THREAD: This morning, during the review of the Sunday papers, Andrew Marr referred to Tory MPs who are considering rebelling against the govt on Brexit as “Tory hardcore Remainers” ffs #Marr
2/ This terminology is disgraceful gaslighting. It confirms yet again that many senior figures at the BBC have swallowed the Brexiters’ narratives, rather than exercising the independent critical judgement that we licence payers are entitled to expect.
3/ We can debate whether pro-Brexit narratives are regurgitated by the BBC because of bias, acquiescence in the face of bullying, or (my pet theory) an undeclared paternalistic view that continuing Brexit debate is “divisive” & the BBC’s role is to heal & unify a divided country.
4/ If there were still any widely held commitment in this country to using political language accurately, rather than to confuse & misdirect, a “hardcore Remainer” would be somebody who believes Brexit must be stopped, and who is campaigning to stop it by revoking Article 50.
5/ People who believe that Brexit is a terrible idea and will damage the country *but who are not actively campaigning to reverse Article 50* cannot properly be classed as “Remainers”, let alone “hardcore Remainers”.
6/ Except in a historical context, it is not accurate to refer to people as “Remainers” based on how how they voted in EUref 2 years ago. That is like describing old women with grey hair as blondes, brunettes or redheads. It is irrelevant and, deliberately or not, misleading.
7/ There is not a single Conservative MP in the House of Commons who is trying to stop Brexit. Not even Ken Clarke (he was interviewed on the World This Weekend today). They all accept it will happen, albeit reluctantly in some cases, & are trying to influence what form it takes.
8/ Despite the bullshit Brexiter gaslighting, there is not, objectively speaking, One True Brexit whereby anything that deviates from this isn’t really Brexit. Brexit will have occurred if we cease to be legally members of the EU.
9/ Whether we crash out with No-Deal, get the fantasy “deep and special bespoke partnership” that this govt keeps wittering on about, or join the EEA, we will have Brexited.
“Legally exiting the EU means Brexiting.”
10/ The Leave campaigns promised all things to all people. When they tell us that Vote Leave were clear during EUref debate that Brexit meant leaving the Single Market (or the Customs Union), they are cherrypicking...
11/ Yes, Vote Leave did say those things. However, at other times they also said the exact opposite of those things. (A deliberate tactic.) Which version to believe? So splicing together a few selected video snippets doesn’t give them a mandate to Leave SM/CU. #LeaveLiars
12/ Yes, Anna Soubry, Nicky Morgan, Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve, etc were Remain in 2016. But they are no longer campaigning to stay in the EU. They are, quite legitimately & democratically, trying to make sure as they see it that Brexit does as little economic damage as possible.
13/ Therefore to call them “Remainers” is at best misleading, at worst downright dishonest.
14/ The Tory rebels are not trying to stop Brexit. They accept that the UK will cease to be an EU member on 29/3/2019. But they, legitimately, want to influence what kind of relationship we, as non-members, have with the EU in future.
15/ More accurate ways of referring to the Tory rebels would be “former Remainers” or “reluctant Brexiters” or “pragmatic Brexiters” or “damage-limiters” or “soft Brexiters”.
17/ The same is true of Labour’s Westminster MPs- even the most outspoken rebels, like Chuka Umunna are not campaigning to keep us as members of the EU. They are pushing for the softest possible Brexit. (I think some Labour MEPs- @SebDance anyway- are trying to stop Brexit.)
18/ There are very few MPs at Westminster who are Remainers, let alone “hardcore Remainers”- and none, to my knowledge on the Conservative or Labour benches.//
PS- BBC Evening News just now correctly describing Amber Rudd as a “former Remainer”. Good. Well done, @iainjwatson.
But Andrew Marr is, once again, an utter disgrace on Brexit. #marr#BBCfail
Here’s an earlier thread I did on a similar subject (when BBC kept talking about the balance between Leavers & Remainers in Cabinet, after Amber Rudd’s resignation):
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THREAD: Ahead of my semi-retirement from Twitter tomorrow, I’m going to be self-indulgent & re-up some of the stuff I’m proudest of from these past 3 years. (Spoiler: nearly all about Brexit: a mix of analysis, advice & scathing, sweary invective). [1/x]
2/ My time on Twitter has been a journey. I started out naively arguing for what I believed in, assuming our opponents were similarly acting in good faith. I’ve learnt a lot. Along the way, I’ve had fun, made friends, & valued the sense of community here when things felt bad.
3/ There’s not much to say about my first 18 months on Twitter. For the first year, I was living in Japan so it was my way of feeling connected with the politics of my home country. I felt the looming EUref was big. I argued with Leavers, including Julia H-B & Louise Mensch.
THREAD: Ahead of my semi-retirement from Twitter tomorrow, I’m going to be self-indulgent & re-up some of the stuff I’m proudest of from these past 3 years. (Spoiler: nearly all about Brexit: a mix of observation, analysis, advice & scathing invective). [1/x]
2/ My time on Twitter has been a journey. I started out naively arguing for what I believed in, assuming our opponents were similarly acting in good faith. I’ve learnt a lot. Along the way, I’ve had fun, made friends, & valued the sense of community here when things felt bad.
3/ There’s not much to say about my first 18 months on Twitter. For the first year, I was living in Japan so it was my way of feeling connected with the politics of my home country. I felt the looming EUref was big. I argued with Leavers, including Julia H-B & Louise Mensch.
Announcing my Twitter semi-retirement as of 8 August. Holiday, then a demanding new job; so I’m deleting Twitter from my phone. I’ll observe/like/retweet a bit & may tweet occasionally, but after 3 years it’s time for me to cut back. Thanks & best wishes to all you lovely people!
For avoidance of doubt, my views on Brexit remain unchanged: it’s a terrible idea for all the reasons I listed in this thread back in April 2017.
Ideally, it should be stopped for the sake of the country. And if it can no longer be stopped because of the scorched-earth tactics used by the zealots who promoted it to lock in their narrow EUref victory, it should be softened a) to limit the damage & b) to teach them a lesson.
Tearing my hair out at well-meaning people who keep saying Alt-Right controversialists & Brexit advocates are “stupid” because they say factually wrong, obtuse or offensive things. They are *not* stupid; they are part of a highly sophisticated network running rings around us👇
We keep making the mistake of applying our standards and our rules to them. They are NOT trying to win a fact-based argument. They are not trying to convince most people that what they’re saying is true. Here’s what they are (successfully) doing:👇
- dominating news cycle & setting theme of national conversation
- generating outrage (authoritarianism, or fascism if you prefer, thrives in a climate of anger, polarisation & shouting)
Big problem with BBC’s justification for giving a platform to the Alt-Shite (“we don’t agree with them but they speak for a significant minority; we must let consensus be challenged”): after EUref, BBC shut down the views of those who still thought leaving the EU was a bad idea.
BBC clearly decides that *some* views which are held by a significant minority of the population, and which challenge whatever right-thinking people have decided is the new consensus are just too inconvenient and divisive to be heard. But others are not.
I just find it a bit weird that the minority view that gets frantically shut down is the one in favour of international cooperation & upholding the (admittedly shaky) consensus of the past 40 years while the one that gets airtime is the one that rests on sowing polarisation.
THREAD: We are now well & truly past the stage of Brexit where satire has any meaning. There’s nothing we can do to make Brexiters’ words & ideas more ridiculous than they already are. You simply need to quote them as they are presented in supposedly pro-Brexit newspapers. (1/x)
Take this article: “May’s ‘no-deal’ Brexit stance is kamikaze say Leavers” in the ERG fanzine formerly known as the Daily Telegraph... 2/
“Brexiteers had hoped that the publication next month of dozens of documents setting out Britain’s No-Deal planning would show the impact it would have on the EU as well, giving the Prime Minister leverage in the negotiations.” 3/