The damning state of governance in the UK... It absolutely hurts the eyes.
First published in June 2020.
The week in Tory...
1. The government said “We will work around the clock to ensure that nobody goes hungry as a result of this crisis”.
2. Four days later the government ended free meals for the poorest 1.3m children.
PMP XTRAFour days ago Lord Gardiner of Kimble, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State said: "We will work around the clock to ensure that nobody goes hungry as a result of this crisis.”
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) June 5, 2020
Then yesterday his Govt ended free meals for 1.3m of the poorest children.https://t.co/nOqll0Pv02 pic.twitter.com/eED9LZnEIb
3. The government ruled that teachers MUST wear face-masks on public transport whilst travelling to school “for safety reasons”.
4. The government then ruled that teachers must NOT wear face-masks in schools.
5. Matt Hancock said he was “100% guided by the science”.
6. A leading government scientist said the failure to enter lockdown sooner “has cost a lot of lives”.
7. Matt Hancock said that bit of science was wrong.
8. The government said nurses had received a “significant pay rise” in response to Covid-19.
9. Nurses have not been awarded a pay rise since 2018.
10. The government said “a protective ring had been thrown around care homes”.
11. The head of Outbreak Modelling at Imperial College said Covid-19 is still “spilling out of hospitals and care homes”.
12. The government said “We have now managed successfully to offer tests to every care home”.
13. National Care Forum found 13% of care homes had not been tested, and 43% had tests which were void due to testing infrastructure problems.
PMP XTRA
Test, test, test. / National Care Forum | 5 June 2020
14. Boris Johnson said the lockdown would remain until the R rate falls below 1.
15. The government announced “R rate is below 1 in each region of the country”.
16. In some UK regions, the R rate was recorded as 1.01.
17. Serco was granted the contract to do contact-tracing, despite having been recently fined £1m for multiple failures on a previous government contract.
18. The Health Minister responsible for the contract, Edward Argar, is a former Serco lobbyist.
19. Boris Johnson said “decisions will be taken with the maximum possible transparency”.
20. The detailed reasons for Serco’s fine have not been revealed, despite a 6-month freedom of information battle.
21. The government said the testing and contact-tracing system would be “world beating” and ready on 1 June.
22. It wasn’t, and won’t be ready until September.
23. The former government chief scientific advisor said it’s “not fit for purpose” and “will not be enough to pick up 80% of the contacts of people with the virus”.
24. Boris Johnson acknowledged the “incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice” behind Black Lives Matter.
25. Boris Johnson has previously:
a. Referred to Commonwealth citizens as “picaninnies”.
b. Described black people as having “watermelon smiles”.
c. Called the people of Papua New Guinea “cannibals”.
d. Suggested reinstating the British Empire in former colonies.
e. Said “Islamophobia seems a natural reaction”.
f. Stated that the UK must accept “Islam is the problem”.
g. Referred to Muslim women as looking like “bank robbers” and “letter-boxes”.
h. Recited a racist poem in Buddhist temple, and had to be stopped by the British Ambassador.
i. Called Africa a “blot” and said “the problem is that we are not in charge any more”.
PMP XTRAAfter Barack Obama suggested that the UK should remain in the EU, Boris Johnson said that the then-US President should stay out of the conversation as he was “part-Kenyan” and had an “ancestral dislike” for the UK.
— Angry Scotland Podcast🎙 (@AngryScotland) June 19, 2019
26. Boris Johnson said racism in the UK “cannot be ignored”.
27. Two years after the Windrush scandal was revealed, only 60 of the 1,275 victims have yet received compensation.
28. Boris Johnson said “I will not support or indulge those who break the law.”
29. Dominic Cummings is still in his job. So is Housing Minister Robert Jenrick, who unlawfully approved a £40m property development for a Tory donor.
30. The Attorney General tweeted Cummings breaking the lockdown was not a crime because he acted on “instinct”.
31. The Home Secretary said Black Lives Matter protesters have to face justice.
32. She said destruction of a slave-trader’s statue by protesters was “vandalism and completely unacceptable”.
PMP XTRA"It is a completely unacceptable act. Sheer vandalism and disorder are completely unacceptable."
— ITV News West Country (@itvwestcountry) June 8, 2020
Home Secretary Priti Patel has condemned the actions of those who pulled down Edward Colston's statue in Bristol on Sunday.
More here: https://t.co/b0M2EIkiPW pic.twitter.com/ScAEyW4GVl
33. When Boris Johnson joined the Bullingdon Club “the whole culture was to exert vandalism - they had to have their room smashed to pieces”.
34. The government (which promised an “oven-ready” deal on Brexit) said the deal had stalled.
35. The government (which said there were no down-sides to Brexit) agreed with the IMF that no-deal would mean a permanent 5% cut to GDP.
36. The CBI said Covid-19 left companies with “almost zero” resilience to no-deal.
37. It is reported Boris Johnson shouted “Christ!” when told no-deal, on top of Covid-19, would lead to 3.5 million job losses.
38. The government refuses to extend the transition period to avoid no-deal.
39. In January, Boris Johnson agreed a Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and called it a “fantastic moment”.
40. Boris Johnson now says the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement he agreed is “defective” and wants to change it.
41. Britons receiving German citizenship rose 2,300% last year.
42. Boris Johnson said “I want to share all our working, our thinking, my thinking, with you, the British people”.
43. The government is now facing a legal challenge from doctors and other health workers, because it refuses to order an inquiry into PPE shortages.
44. And we still haven’t seen the report into Russian interference with the Brexit campaign.
45. Boris Johnson said he is taking “direct control” of the handling of coronavirus (it is not clear who has been in control for the previous 132 days of the outbreak).
PMP XTRACorona pandemic in UK—Prime Minister takes back control: https://t.co/Baxs8jRXJj
— Graham Farmelo (@grahamfarmelo) June 4, 2020
46. It was reported Boris Johnson takes naps for as much as 3 hours per working day.
47. The UK government now has the joint-lowest approval rating worldwide for how they have managed coronavirus.
48. The government said in March that a coronavirus death toll of 20,000 would be a “good result”.
49. The ONS said excess deaths from coronavirus have now officially reached 63,000.
50. Boris Johnson’s personal approval ratings have fallen 40% in 40 days.
51. Boris Johnson said he was “very proud” of the government response.
It’s still only Wednesday.🔷
PMP XTRACheck their Voting Record:
🗳️ Matt Hancock
🗳️ Boris Johnson
🗳️ Edward Argar
🗳️ Priti Patel
🗳️ Robert Jenrick
🗳️ Suella Braverman
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[This piece was first published as a Twitter thread and turned into the above article on 10 June 2020 with the purpose of reaching a larger audience. It has been minorly edited and corrected, and published with the author’s consent. | The author of the tweets writes in a personal capacity.]
