Thread by @docrussjackson

This is a #THREAD about propaganda, right-wing populist nationalist Christian authoritarianism, @BBCr4today, Sebastian Kurz, your health records, the NatCon conference, & Libertarian billionaire, Peter Thiel. I know this sounds like the introduction to an Adam Curtis documentary.

Radio 4’s Today Programme has lost 800,000 listeners in the past year as they switched to podcasts & rival talk radio shows.

It has also had to deal with Rishi Sunak’s government cutting access to government ministers as part of a deliberate communication strategy.

An expert on right-wing authoritarianism, Ruth Wodak's February 2023 article, 'Analyzing the shift to the far-right: the Austrian case', is Open Access (free to read), & helps explain @BBCr4today's loss of listeners, & recent developments in #propaganda.

link.springer.com/article/10.105…

While Wodak uses her home country of Austria as a case study, it analyses the strategies & techniques which will be familiar to anyone interested in the dangerous & divisive illiberal free-market "Christian" authoritarianism playing out across the Western world, including the UK.

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, anti-migrant populist nationalist authoritarianism & ‘illiberal democracies’ have become ever more acceptable, & indeed normalized, in Britain, across the European Union, in the US, & beyond.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1562947604727545857?s=20

Right-wing populist nationalists exploit insecurities & legitimate anxieties by a politics of fear, using simplistic dichotomist explanations & creating scapegoats to be blamed for all current woes (Muslims, Jews, migrants, refugees).

"Studying normalization processes is currently particularly important because conservative parties support & integrate far-right agendas into their programs & into their election campaigns."

We saw this during this week's National Conservatism conference.
illiberalism.org/ruth-wodak-on-…

The National Conservatism conference had a strong right-wing "Christian" presence, & Wodak asserts that today, "there is almost no difference anymore between the far-right & traditionally Christian social-conservative parties, in many aspects."

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1658085700376338432?s=20

"There still exist a few differences, but the boundaries are blurred. This has consequences: on the one hand, a far-right agenda becomes mainstreamed, acceptable, & normalized; on the other hand, the extreme right must find new agendas, because some of its own..."

"...programmatic issues have been adopted (that is, co-opted by the mainstream). We can observe this development, especially in respect to the anti-vaccination movement, to the Identitarian movements, the “great replacement theory,” and so on."

"I noticed another salient phenomenon, which I label 'shameless normalization'. Part of this strategy consists of the violation of conventional taboos about racism, antisemitism, homophobia, sexism, & so forth."

"The way some parties have been dealing with the far right is by colonizing their agendas. That means moving to the right, normalizing the agenda of the far-right. In respect to exclusionary politics, it means breaking with the Geneva Convention & violating human rights."

"In the EU (& UK), the appeals of the far-right to close borders, not to let others in, drawing on old xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-Roma sentiments, have come very much to the fore & are contradicting these salient post-war conventions."

"Accordingly, far-right populism is linked to welfare chauvinism–we must close the borders because these are illegal migrants who only want our benefits & our jobs. That presupposes that these are (a) not refugees but migrants, & (b) that they’re illegal."

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1448921671340118080?s=20

"They’re presupposing migrants & refugees are criminals because illegality means they are doing something which is not legal. In migration studies, we don’t use the term illegal. We use irregular & irregular means, sans papiers; they don’t have the documents–they’re refugees."

"If their applications for asylum are not granted & they continue to remain in the country, only then are they “illegal.” But if they are asylum seekers & applying for asylum and waiting for a decision, they’re certainly not to be perceived as illegal."

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1448659726871318537?s=20

"We already conducted a study in the 1990s, analysing the national newspapers over six years in the UK. Apart from The FT & The Guardian, all newspapers were writing about illegal migrants. It didn’t matter where they came from.. they were all regarded as “bogus” asylum seekers."

"It was obvious that every time Trump wanted to distract from some failures (the so-called “dead-cat” strategy), he would start to campaign against Mexican migrants."

This is what the @Conservatives have been doing for several years in Britain.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1487019337508663299?s=20

At the same time, the checks & balances - democratic institutions - are being systematically undermined, including media, justice, academia, & education in Hungary, Poland, the US, & Britain too, with attacks on, for example, the judiciary, journalism, educators & voting systems.

Although far-right nationalist populist parties often call for more ‘direct democracy’, new legislation & policies are quickly implemented without accounting for transparency, accountability, expert opinion, minority rights, opposition, & so forth.

yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/…

In Authoritarian Contagion: The Global Threat to Democracy, Luke Cooper argues that “once authoritarian forces gain a foothold, they are hard to dislodge. Financial resources can be raised from supporters & access to the mainstream media assured.”

blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofboo…

“Even when authoritarians are outside of government, they can assert a strong hold on political culture as an opposition bloc & threat to the status quo.” Indeed, illiberal practices have become normalized, deployed by conservative parties & their autocratically minded leaders.

Accordingly, Jan-Werner Muller maintains that the main aim is accessing power, frequently without pursuing distinct ideologies & agendas, in other words: remaining in power by whatever means necessary.

This brings us to Sebastian Kurz.

Sebastian Kurz is a former Austrian politician who twice served as chancellor of Austria, initially from December 2017 to May 2019 & then a second time from January 2020 to October 2021. His populist polices mirrored those of the Heritage Foundation & the #TuftonSt think tanks.

On 6 October 2021, agents of the Central Prosecutorial Agency for Corruption and Economic Affairs raided the Austrian Federal Chancellery & the headquarters of the ÖVP as part of a corruption probe targeting Kurz and his "inner circle".

Prosecutors allege that Kurz bribed news outlets in 2016 to make anti-Reinhold Mitterlehner propaganda. The bribery scheme aimed at ousting Mitterlehner who served as then-vice chancellor & chair of the ÖVP, so Kurz could take his place.

In addition, the WKStA accused Kurz of misappropriating tax payer money, as bribes were allegedly diverted from Finance Ministry funds.

Opposition parties unanimously demanded Kurz' resignation & called a special session of the Parliament to vote on a motion of no confidence.

On 9 October 2021, Kurz resigned the chancellorship but announced his intentions to remain party chairman & assume Party leadership in the Parliament. The Greens accepted Kurz' bargain, while opposition parties condemned it, asserting Kurz would continue "pulling the strings".

As leader of the senior party of the coalition cabinet, Kurz remained the leading lawmaker and held the power to introduce motions of no confidence at will.

He indirectly retained control over most government ministries, as they were headed by partisan loyalists.

On 11 October 2021, Kurz was unanimously elected parliamentary ÖVP leader. On 15 October, anti-corruption prosecutors filed an extradition request to lift his legal immunity; the ÖVP "welcomed" it, as it would "allow Kurz to be vindicated of any allegations of corruption".

On 16 November 2021, a parliamentary subcommittee unanimously voted to strip Kurz of his immunity; a plenary session formally enacted the vote two days later, allowing anti-corruption prosecutors to resume the criminal probe.

On 3 December 2021, Kurz resigned all of his remaining positions & quit politics entirely. He cited his newborn son as the prime reason for this departure.

His downfall is widely seen as having ramifications beyond Austria.

Sebastion Kurz is only 36.

His approach had been touted as a model for "moderate" right-wing parties across Europe. But the Kurz model was always about style & tactics, not about new political ideas or sustainable alliances of social forces.

The Kurz model is downright dangerous for democracy.

Kurz was foreign minister at 27, chancellor at 31. He was also quick to turn away from political positions to gain advantage: originally liberal, he turned into a hardliner on issues of immigration & refugee policy, copied by right-wing extremist FPÖ, & made socially acceptable.

The mainstreaming of the far-right is a general trend in Europe, including in Britain, partly because the moderate right parties have run out of ideas. For many years, the conventional wisdom was that despite very popular policies, social democracy was in inexorable decline.

ordinary voters can roughly say what social democratic parties are about. This does not apply to the moderate right-wing forces: in particular, Christian Democrats no longer push for European unity or offer a distinctive model for mediating conflicts between capital & workers.

Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, they relied on a Cold War strategy: to be the moderate centre that serve as a bulwark against communism. Kurz did not solve the problem of conservatism without qualities. But he was an absolute master of public relations.

Reinventing the ÖVP as a "movement" suggested youthful dynamism. A "movement" conveys ideas of ​​grassroots enthusiasm & participation. This is what TPUSA/UK & the National Conservatism conference are all about - mainstreaming Kurz's model for gaining or keeping political power.

In reality, the opposite was true: what Kurz sold as a "new style" was that the ÖVP had to accept his utter dominance. Party elders agreed Kurz alone should decide on the nomination of candidates & set the programmatic direction of what was now marketed as the "Kurz List".

This was not a popular party reorganized for a new age; it was a one-man party - like Trump in the US, Viktor Orbán, Erdoğan, Netanyahu, Bolsonaro, & Modi - all populist nationalist authoritarian 'strong man' leaders. I fear Braverman fancies herself as a 'strong woman' leader.

A lot of people inside and outside the ÖVP probably liked Kurz's leadership after 2017. While the ÖVP was long divided by rivalries between the old male party leaders who controlled the federal states, Kurz's team was disciplined, & consistently got his message across.

Kurz did an excellent job of dominating his coalition partners - whether left or far-right. Moreover, if the anti-corruption agencies' allegations are true, he was good at manipulating the press & fanning the flames of political conflict, so long as it served his ambitions.

Autocratic parties in government exhibit autocratic tendencies. Kurz borrowed effectively from Orbán's tactics of frequent attacks on independent news organizations & the judiciary, portraying himself as an innocent victim of a conspiracy by a nefarious left-wing establishment.

Right-wing populist nationalists, again & again, trigger the so-called 'RWP Perpetuum Mobile' in the media, a recursive dynamic consisting of wrong accusations, victim-perpetrator reversal, conspiracy theories, & demonization & scapegoating of 'Others'.

populismobserver.com/2015/10/08/int…

The centre-right in Britain & across Europe must now reconsider what they stand for - beyond the claim of technocratic competence.

They also have to decide where they want to draw the line vis-à-vis the extreme right. This is what the UK @Conservatives are wrestling with now.

The alternative - the Kurz example shows it all too clearly - is a quasi-authoritarian policy that sees democratic institutions such as the judiciary & the free press as cumbersome obstacles to charismatic & popular leaders.

So what recent developments in propaganda techniques deployed very effectively by Kurz, Orban & others across Europe & beyond, does Wodak suggest are important, & how does this fit with techniques unfolding in the UK?

Wodak focuses on one of the many ways propagandistic tools are employed to control the relevant agenda & information being disseminated by both traditional media (broadsheets, tabloids, public TV, & radio) & online (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, blogs, & so forth).

In other words, on *message control*, as part of the shift to the (far) right authoritarianism. While some may argue New Labour pioneered 'message control', it has recently (re)emerged in a new guise from the specific propaganda tool developed by Sebastian Kurz & his advisors.

'Message control' implies launching & thus controlling information via weekly press conferences, briefings, personal conversations, backroom debates, & text messages, & to financially subsidize only those media that reported favourably about the activities of Kurz’s government.

A new media logic based on favoritism, nepotism, & clientelism was established & normalized, like Viktor Orbán’s attack on all independent media in Hungary. This is in contrast to Trumpism, which delegitimized investigative journalism without explicitly attempting to control it.

In Britain, the @Conservatives have a hybrid system which demonstrates features of each, eg: regular contact with the owners & representatives of the billionaire-owned press; attacks on & control over the
@BBC; & free-market allies funding channels like GB "News" & TalkTV.

in July 2020 it was reported there'd been 206 meetings between Murdoch company staff & the UK Govt in the previous two years, including 5 personal meetings between Murdoch & Ministers in 2018-19, with Murdoch meeting Boris Johnson three times - twice since he became PM.

In February 2021, it was reported that News Corp editors & execs met ministers 40 times in the first 14 months of Boris Johnson's government - including seven times between in seven weeks over summer 2020.

pressgazette.co.uk/news/rupert-mu…

GB News, funded by Dubai-based Legatum Institute spin-off investment company, has now had five sitting Tory MPs as presenters, & Murdoch's TalkTV has one. Political & economic interests align, & the message is controlled.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1638956882734751747?s=20

In 1970, Herbert Marcuse wrote in his preface to the second edition of Prophets of Deceit, Leo Löwenthal and Norbert Guterman’s seminal study on the main characteristics, performance, and effects of virulent demagogy originally published in the aftermath of World War Two:

“The demarcation line between the outsider agitator and the legitimate politician, between the extreme right and the centre [is] being blurred (if not obliterated). Today, we recognize the essential features of the agitator as those of the political Establishment.”

The National Conservatism conference saw the return & widespread use of 'cultural Marxism' as a controversial term of abuse for progressive ideas & the Left in general - controversial because it is widely recognised as being antisemitic, & the concept inspired Anders Breivik.

Others argue that the phrase 'cultural Marxism' refers to a particular group of Jewish academics, framed as 'anti-capitalist', who fled Nazi Germany to the US, collectively known as The Frankfurt School, which included Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, & Marcuse.

Frankfurt school scholars were actually critical of both capitalism & of Marxism–Leninism as philosophically inflexible systems of social organization, & their critical theory research indicated alternative paths to realizing the social development of a society & a nation.

The Frankfurt School's critical investigations were based upon Freudian, Marxist & Hegelian premises of idealist philosophy, & broadly argued that 19th-century classical Marxism, did not adequately or accurately address 20th-century social problems.

The School's sociologic works derived from syntheses of the thematically pertinent works of Immanuel Kant, Hegel, & Marx, Freud & Weber, Simmel & Lukács. But I digress. (Context is important). Back to propaganda & 'message control'.

Marcuse echoes Theodor W. Adorno’s 1969 statement that: “[t]he calculated influence of agitators on the ‘lunatic fringe’ is by no means the only and probably not even the most important objective factor promoting a fascistically inclined mentality among the masses”.

Indeed, Adorno claimed that the opinions of such demagogues “occur in considerable measure in the utterances of so-called ‘respectable’ people, only not as succinctly & aggressively formulated”.

Both Marcuse and Adorno were referring to the US-politics and media during the Vietnam War, thus to phenomena pertaining to post-war democratic systems and not to the totalitarian regimes and their leaders as originally analyzed by Löwenthal and Guterman.

Nevertheless, these poignant insights remain relevant to scholars who are investigating the ‘(shameless) normalization’, ‘recontextualization’, ‘contagion’, and ‘mainstreaming’ of far-right and extreme-right tropes, arguments, topics, and agendas in liberal democracies.

As Théo Fournier maintains, “[t]he populist rhetoric manipulates the rule of law and the majoritarian pillars of constitutional democracy by convincing a fictional majority that constitutional democracy gives rise to a tyranny of minorities”.

cambridge.org/core/journals/…

Accordingly, the far-right (populist) media strategy functions, Wodak claims, as a catalyst, an instrument of mobilization, distraction, & subsequently, of normalization of views that were until recently deemed unacceptable in civilised post-war societies.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1624347298640560128?s=20

In contrast to Trump’s strategy as an agitator who created his own ‘fake’ news & circumvented & delegitimized investigative journalism, Sebastian Kurz was a master of image-building who attempted to *control* the media.

In the four years since he first took over leadership of the national-conservative Austrian People’s Party in 2017, he raised it to new electoral heights by combining hardline immigration rhetoric with personality-driven politics & calls for a ‘new style’ of governing.

As chancellor, Kurz instated a strict regulation to manage & oversee Government communication. The concept is intended to exhibit a uniform & almost synchronous appearance of government, of which no cabinet member could stand out through their individual views and stances.

Journalists accused the Kurz cabinet, through rejecting questions & by applying other methods of message control, of efforts to control & otherwise influence the media coverage. Kurz himself reduced his communication to short & often repeated sentences & keywords. Sound familiar?

Kurz falsely claimed to have closed the so-called Balkan route for refugees traveling to Europe, arguing he had prevented even more refugees entering the EU - a strategy mirrored in the UK @Conservatives' claim to be addressing the issue of asylum seekers arriving by small boats.

His argument was fallacious since Merkel’s initiated 2016 deal between Europe & Turkey more or less closed the Balkan route.

Kurz had a habit of calling up journalists directly or having aides reach out on his behalf when he felt their stories were too critical of Govt policies.

Once Kurz became Chancellor, he hired 80 PR consultants under the supervision of his personal advisor, Gerhard Fleischmann, who were responsible for managing message control & implementing his strategic agenda.
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/boris-jo…

The same was true for Kurz's Austrian Ministry of Interior Affairs which also hired 80 PR consultants. In this way, *unilateral narratives* were disseminated, without critical discussion or counter-arguments. opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…

The Austrian ORF, the state broadcaster, which like the @BBC is sometimes critical of the government, remains on stable financial footing, thanks to its financing mix of mandatory license fees from viewers & advertising.

But ORF journalists reported that the broadcaster faced continuous interventions from Kurz’s Govt in news coverage.

Similarly, a @BBC spokesperson has said: “Particularly on the website, our headlines have been determined by calls from Downing Street on a very regular basis.”

The election of a new ORF director, which the ÖVP could directly influence through the board of governors, resulted in the installation of a political crony in August 2021 - the same year as (now ex-@BBC Chair) Tory donor Richard Sharp was installed.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1636664509677928452?s=20

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Furthermore, as new evidence brought to light in October 2021 illustrates, Kurz & his followers allegedly used taxpayer money to pay for manipulated polls, thus exaggerating their support.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1537781708807888900?s=20

One of the salient text messages “Who pays, gives the orders” describes the leitmotif of the corrupt dealings with the media: Kurz & his team paid & respective media published the strategically placed positive & uncritical reports. Swathes of the UK "news" media do this for free.

Kurz cultivated over the years a perception of a selfless public servant. But in the the texts, Kurz came across as a cutthroat political operator, like so many modern politicians, willing to do whatever it takes to win power.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1372489124071018497?s=20

Related to message & content control are the many ways in which Kurz & his party sought to subvert or undermine democratic institutions whenever this would serve their political interests. Again, this is closely mirrored in other countries with populist nationalist Governments.

The pressure on media reporting also has huge financial implications. Subsidizing (or supporting by other means) friendly media eg by placing Govt messages about eg COVID in news outlets, & punishing critical media blatantly instrumentalizes a challenging time for news media.

Since 2020, Kurz & his followers repeatedly attacked Austria’s judiciary as politically motivated by ‘left-wing networks’ & ‘left-wing conspiracies’ (think 'Lefty lawyers' in the UK). But no evidence in the UK or Austria exists for such networks.

theguardian.com/books/2020/aug…

The concept of ‘Boulevard-democracy’ was coined by Fritz Plasser to describe how the strategic placement of Govt information/adsas a form of subsidy leads to a toxic symbiosis of Govt & tabloids - but the fourth estate SHOULD take a critical look at, & challenge, those in power.

According to investigative journalist Eva Linsinger the opposite is common in Austria. The respective rulers are adored & presented in exaggerated positive terms. For example, with headlines like "Abroad they love the Wonder Boy Kurz". It's the same - probably worse - in the UK.

Like Viktor Orbán’s regime, Kurz & his followers assisted wealthy supporters when buying (parts of) relevant media, especially tabloids. This strategy necessarily guarantees friendly reporting. The case of Danny Kruger - a speaker at NatCon - is salient.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1640635689824927745?s=20

To attract voters from the extreme-right Freedom Party, Kurz strategically blurred the boundaries between far-right populist rhetoric & traditional conservative values, normalizing far-right policies on immigration & human rights & increasing the polarized political environment.

The exact same strategy has been unfolding in the UK for many years, with the @Conservatives moving further & further toward the far-right in a bid first to minimise any electoral success for UKIP, then Farage's Brexit Party, & now Tice's Reform Party.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1642528050507071491?s=20

Instead of discussing & providing solutions for major sociopolitical problems such as globally rising inequality or the housing crisis, or the consequences of climate change for migration politics, refugees & migrants continue to serve as THE scapegoat for all woes.

Here, the connections &, indeed, overlaps of policies between neoliberal, neoconservative, evangelical Christian, & far-right ideologies are particularly evident. These utterances are widely disseminated via message control, & resonate with large parts of the public.

Having looked at how Kuz's technques have been effectively utilsed in Austria, Britain, & across Europe by right-wing populist nationalist parties, this brings us onto the connections between Kurz, 'Libertarian billionaire' Peter Thiel, & your #NHS health records.

As stated earlier, on 3 December 2021, Kurz resigned & supposedly 'quit politics entirely'. While he may have retired from formal Party Politics, any claim that he's no longer influential in politics is grotesquely misleading.

So what's expert propagandist Kurz up to nowadays?

Since 2022, Kurz has been working as a global strategist for Thiel Capital, the private investment company of controversial US libertarian billionaire, Peter Thiel - a signatory of the National Conservatism movement’s statement of principles, & a speaker at most NatCon events.

The NatCon movement is bankrolled by & ideologically aligned with Peter Thiel, who in 2009 said "I no longer believe that freedom & democracy are compatible", & who has funded far-right candidates peddling Trump’s lie that the US election was stolen.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1475127556152205313?s=20

Peter Thiel also founded & chairs Palantir Technologies, a US company specializing in big data analytics, which came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal when the personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users were acquired.

During questioning in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Christopher Wylie, the former research director of Cambridge Analytica, said that several meetings had taken place between Palantir and Cambridge Analytica.

Data is now more valuable than oil. In April 2023, #NHS data specialists warned against the rollout billionaire Thiel's #Palantir’s software across the organisation, as the US tech company vies for a £480million contract to build the UK health service’s operating system.

Palantir, led by chief executive Alex Karp, became the #NHS’s go-to data analytics provider during the pandemic. Its Foundry software was used to manage the provision of ventilators, as well as the national vaccination programme.

Several data specialists familiar with its software, including three at the #NHS, told the FT they were concerned that Palantir had become the frontrunner to win the British health service’s lucrative “federated data platform” contract due to be awarded later this year.

They argue that Foundry was not “user friendly”, came at an exorbitant cost & had a design that made it difficult for the #NHS to switch to a different provider in the future.

Palantir has interesting origins, & Thiel may have ulterior motives.

opendemocracy.net/en/palantir-pe…

Palantir was originally funded by the CIA and has been heavily criticised for producing surveillance tech for police forces that allegedly creates “racist feedback loops” and has helped the US government to track and deport undocumented migrants.

theintercept.com/2018/05/11/pre…

This thread has explored the connections between new forms of propaganda, right-wing populist nationalist Christian authoritarianism, @BBCr4today, Sebastian Kurz, your #NHS health data, the NatCon conference, & billionaire, Peter Thiel.

So who's this guy, from the first tweet?

Sebastian Milbank is Executive Editor of the Critic, founded in 2019 by a former editor of Standpoint (run by #IEA spin-off charity, the Social Affairs Unit) & ERG strategist (& fellow NatCon speaker) Christopher Montgomery. It is funded by Tory & Reclaim donor, Jeremy Hosking.

Brextremist Jeremy Hosking has "given" £millions to the Tories, to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party/Reform UK, to Laurence Fox’s Reclaim Party, & he is the director of a company with $134 million invested in oil & gas.

ALWAYS follow the money!

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1643966178115592193?s=20

In office, Kurz opposed Austria accepting asylum seekers from a destroyed refugee camp in Greece or taking in any more people fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power, but on 9 January, 2022, he became Co-Chair of the European Council on Tolerance & Reconciliation.

The European Council on Tolerance & Reconciliation is a non-governmental organization that was established in Paris, on 7th October 2008, ostensibly 'to monitor tolerance in Europe'. It clearly has noble aims.

So who else is involved in this NGO?

ectr.eu

The President of the European Council on Tolerance & Reconciliation is Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, a Russian businessman who has close ties to the Putin regime in Russia.

Kantor also heads the Acron Group, one of the world's leading mineral fertilizer producers & distributors.

In 2021, Forbes estimated Kantor's net worth at US $7.6 billion. The Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth at £3.5 billion in 2020.

And the Chairman of the council? None other than former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

It's a small world!

It's now a few weeks since London hosted the National Conservatives conference aka #NatCon, aka the #NatC conference. 🙋‍♂️🇬🇧🙋‍♂️🇬🇧🙋‍♂️

A much shorter thread, with some reflections on it.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1664196532067770369?s=20

@threadreaderapp please unroll.