-party branded websites aimed at sucking in data - registered to Tory HQ - one confronting reader with a map of Labour figures criticising Ed Miliband, inviting users to hand over their contact details, in tiny writing saying "promoted by Alan Mabbutt". Image
In 2019, Mabbutt made the world news for pushing lies & blatant antidemocratic #disinformation when the @CCHQPress twitter account changed its name to "factcheckUK" & set up fake ‘fact-checking service’ to endorse Boris Johnson during election debate.

theguardian.com/politics/2019/… ImageImageImageImage
A Tory disinformation website promoted by propagandist Mabbutt pushed the LIE that "the overall #CostOfCorbyn remains at least £1.2TRILLION over the course of the next Parliament, meaning hardworking taxpayers would be hit with an additional £2,400 tax bill on average each year." ImageImageImageImage
In 2019 ex-Labour MP Ian Austin wrote to thousands of voters in @UKLabour marginal seats urging them to vote for Johnson over Corbyn: "We should lend the Tories our votes & stop Jeremy Corbyn!"

The strapline at the bottom of the letter states “Promoted by Alan Mabbutt” (CCHQ DG) ImageImageImage
Also in 2019, the @Conservatives published & delivered to marginal constituencies more #propaganda, this time disguised as a newspaper being delivered by Royal Mail.

Minuscule print at the bottom states: ‘Promoted by Alan Mabbutt on behalf of the Conservative & Unionist Party’. ImageImage
It's hard to get any information on the Tory Party Director General, its Registered Treasurer, & largely hidden shadowy propagandist Alan Mabbutt - he's not a household name (I could only find 1 photo of him) but in the name of democracy & transparency, maybe we can make him one! Image

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More from @docrussjackson

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Apr 18
🧵

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was a response to the atrocities of WWII and the Holocaust, designed to prevent such horrors reoccurring.

Withdrawing risks weakening human rights, international isolation, destabilised peace agreements, and authoritarian drift. Image
Adopted in 1950 by the Council of Europe, the ECHR was a collective response to the Holocaust, during which about 11 million people, including 6 million Jews, were systematically exterminated, exposing the urgent need for a legal framework to prevent such horrors from recurring.
The Council of Europe, established in 1949 to promote democracy, rule of law, and human rights, made the ECHR a cornerstone of its mission.

Influenced by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the ECHR ensured states uphold fundamental rights.
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Apr 17
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Comparing political rhetoric across eras is a sensitive task, as context, intent, and historical outcomes differ vastly.

In 1990, Ivana Trump said her husband Donald owned a copy of “My New Order” – a printed collection of Hitler's speeches – which he kept by the bedside... Image
Some of Trump’s statements have been noted by historians, critics, and media for echoing themes or phrasing used by Adolf Hitler, particularly in their dehumanizing language, scapegoating of groups, and authoritarian undertones.

Below, with @grok's help, I’ll provide examples of Trump’s quotes that have been cited as resembling Hitler’s rhetoric, alongside Hitler’s statements for comparison, drawing from credible sources, focusing on specific language & themes, ensuring accuracy, & avoiding exaggeration. Image
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Apr 17
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Most people know very little about Trump's new best friend, El Salvador’s strongman leader, Nayib Bukele, who's been sat in the White House being adored by Trump and his team of fawning, dangerously unhinged sociopathic bootlickers... Image
Read this excellent article by Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University, Amalendu Misra, the author of seven critically acclaimed monographs on conflict and peace, whose primary research concerns violence in the political process.

theconversation.com/nayib-bukele-e…
Trump has unleashed a string of controversial policies since returning to the White House that have put his administration at odds with most of the world. He's also forged an alliance with one country that is willing to do his bidding abroad: El Salvador.

theconversation.com/most-of-the-wo…
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Apr 17
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The techno-dystopia many have warned about looks a lot closer today, after @WIRED revealed that Peter Thiel's #Palantir (which has a £500 million contract with #NHS England to manage our patient data across NHS trusts) is involved in Elon Musk’s DOGE.

wired.com/story/palantir…
If you're unaware of who unhinged billionaire tech-bro Peter Thiel is, and why he should have nothing to do with the UK or our #NHS, or how he groomed and installed his protégé JD Vance in the White House, or how he's not keen on democracy, read this:

The BMA are concerned about patient data privacy & Palantir’s ties to US intelligence.

DOGE, Palantir, & IRS representatives have been collaborating to build a single API layer above all IRS databases at an event previously characterized as a “hackathon.”
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Apr 16
🧵 A scholar who specialises in how Universities respond to authoritarian pressure across different political systems, cultural contexts & historical moments warns that compliance with the Trump administration will not protect their funding & independence.
theconversation.com/universities-i…Image
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Even before seizing power in 1933, the Nazi Party was closely monitoring German universities through nationalist student groups & sympathetic faculty, flagging professors deemed politically unreliable – particularly Jews, Marxists, liberals & pacifists.

theguardian.com/education/2021…
Read 15 tweets
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Apr 14
#THREAD

The claim that 11,300 millionaires fled the UK due to Labour has been widely reported & discussed—even by ministers.

Just one problem: it’s extremely unlikely to be true.

A 🧵 about wealth, truth, propaganda, our broken news media, & how citizenship became a commodity. Image
This 🧵is about how the ultrarich use news media to oppose constraints on their wealth & power, & to break free from well-established legal, democratic & ethical norms, manifested in debate around what some have called the 'commodification of citizenship'.
eprints.lse.ac.uk/123961/2/Commo…
The sheer volume of unreliable or false information spreading around the world has caused some scholars to refer to this phenomenon as a ‘disinfodemic’, which involves the spread of harmful, misleading and dangerously polarizing misinformation and disinformation. Image
Read 108 tweets

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