‘Hmm, but that bloke in the picture behind you broke the law, didn’t he?’
Priti Patel has been ridiculed after posting a general election campaign video on social media in which she talks of law and order, whilst standing next to a framed photo of Boris Johnson who was fined for breaking lockdown rules.
The former Home Secretary was attempting to appeal to voters in the constituency of Witham in a video posted on her X account, in which she declared she is a “passionate believer of law and order”.
In the video Patel said: “I have also been responsible for changing our laws to ensure that those who do the most terrible things, the most heinous crimes, serve longer prison sentences and I’m unapologetic about that because I believe in law and order and making the right punishment and deterrent to fit the crime.”
Hanging on the wall next to Patel, along with a Vote Conservative banner and a Union Jack flag, is a framed photograph of Boris Johnson. Patel was a key ally to Johnson and was rewarded in Johnson’s honours list.
Not only was the former Prime Minister fined in 2022 for breaching lockdown rules but he was also found to have deliberately misled Parliament over Partygate and was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating them, an official inquiry found.
Writer Otto English commented: “Delivered in front of a framed photo of the first British prime minister in history to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office – without a paradox in the world.”
The RMT union wrote on X: “It’s cute that she’s stood next to a photo of one of the people who received a fine when she was in charge of law and order!”
Another X user said: “Hmm, but that bloke in the picture behind you broke the law, didn’t he? I sort of think that makes everything else you’ve said in this selfie a bit … redundant (sorry to say that word at such a sensitive time)”.
It also comes after Boris Johnson dismissed Donald Trump’s criminal conviction on 34 felony charges as “a machine-gun mob-style hit job” in a Daily Mail op-ed, as he launched an attack instead against the “liberal elites” who he claimed were trying to undermine Trump’s popularity.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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