1/ Tories: we need to talk about Boris Johnson (thread)

I'm not going to berate you for choosing him as your leader, and by extension as PM. You knew about his lying, cheating, racist ways, and the people he associates with. As the saying goes, for you that was all priced in.

2/ Nothing I can say will change your mind about whether it was right to vote for him. You know what he is. And you're okay with it. Or okay enough to vote for him at least. https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2019/07/06/some-notes-on-boris-johnsons-racism-xenophobia-sexism-homophobia-and-lies/

3/ OK maybe you personally didn't vote for him. But if you stay in the Tory party now he's leader, or excuse his behaviour because his stated goals align with yours, you are de facto supporting him. So this is still your big bag of turds to carry from now on. Good luck with that.

4/ But I do want to highlight two things.

First, it doesn't end here. You've had to swallow your principles and cross lines you thought you'd never cross to support Johnson into power.

5/ Maybe it was the casual racism. Maybe it was the crude jokes about serious allegations of child abuse. Whatever it was, you gritted your teeth and moved on.

But it doesn't end here.

6/ Johnson will - as PM - carry on doing this shit. There'll be more, and it'll get worse. You need to decide where your actual final red lines are. When he crosses them, and he will, you'll need to decide whether to abandon him, or just grit your teeth and carry on once more.

7/ If you grit your teeth and carry on, in the process you'll abandon your own principles. He'll strip them from you, one by one, bit by bit.

8/ The point is, he will never stop. And every time he goes a little further, gets a little bit more outrageous, your soul will get a little more tarnished. And the UK will be a little more diminished.

9/ This is going to happen. We've seen it with Trump. And the Republicans in the US, by hitching their wagon to him, have had to abandon any principles or pretence of respect for decency or the rule of law. This is now going to happen to the Tory party. It is inevitable.

10/ The prospect of Dominic Cummings being given a job in Government is the clearest possible pointer of how things are going to go.

11/ Here is a man who presided over the biggest fraud in UK election history, who was held in contempt of Parliament for refusing to come and account for his actions, being rewarded with a job in Government.

12/ What message does that send about the importance of the rule of law or the primacy of Parliament?

So ask yourself: are you prepared to follow Johnson where he is going to go? Which leads to my second point.

13/ If Johnson thrives (or even lasts) as PM, if he is supported and defended in his actions, that opens a very dangerous door. In fact, it gives a straight route through to the next PM being a flat-out fascist.

14/ If, by lying and breaking the law on an industrial scale, by stirring the politics of fear and hate, by breaking all the institutions that protect our society, you can be rewarded with top jobs in Government, what then is the point of being decent, honest and truthful?

15/ Boris Johnson doesn't have a goal other than the advancement of Boris Johnson. But the next PM may have A Goal. He or she could well be fired by pure, nationalistic zeal. We know where this leads.

16/ In an environment where lies have more currency than the truth, with the country fragmented, the economy collapsing and hundreds of thousands out of work after Brexit, there's exactly the conditions for fascism to blossom.

17/ Using the same tools as Johnson - deceit, cheating, whipping up hatred - but with a distinct aim in mind. The point is, once these tools have become acceptable in politics, then anyone can use them. They *will* use them.

18/ It's far easier to tell a glib lie than a hard truth, after all, and far more attractive.

19/ The UK is not immune to fascism. No country is.

20/ So how far do you want to follow Johnson down the road he's taking? Where will you stop?

/Ends