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Reading the Cummings programme, as delivered by Gove, there are a number of echoes of revolutionary programmes through history. https://bit.ly/2Vs0tyv 1/8
There’s the milennial zeal, the belief that the existing order needs to be overthrown, & that ‘the people’ - ie, as the piece singles out, the 52% - have been oppressed. And the enemies of the people are identified, including those running institutions such as universities. 2/8
And the language is strikingly similar: repeated references to ‘elites’, ‘morbid symptoms’, applauding those who aren’t ‘squeamish’ about harsh prison sentences, requiring public servants to be ‘transformative’ & attacking everything that is ‘established’. 3/8
It’s most reminiscent of Soviet Communism. The main idea (also pushed by eg Daniel Hannan & Toby Young) is that the UK is controlled by a liberal elite, & the relevant institutions (Civil Service, BBC, universities, quangos, judiciary etc) have to change. 4/8
Just as the Soviet leadership attacked various sections of Russian society (kulaks, intellectuals, clerics, businessmen), such elements must either be disempowered or reformed. Reformation means replacement by the ideologically sound. 5/8
Last year the Conservative Party was purged of ‘Remainer’ tendencies, now it’s the turn of the civil service, with 2 permanent secretaries & now the Cabinet Secretary forced out. The speech suggests some future targets as well. 6/8
There’s the suggestion to ‘compare individual courts, judges and CPS managers on their efficacy on processing cases’. We know of the Govt’s dislike of legal processes (JR, the ECJ, even its own Regulations). So expect a push for courts to be brought closer to ‘the people’. 7/8
Although only obliquely attacked (obstructive committees), Parliament is presumably part of the establishment that’s holding back the ‘People’s Government’, hence why it’s been sidelined recently. Whether enough MPs are content to go along with this remains to be seen. 8/8
