Thread by @PublicPriestley

Yesterday I wrote about Jacob Rees Mogg - a prominent harmful Tory. Today I want to remind people of another who is becoming forgotten - Iain Duncan Smith - with a majority of just 1,300 votes. 1/24

IDS, not to be confused with 'irritable bowel syndrome' (IBS) which is infinitely preferable, is literally a evil an person. He administrated £12 billion in cuts to the Department of Work & Pensions. Here he is cheering and fist pumping for hardship: 2/24

Celebrating hardship you might ask? Yes - after Osborne (who always has hated the poor) cut back every form of support he threw a 70p rise in the minimum wage on the table as smoke screen to the net degradation of living standards, which IDS knew and of course rejoiced at 3/24

IDS was knighted in 2020 and 237,000 people signed an online petition to object. Why? IDS was the architect in chief for a system that subjected people in need to some of the most disgusting 'fit for work' assessments that you could imagine. 4/24

People ruled fit to work who died of cancer before the letter arrived to tell them to get out of their hospital beds and get back to work. People in wheel chairs and on crutches being asked to walk specified distances unaided. 5/24

If this was happening in a regime we would rightfully point at it with disgust. Meanwhile IDS was criticising people for their diets before 30p Lee even jumped on that bandwagon. The article below - from the Guardian (Apr 2013) - sparked challenges for him to do it: 6/24

It will surprise you to know that he didn't take the challenge - but in 2015 he did have his official credit card suspended for invalid spending of more than £1000. 7/24

Like all good Tories, IDS is a millionaire. Or at least, his wife is. When IDS was Tory party leader he paid her as his aide. IDS' constituency agent denied that Betsy (IDS' wife) ever worked for him. The scandal became known as 'Betsygate'. 8/24

The standards committee (the one currently investigating Boris Johnson) found him not guilty of rule breaking but said the situation was 'less than ideal'. IDS survived the scandal - which you can read about here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsygate 9/24

The shady nature of IDS doesn't stop there though. If you really want to fall out with IDS, ask him about his CV. He's not very bright so he has been caught lying about his academic qualifications. Not just a little bit, not just by omission - but A LOT 10/24

First he claimed he was educated at Universita di Perugia (Univerity of Perugia), a prestigious institution founded in 1308. He actually attended Universita Per Stranieri - also in Perugia - founded in 1973. 11/24

This is a bit like saying that you went to Cambridge when you went to the polytechnic college. While claiming he got his degree from University of Perugia, the actual institution that he went to didn't issue degrees at all - he did a short course in Italian instead. 12/24

Embarrassingly the BBC investigated the matter and IDS was forced to admit that he didn't get *any qualifications* or even finish his exams. But the lies do not finish there. 13/24

The CV of IDS was embellished further. He also claimed that he was educated at the 'Dunchuch College of Management' this 'institution' was actually the former staff college of GEC Marconi, where he worked in the 1980s. 14/24

While citing this as a 'management college' is again quite embarrassing - he didn't get any qualifications there either. Instead he went on a handful of day courses. One of the training instructors clarified "What we did was offer short courses". Ouch. 15/24

So prior to GEC Marconi, he joined the army, there have been arguments about what rank he reached. Some reports suggest that he made Captain before he left, but his Wiki page now scales that back down to the more conservative achievement of Lieutenant. Who knows? 16/24

Of course the height of IDS's political career was to be made leader of his party. He was a terrible leader offering zero charisma or direction and he had nothing to offer against Tony Blair who destroyed him regularly at the despatch box. Of course IDS did not make PM. 17/24

As with any good Tory though, he didn't blame himself... so who or what could he blame instead? Mmmmh what could it have been? AH YES - it was probably this: 18/24

Astonishingly, as the USA mourned for the losses of a terrorist atrocity, Iain Duncan Smith lamented... the timing of the event versus his appointment. The poor darling "...got no lift on my announcement". 19/24

A lot has been said of the modern tendency to see the worst narcissists seeking careers in politics, but this one - this fantasist - is particularly galling 20/24

In all his cruelty IDS resigned from government - switching from his stamping on the poor and cheering for cuts - now claiming that the cuts in disability benefits were a "compromise too far". Suddenly finding a conscience he stood down. What a guy. 21/24
theguardian.com/politics/2016/…

The general perception of his resignation was that IDS wanted to reposition himself away from David Cameron in readiness for the Brexit referendum and a post Brexit outcome. Needless to say, IDS is a right wing Brexit believer who championed 'project fear'. 22/24

Yesterday we looked at the Jacob Rees Mogg type of Tory - the Eton, Oxbridge, overprivileged sociopath liar. Today we see Iain Duncan Smith. The state school social climbing fantasist who married into money and repainted all his 'achievements'. 23/24

The truth is they would probably cut each other's throats for a shot at the top job, while smiling and patting each other on the back and being very good chums about it. This is the modern Tory party and it is really time for it to go. #GTTO 24/24