A Spotlight on depravity
On BBC Newsnight (26-05-20) [1] a note from Danny Kruger,
Conservative MP for Devizes, was read out. It said, with respect to Dominic
Cummings:
“Appreciate the inbox and press are horrific but the PM is signalling (as he did with the sacking of 21 MPs last year – which appalled some people in the parly party) that he’s serious. BJ and DC together are why we won the 2019 election and them together is the only way to GBD [Get Brexit Done], level up the regions, and fix Whitehall – the only things which will win us the next election too. An arguable minor infraction of lockdown is totally secondary to that. Also, No 10 won’t budge, so calling for DC to go is basically declaring no confidence in PM.”
Mark these words. They lay bare the inexorable logic of a government determined to achieve Brexit, whatever it costs. Cummings, by his act of extraordinary arrogance, has forced an issue that was intended to remain firmly behind closed doors, into the full glare of public scrutiny. The single most damning implication is that no cost, whether it be a failed public health campaign - with the obviously dire consequences - or the reputations of government ministers, is too high to pay. We are viewing a blueprint of Tory strategy, the direction of which must have been guided by Cummings, or why spend every political penny on saving him?
The odd thing is that Brexit has already been done. We left on 31 January. Brexit negotiations for a trade deal are proceeding in the background but with no sign of progress. What this note is telling us is that GBD is not about achieving Brexit, but a no-deal Brexit. This has been the objective since well before the general election in 2019. We may recall how Johnson promised to be found dead in a ditch if Brexit was not done by 31 October.
Why a no-deal though? Surely a deal is better? This can be explained easily. It is to gain freedom from regulations. Whatever deal is struck with the EU will come with agreements to ensure a “level playing field”. In other words, we will be expected to honour our responsibilities to workers’ rights, or to not pollute the environment. Avoiding these regulations is the agenda of the right-wing think tanks that seek to profit from, for example, the unregulated burning of fossil fuels. No-deal Brexit is simply a means by which profits can be maximised for a very small number of super-rich individuals.
Now we see how high the stakes are. The maximised profits are worth our lives. How else can we explain the willingness of cabinet ministers to tear up public health messaging? How else to explain the sickening defence of obvious lies while a pandemic rages on? Each minister who speaks up in favour of Cummings is accepting that their reputation is worthless. Yet on they come. Gove weighing up live on air whether he personally would drive 60 miles to test his eyes. Shapps turning himself inside out to make sense of complete nonsense.
Why would they go to these lengths? In some cases, they are probably too afraid to do otherwise. The rest are the true believers. When Johnson sacked 21 MPs, it was to distil down an already merciless party to an obnoxious brew of zealots and sycophants. The people who would have no shame in trashing their reputation are the ones no longer interested in honest persuasion. They believe in Cummings and his dark materials.
Shahmir Sanni [2] recently wrote a moving thread inspired by his time working for Vote Leave. It should leave us in no doubt as to the calibre of Cummings, who was prepared to activate racist sentiment to heat up the Leave campaign. Collectively, the politicians Sanni encountered were “vehemently against any idea of justice or fairness”. They are also against us, the ones who are just mugs if we are dumb enough to follow their instructions.
The exposure Cummings is receiving will not be welcome in some quarters. The billionaires who stand to make fortunes from a no-deal Brexit (together with a US trade deal) will not enjoy the searchlight coming so close to them. It was a monumental error of Cummings to get himself involved in this way. More questions are sure to be asked about other issues, such as his relationship with public money and how it is being spent on projects like ARPA [3]. For us though, it is an unparalleled opportunity to understand just how grotesque this government is and how dangerous it has become.
[1] https://twitter.com/nicholaswatt/status/1265360464768315394?s=20
[2] https://twitter.com/shahmiruk/status/1265045668546084864?s=20
[3] https://bylinetimes.com/2020/05/20/dominic-cummings-billion-dollar-brainchild/
“Appreciate the inbox and press are horrific but the PM is signalling (as he did with the sacking of 21 MPs last year – which appalled some people in the parly party) that he’s serious. BJ and DC together are why we won the 2019 election and them together is the only way to GBD [Get Brexit Done], level up the regions, and fix Whitehall – the only things which will win us the next election too. An arguable minor infraction of lockdown is totally secondary to that. Also, No 10 won’t budge, so calling for DC to go is basically declaring no confidence in PM.”
Mark these words. They lay bare the inexorable logic of a government determined to achieve Brexit, whatever it costs. Cummings, by his act of extraordinary arrogance, has forced an issue that was intended to remain firmly behind closed doors, into the full glare of public scrutiny. The single most damning implication is that no cost, whether it be a failed public health campaign - with the obviously dire consequences - or the reputations of government ministers, is too high to pay. We are viewing a blueprint of Tory strategy, the direction of which must have been guided by Cummings, or why spend every political penny on saving him?
The odd thing is that Brexit has already been done. We left on 31 January. Brexit negotiations for a trade deal are proceeding in the background but with no sign of progress. What this note is telling us is that GBD is not about achieving Brexit, but a no-deal Brexit. This has been the objective since well before the general election in 2019. We may recall how Johnson promised to be found dead in a ditch if Brexit was not done by 31 October.
Why a no-deal though? Surely a deal is better? This can be explained easily. It is to gain freedom from regulations. Whatever deal is struck with the EU will come with agreements to ensure a “level playing field”. In other words, we will be expected to honour our responsibilities to workers’ rights, or to not pollute the environment. Avoiding these regulations is the agenda of the right-wing think tanks that seek to profit from, for example, the unregulated burning of fossil fuels. No-deal Brexit is simply a means by which profits can be maximised for a very small number of super-rich individuals.
Now we see how high the stakes are. The maximised profits are worth our lives. How else can we explain the willingness of cabinet ministers to tear up public health messaging? How else to explain the sickening defence of obvious lies while a pandemic rages on? Each minister who speaks up in favour of Cummings is accepting that their reputation is worthless. Yet on they come. Gove weighing up live on air whether he personally would drive 60 miles to test his eyes. Shapps turning himself inside out to make sense of complete nonsense.
Why would they go to these lengths? In some cases, they are probably too afraid to do otherwise. The rest are the true believers. When Johnson sacked 21 MPs, it was to distil down an already merciless party to an obnoxious brew of zealots and sycophants. The people who would have no shame in trashing their reputation are the ones no longer interested in honest persuasion. They believe in Cummings and his dark materials.
Shahmir Sanni [2] recently wrote a moving thread inspired by his time working for Vote Leave. It should leave us in no doubt as to the calibre of Cummings, who was prepared to activate racist sentiment to heat up the Leave campaign. Collectively, the politicians Sanni encountered were “vehemently against any idea of justice or fairness”. They are also against us, the ones who are just mugs if we are dumb enough to follow their instructions.
The exposure Cummings is receiving will not be welcome in some quarters. The billionaires who stand to make fortunes from a no-deal Brexit (together with a US trade deal) will not enjoy the searchlight coming so close to them. It was a monumental error of Cummings to get himself involved in this way. More questions are sure to be asked about other issues, such as his relationship with public money and how it is being spent on projects like ARPA [3]. For us though, it is an unparalleled opportunity to understand just how grotesque this government is and how dangerous it has become.
[1] https://twitter.com/nicholaswatt/status/1265360464768315394?s=20
[2] https://twitter.com/shahmiruk/status/1265045668546084864?s=20
[3] https://bylinetimes.com/2020/05/20/dominic-cummings-billion-dollar-brainchild/
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