I am always a bit hesitant about commenting on politics because I don’t in any way pretend to be an expert, only an occasionally interested observer; but I have been reading Anne Applebaum’s very tough, well informed and well observed analysis of the rise of authoritarian regimes in eastern Europe, Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends, and I can’t help but note obvious characteristics which are observable here as well: the first is that radical disruption is regarded as good for a country because it allows the state to seize powers which would normally be regarded as unacceptable; the second is that the seizure of power begins with the dismissal of prominent civil servants who are regarded as ideologically non-aligned, as is happening here; the third is that the regimes put the newspapers on their payroll, so that they cease to be impartial, as I understand has happened at the Daily Telegraph. The next thing in the playbook is an attack on the judiciary. I recommend the book which is so clear and written by someone who was inside the tent, knows all the players, but has now left it.

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/mei/news-and-opinion/items/prorogation-struck-at-the-very-heart-of-parliamentary-democracy-but-it-was-not-an-isolated-incident-dr-robert-saunders.html