THREAD:

I've been thinking about this in the context of @BorisJohnson's cocking up the UK response to the #Covid19 pandemic.

There are analogies.

1/n https://twitter.com/statsguyuk/status/1314841255592046592

I do not enjoy having to interrupt my morning run to bat away dogs who attempt to climb up me, but I don't blame the dogs for this.

It's simply in the nature of a dog to investigate interesting things, such as a middle aged guy in running kit.

2/n

The fault is not with the dog for simply doing what dogs do.

The fault is with the owners. They are responsible for their dogs, and they really ought to either train them not to run up to strangers or, if they can't do that, keep them on a lead.

3/n

Similarly, I do not blame Johnson for spectacularly cocking up his response to #Covid19.

Johnson is an incompetent, dishonest chancer. And all he is doing is just what any incompetent, dishonest chancer would do: being incompetent and dishonest.

It's in his nature.

4/n

Sure, Johnson has made, and continues to make, catastrophically bad decisions at every turn, and thousands of people have died (and will die) as a result.

But this is not Johnson's fault. His response is exactly what you'd expect from an incompetent, dishonest chancer.

5/n

So who is to blame here?

2 groups of people, I think, and one is more seriously to blame than the other.

6/n

The first group is everyone who voted Tory in last December's election.

They *knew* that they were voting for an incompetent, dishonest chancer to become PM.

What did they think was going to happen?

7/n

Sure, they didn't know then that Johnson would have to handle the #Covid19 pandemic, but most PMs have to handle some kind of crisis at some stage.

Anyone who was paying attention *knew* that Johnson was completely unsuited to the task.

8/n

The second group of people are Tory MPs. They are even more to blame.

Quite apart from their role in allowing an incompetent, dishonest chancer to become their party leader in the first place, they don't have the excuse of not knowing about #Covid19

9/n

They now have all the information they need to see that #Covid19 is here and that Johnson is massively cocking up his response to it.

They know that people are dying in their thousands.

And yet what do they do about it?

10/n

Nothing. That's what they do about it. Absolutely nothing.

They simply nod along and allow Johnson to carry on being incompetent.

They prioritise loyalty to the party over the lives and livelihoods of their constituents.

11/n

There is nothing the electorate can do about this for another 4 years.

But Tory MPs can act *now*. The Tory party has well rehearsed mechanisms for MPs to get rid of a leader if they want to.

And yet they don't. They don't care about people dying.

12/n

History will judge today's crop of Tory MPs very harshly for allowing this total Charlie Foxtrot to continue.

ENDS

13/13