1) Thread - Owen Jones (again)
Mr Jones has been involved in a twitter storm over his comments re Lord Adonis and why he shouldn't speak up about #Brexit because he's a "caricature of the elite".
“The Remain cause, and Lord Adonis” @OwenJones84 medium.com/@OwenJones84/t…
Mr Jones has been involved in a twitter storm over his comments re Lord Adonis and why he shouldn't speak up about #Brexit because he's a "caricature of the elite".
“The Remain cause, and Lord Adonis” @OwenJones84 medium.com/@OwenJones84/t…
2) now, I've seen a lot of anti #Brexit people say "fair enough, Owen's right here, he makes some good points on the optics"
Let's examine one of the key points, where Owen advises Lord Adonis to resign his peerage and campaign for remain & also election
Let's examine one of the key points, where Owen advises Lord Adonis to resign his peerage and campaign for remain & also election
3) by this we must assume Owen advises all progressive peers resign their peerage (like Tony Benn) and look for proper election whilst campaigning for Remain.
How would this work in practice?
How would this work in practice?
4) Well firstly, if say 40 anti Brexit peers resigned tomorrow they'd hand the Lords to the Tories, the Lords being currently one of the main (possibly only) limits on Tory #Brexit excesses
The Tories are planning to flood the lord's with new peers, Jones would hand it to them
The Tories are planning to flood the lord's with new peers, Jones would hand it to them
5) secondly, he's suggesting these 40 peers campaign for election
"I would run for elected office on this basis."
Elected to where? Elected 2nd house doesn't exist at this point. Labour seats? Independents?
And how would they balance campaigning for office & against brexit?
"I would run for elected office on this basis."
Elected to where? Elected 2nd house doesn't exist at this point. Labour seats? Independents?
And how would they balance campaigning for office & against brexit?
6) so take these 40 peers who've resigned. They had a degree of power in opposing hard Brexit, now they have none. Where is their platform? How do all 40+ get screen time to put across their points? Who are they now other than 40 odd ex peers?
7) then assuming they actually get screen time, all 40 of them.
Now they've mixed up Lords Reform & Brexit.
Now you may feel Lords reform is important, but now? Halfway through Article 50? With a Tory gov on the ropes?
In any case every interview would focus on the resignation
Now they've mixed up Lords Reform & Brexit.
Now you may feel Lords reform is important, but now? Halfway through Article 50? With a Tory gov on the ropes?
In any case every interview would focus on the resignation
8) the reasons for resigning would be questioned, and the history of each ex peer examined. Many would be undermined for inconsistencies.
The chance to argue against #brexit would be hugely comprised
The chance to argue against #brexit would be hugely comprised
9) so how would this work? Answer is, it wouldn't.
The advice from Jones for Adonis would be the same for any anti Brexit peer who wanted a "legitimate" platform, resign first, then you have a right to talk about #brexit
The advice from Jones for Adonis would be the same for any anti Brexit peer who wanted a "legitimate" platform, resign first, then you have a right to talk about #brexit
10) this section, and the tweets which led to it seem superficially reasonable - but their only intention is to undermine Lord Adonis.
He's a peer, therefore part of an unelected elite & has no legitimacy as an anti Brexit voice.
Don't listen to him
He's a peer, therefore part of an unelected elite & has no legitimacy as an anti Brexit voice.
Don't listen to him
11) the undermining of Adobe's legitimacy goes further. Did you know he failed to get elected as an MP? I didn't, but I do now:
12) so we have a self confessed Remainer attacking the legitimacy of a major Remainer spokesperson (who just delivered a blistering attack on the Tories). Therefore by extension all anti Brexit peers have no legitimacy either & should resign & campaign for non existent seats
13) Essentially Jones has been arguing that Adonis should be silent or should resign his peerage & make himself irrelevant. Ironically, he also accused me today of trying to silence him when I suggested he wasn't helping the anti #Brexit cause.
