Westminstenders: It couldn't get any worse... Until today

[RedToothBrush]

We are trapped in the tailspin of the end of the UK. Firmly headed downward and getting more and more frenzied and desperate.

Even the most sensible of types like David Allen Green have finally noticed that Brexit isn't about leaving the EU it's about the frenzied and wilful destruction of our state instutions and structure. The collapse of the civil service, of our justice system, our democratic institutions and social order. All in the name of rule Britannia, a warped sense of taking back control to preserve an ideal that never existed and an idea of sovereignity that simply was a fantasy.

We move ever closer to Johnson becoming Prime Minister and a life under President Trump.

Joy.

Ode to Joy really isn't that bad.

If Theresa May appoints the next ambassador and then Boris Johnson becomes PM, can he then just replace the ambassador anyway?

Week in Review: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold

https://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2019/07/12/week-in-review-things-fall-apart-the-centre-cannot-hold

Really monstrous week, this one.
Even by the usual standards, which are very poor indeed, it was acutely bad.

There came a point, around Thursday morning, when whichever way you looked you found behaviour which was so abysmal,
so lacking in anything like basic moral or patriotic decency,

that your instinct was to try and switch the country off-and-on again,
in some desperate hope that we might reset to a better place.

But there is no switch.
There's no escape.
We're stuck here.
And only really serious drinking or political activism is going to change it.

If we don’t honour the EU referendum result and leave the EU political union, with a bold programme of economic renewal to unlock growth, confidence and spread prosperity, we’ll get Corbyn"

Corbyn will be gone in a couple of years anyway, because that's roughly how long leaders last - Thatcher and Blair both being something of an exception. So he would really trash the economy for a generation because he can't cope with a Labour leader he doesn't like for two years? The man, like most of the Brexiteers in his party, has taken leave of his senses.

The #Darroch leaker should give himself up or the Mail on Sunday/ @IsabelOakeshott should shop him, and if they publish more leaks, they too may be committing a criminal offence.

Amazing what the threat of a prison sentence can do. Now back in the day of the Profumo affair, for those of us old enough to remember, I think two journalists did go to prison for refusing to reveal their sources.

Yes, he can do that, if he wants more trouble

but it would be a lot more hassle for a lazy man, rather than just leaving him in place

That's one reason for all the Tories speaking out now, after he refused to support the previous ambassador before the resignation

• to warn him of the shitshow he'll be in, if he actually sacks & replaces an ambassador

If May doesn't appoint an ambassador, then BJ can appoint his own, with much less criticism than if he has to sack someone to do it

Also, still not certain if the HoC will accept BJ as PM, or if there will be a VoNC with some Tories voting against him.

Ian Dunt:

"Neither government nor opposition functions, so both parties have felt free to get completely lost in their own terrible derangement.

If Labour was even vaguely competent,
a Tory leadership would be wary of becoming fully-owned by a foreign power.

If the Tories weren't dismantling the country, Labour might feel more compelled to sort itself out.

It's like the British constitution turned in on itself:
a system of checks and balances obliterated in a mutual suicide pact."

Isn't the author of the leak story the same one that readily gave up those LibDems who tried to lie about their speeding ticket?
So moral.

BCF the thing about the Darroch leaks and the press is the public interest defence.

It is illegal for journalists to publish anything which breaks the official secrets act in theory.

However they can and do because they can claim a public interest in doing so.

What is different about the Darroch case is the lack of public interest defence. The leak was done purely for a political gain motivation.

This is why the met is within its right to argue that journalists involved could be prosecuted because they knew the political damage the leak would cause (they had a vested political interest in publishing)

The leak means now that others will consider leaking to influence or disrupt the civil service with complete disregard for the official secrets act which puts us all at risk.

There has never been a prosecution of a journalist for failing to have a public interest defence. It would be a unprecedented decision to do so and could have a chilling effect on whistle-blower and investigative journalism (which would most definitely suit an authoritarian government).

So yes, we should absolutely expect to see more leaks as the system is tested as to how far the civil service can be damaged for political gain and there might be an interest in curbing investigative journalism.

What was interesting was newsnights editor saying last night that he knew there was no public interest to do so but he would have published.

It suggests an attitude in the media that getting a scope is more important than the public interest - which is what journalism was supposed to be about. Its another of those blurrings of purpose.

I also ask everyone to reflect on just how leaky the Trump administration was in the first year whilst there was a purge of state departments. There was plenty of security clangers dropped by Trump too.

I find it therefore inconceivable that we aren't on course for all manner of leaks and breaches of the official secrets act.

All of which serve to weaken us.

yes, I was trying to figure out a public interest defence
There is none

With a bitterly divided country, I expect sufficient Brexity jurors would accept any giraffe

However, that need not stop an arrest and prosecution

Depends if the DPP's office is also scared of being purged and replaced by Trump-approved appointees

Maybe replaced by those who would interpret the "public interest defence" to reject anything that embarasses the Uk or US govt

So Carole Cadwalladr might be a target - Guido Fawkes was hoping the Richerd Tice libel action against that SNP MEP would specifically discourage her

Criminal court action would be a whole new worry

Did anyone watch downfall Charles 1st 50 days on bbc4 last week? A week and stubborn King vs a demagogue (John Pym) who roused the people and Parliament and it led to the civil war. Not that anyone mentioned overt parallels. But there was a 48:52 percent split on one parliamentary vote that was mentioned as 'somewhat reminiscent'.

Weak and stubborn obvs

Hasn't the Trumpster rolled back on his criticisms, claiming they never happened ? Instead he's taken the opportunity to have a pop at a "leaky" UK ?

It's almost like it's the 1950s again, and the US can freeze us out of classified information because we can't be trusted (Burgess, Philby, Maclean ....)

I have not heard about the Trumpster, but I gather Johnson now admits that he was wrong not to speak out in support.

Not that it will make a fat lot of difference - the idiots in the Tory party will still have voted for him.

I have not heard about the Trumpster, but I gather Johnson now admits that he was wrong not to speak out in support.

Ah, the old forgiveness rather than permission trick.

And he's not really sorry is he ? He's "sorry" that he's been called out on it, which is an entirely different "sorry". Again, despite allegedly having more words than most other European languages put together, it seems there are still gaps in English - something someone as learned as Mr. Johnson should be concerned with.

Like Germans have two words for "chance" (Zufall and Glück ?), English needs two words for "sorry". One to convey "I am sorry for doing wrong, causing hurt and upset and acting in a way injurious to others" and another to say "I'm sorry I got found out, but would still do it again if I knew I wouldn't get found out".

.

@DGRossetti 😂😂😂

You made me laugh DGR. I agree about Johnson's sorry - it's because he realises he misjudged it, and has been found out.

DG

DGR 😂

Buffy just catching up & saw your news - hope you recover quickly

Donald Trump Gaslighter Extraordinaire

Interesting article BigChoc but I am not entirely convinced by the claims of Labour antiSemitism.
I do think there’s a difference between anti-Zionism and antiSemitism which hasn’t been acknowledged.
Still it’s a good way to ensure division in the party.

Did anyone watch downfall Charles 1st 50 days on bbc4 last week?

Just watched it. One of you vipers could have flagged it up as containing John Redwood. Luckily my hands were empty when he popped up, so the TV is safe.

I know it's not really a done thing, but what is it about Lisa Hiltons eyes ? Contact lenses ? CGI ? They just don't look ... human. I did like the dig about "these days you'd put it on the side of a bus" ...

thanks (I think...) for the Amber Rudd link Red. Ah well, wagons circling etc.