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.

Thank you @DGRossetti I needed a laugh......this whole business is really making me wonder why I am living here......

@woodpigeons anti- Zionism means destruction of the state of Israel. The discussion as to whether there should be an Israeli state is from the 1930's - my Dad's era.
Where do you think all the Jews in Israel should go if you destroy it? How is that not also antisemitism.
Anti-Zionism is NOT disagreeing with Israeli foreign and domestic policy. Israelis do that IN ISRAEL. Anti-Zionism is the wish to destroy Israel.

Did you see that both Boris and Hunt justified the media's right to public more leaks ie state secrets?
Beggars the question - do they know who did it (chances have to be high)
And what's coming next?

My job relates to the Official Secrets Act. Colleagues horrified by this.

Rob Powell @ robpowellnews
On prosecuting journalists under Official Secrets Act, these are the crucial parts showing anyone can be prosecuted under it if they know info has been given to them illegally by a govt employee and they know it is damaging 1/

Newspapers could rely on public interest discretion - which the ambassador leak might not have. Any prosecution would need to be approved by the Attorney General - would be a huge political call for the AG to say yes, allegations of trampling on press freedom etc 2/

And (to my mind), I can't think of any precedent for media orgs being prosecuted under the OSA. The Mail on Sunday was not prosecuted when former MI5 officer David Shayler leaked information to it, Shayler was 3/

Interesting guidance here from the CPS about prosecuting journalists for leaks and the balancing act between public interest in disclosure and public interest in keeping information secret:

www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/media-prosecuting-cases-where-public-servants-have-disclosed-confidential

4/

Leave the journalist alone and go after the leaker.

Katherine Gun was also charged with breaking the official secrets act. It came to court. Within half an hour the case was dropped because the prosecution declined to offer evidence. But it's unclear exactly why.

How far does the reputation of the UK have to fall before it starts to climb again ?

Humphries expostulating vigorously this am to the effect "I'm a journalist I haven't signed the act - I can't be prosecuted"

I really would have expected him to have learnt over the years that everyone is covered by the act, what you sign is simply a declaration that brings a couple of paragraphs to your attention. Claiming ignorance of the law has never been a defence.
(however I have no defence for listening to Today :( )

I can't see a public interest defence for publishing these telegrams though - if Kim had been proclaiming trump as a fine fellow then pointing out the ambassador was crazy would have been definite public interest - as it is I hope whoever ends up in court.

Johnson embarrasses me to my core.

But he is obviously lauded by many.

Would love to hear an explanation for his ridiculous statements.. But I really do feel embarrassed that he will be our PM shortly, He hasn't got a clue.

But some may think that is great, a kick to the EU.

Just looking at Reality Check on the BBC about Hunt & Johnson from the Andrew Neill interviewers. Hunt comes out very badly. Johnson more slippery imo

Oakshott and Tice are a couple. Well.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-party-richard-tice-darroch-18206347

Colour me shocked! 'Journalist' Oakeshott leaks these cables and within days her lover Tice admits he'd be open to becoming the US ambassador. It's all so very surprising...

And to think she feigned indignation at John Crace's Guardian article about 'scoops being left under her pillow'. She is the worst of supercilious twats in a crowded field of supercilious twats.

TBF I can see a public interest in the UK’s ambassador pointing out that Trump and his administration are batshit and shouldn’t be trusted, which is not what the Brexiteers are telling the UK public - “we’ll do a great trade deal with the US, we have a special relationship - it’ll all be really great” etc.

Mind you, the Govt is still bleating on about the Special relationship. As someone posted the other day in the link from an American source - the only special relationship the US has is with Israel. There is also a strong Irish lobby. We ought to be grateful for this, because that all helped to bring about the Good Friday Agreement.

Hard to see any public interest in this leak.

Now I'm reading this myself through the lens of it not just being about leavers myself but I think this is a interesting article about psychology of political belief:

Roland Smith @rolandmcs
"Profiling a Conspiracy Theorist: Why Some People Believe".
This explains certain Leavers I could mention, who are prone to conspiracy theories...

Sorry, pressed send too early.

A public interest defence would surely require the public to have been given important public interest information that could not be known otherwise.

That the trump administration is dysfunctional is surely known already. The point of the leak was to embarrass the ambassador and the government which is not in the public interest at all.

{That the trump administration is dysfunctional is surely known already. The point of the leak was to embarrass the ambassador and the government which is not in the public interest at all.}

Just listening to Trump speaking makes many concerned, for good reasons.
If the reports are true that he withdrew form the relations with Iran, just to 'get one over' Obama, that is truly frightening.

In other news, Mail with an 'EU bashing' article about a British woman having to relabel Prosecco bottles because she fell foul of EU labelling regulations. Surely if you are marketing a product you would read up on the rules first?

Jeremy Bowen
‏**@BowenBBC**

Jeremy Bowen Retweeted Ben Michell

Going to graduate school in Washington DC at @SAISHopkins nearly 40 years ago helped make me a huge admirer of the country. It also removed any illusions I had about the UK’s favourite ‘Special Relationship.’

@ben_michell
I love the States. But many Brits are horribly naive about how we are viewed from over there. Being part of the EU gives us the strength our nostalgic view of empire demands.…

Jeremy Bowen
‏**@BowenBBC**

The term ‘special relationship ‘ is only used by the British. If Americans use it, it’s simply to make the Brits feel a tiny bit better about themselves. The ousting of the UK ambassador in DC is a way more accurate measure of a highly unspecial relationship.

....Mail with an 'EU bashing' article about a British woman having to relabel Prosecco bottles because she fell foul of EU labelling regulations

Dig deep and you will probably find that it's one the UK added extra bits too, but is blaming the EU for. I will admit, I don't know in this case, and I am not reading the Mail to find out, but time and time again that is the case.

I saw some American woman on daily politics earlier this week point out that nations who are weak refer to 'special relationships', whilst those who are strong don't because they don't need them.

On that note this thread from yesterday is doing the rounds.

Ben Kelly @thescepticisle
Baffled by the childish fantasies of atlanticist Brexiteers who believe in the "special relationship" and that the US will treat us favourably and with some kind of sentimentality. It's based on Hannan fantasies and misreadings of history. US trade negotiators will turn us over.

There is an element of a "special relationship" in cultural crossover (though this is very one sided), intelligence sharing & miltiary cooperation though this is diminishing along with our capabilities) but from a political perspective there is no "special relationship"...

...From a trade and economic perspective, the US will seek to get everything they want from us and give away as little as possible. They will be ruthless. Why on Earth anyone would possibly think they'd be exra nice to us and ensure it was totally mutually beneficial is beyond me

None of this is a criticism of the USA. Not at all. Nor am I saying they are not a hugely important ally. I just think we need to drop this desperate "special relationship" idea and be realistic.

It goes hand in hand with the sentimentlaity over fighting "shoulder to shoulder" during WWII. Okay, but lets not forget that the US extracted a heavy price from a desperate UK, extortionate loans, demands that we cede territory to them, massive transfers of our gold bullion...

... The US used our foreign policy blunders and WWII to push the dismantlement of the British empire and confirm the tranfer of power to them, something they aggressively pursued since WWI. Early in 20th century war between UK & USA wasn't out of the question.

We are allies now, important allies, though again we need them far more than they need us. But we are not like old pals and family. Stop this doughey eyed silliness.

Bizzarely, Atlanticist Brexiteers have their perception warped so much by their weird sentimentality that they buy into Donald Trump, a man trampling over much of what they love about the US & damaging the very basis of their "global Britain" vision

Just to reiterate, I do, on balance, think America is awesome and am soaked in its culture. There is nothing anti-America in this. They've got it right in being unsentimental.

People like Churchill who had an American mother, and Boris Johnson, who was born there probably did/do have a different and more special relationship with the US. It doesn't apply to the whole of us.

Thing is it was obvious BEFORE the ref Brexit was about choosing between the US and the EU. There was quite a bit to twist the whole thing about how blocking the proposed trans Atlantic trade agreement by the EU was a threat to the NHS by Lexiters for reasons I couldn't fathom at the time and can't remember now.

It was obvious when Trump became president but no one took notice then either.

Even now there are so many people who just aren't grasping it.

It's depressing.

Especially in the context of 'winning back our sovereignity'.

That was never ever on the table.