An MP has made a so-bad-you've-got-to-laugh gaffe worthy of satire following yesterday's budget announcements. Taking to Twitter, Grant Shapps, the Conservative party chairman, shared a misguided meme.
'Bingo!' it reads, in letters in coloured circles so that they look a bit like bingo balls. Below, in blue and white typeface: 'Cutting the Bingo Tax & Beer Duty'
Ok, so that wouldn't be so weird, but this next bit…just…grab hold of something because you're about to cringe: 'To help hardworking people do more of the things they enjoy'
Then there's a little 'Conservatives' logo at the bottom. Oh, and there's a hashtag '#Budget2014' at the top. Not that it needed a hashtag to start trending. The original tweet (which, in all fairness, Shapps did ask to be retweeted) has now got 1,500 RTs, and #torybingo is now trending. People are mocking up their own versions of the meme then sharing them with the hashtag, but, as Simon Blackwell, writer of political satire _The Thick Of I_t put it, the original is hilariously awkward as it is:
Yesterday's budget was pretty much old-people focused, giving them even more advantages over younger people, despite older people being at least risk of poverty, and youth unemployment still hovering around the one million mark.
However, two things that were made cheaper, which supposedly affect all 'hardworking people' across the country, are beer and bingo. Brb just changing our fave pastimes and hobbies on OkCupid.
'I thought it was a spoof at first, it’s just pretty extraordinary. It may be our Budget but it’s their words, I think it’s rather patronising.' Danny Alexander, Lib Dem Chief Secretary of the Treasury told The Guardian.
He did defend the new levies on drinking beer and gambling in a bingo hall, though: 'Also I think it actually demeans some quite sensible things. There are good reasons to be supporting bingo, there are good reasons to be encouraging our pub sector to be stronger - that’s the analysis behind those measures.'
Luckily, a lot of hardworking people are too busy going to foodbanks and second jobs to be checking Twitter, so probably won't catch sight of this.
** Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson**
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.