Johnson is lying when he claims the bill to kill the NI Protocol is designed to save the Good Friday Agreement. A thread explaining why he is trying to mislead and why this bill in fact threatens the peace process 1/10 Johnson is attempting to befuddle non-expert journalists and the public by deliberately twisting the concepts of ‘consent’ and ‘cross community agreement’ that were central to the GFA. It is worth disentangling them. 2/10

Thread on Sue Gray report. I have seen lots on inquiries in No 10. Sometimes they clear people and nothing happens. Sometimes they find wrongdoing and someone resigns or is sacked. This one is unusual.1/5 The purpose of the investigation was to establish if the ‘gatherings’ in No 10 were parties, if they were against the rules and if the people attending knew they were breaking the rules.2/5

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Warning: No 10 will undoubtedly spin in advance that Sue Gray’s report clears Boris Johnson and blames civil servants to frame the report as Johnson’s get out of jail free card. This will be untrue. 2. Her job is to establish the facts not to make a judgment on Johnson’s behavior.TOR: establish swiftly a general understanding of the nature of the gatherings, including attendance, the setting and the purpose, with reference to adherence to the guidance in place at the time.

In 2019 I wrote that Boris Johnson had done more for a United Ireland than the IRA ever did. Ashcroft’s startling poll of NI voters proves this assessment was more accurate than I could have guessed.🧵 22% of voters have shifted in the direction of a United Ireland as a result of Brexit

1/7 Every time a Tory minister appears on the media they have a different explanation of why they are breaking international law on the NI protocol. So far I have counted 5. This thread lists them and suggests what the real reason may be. 2/7 Gov: ‘These are specific and limited changes required by the ambiguity of the original agreement’.
No they are not - they potentially undermine the whole point of the backstop.

1/Post debate it is now obvious this election is not going to ignite. If the campaign feels depressing and dull that is because it is meant to. The Tories aim is to depress the vote and win on differential turnout. 2/There was always going to be a lower turn out in a December election than in a traditional summer one. But by running a defensive and vacuous campaign Johnson has ensured that most people turned off and tuned out. The majority can’t remember a thing that has been said.

1/To illustrate the hidden trick in Boris Johnson’s ‘compromise proposal’, a brief explanation of power sharing in Northern Ireland... 2/The GFA established a power sharing mechanism so that all major decisions have to be taken by cross community agreement, so both the DUP and SF have a veto on change in NI. That means everything depends on how the question is put and it can be skewed in favour of one side.