General Election 2024: When electioneering goes wrong

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Politicians through the ages have been caught out and tripped up in the course of a general election. We take a look back at the most epic fails.

Transcript

00:00It's been quite the general election so far. After a soggy start, Sakia Starmer was accused

00:07of dithering over Diane, and put in a less than convincing performance in the TV debate.

00:13The Prime Minister, meanwhile, upset the Welsh by going on about the Euros, was accused of

00:18captaining a sinking ship at the Titanic Quarter, and did a U-turn at D-Day.

00:23But with all this noise, how do politicians cut through? Leader of the Liberal Democrats

00:28Ed Davey thinks that political stunts are the way to go. While others get embroiled

00:33in rows and accusations, Ed is having a dog-hugging, beer-drinking, hair-cutting, cycle-riding,

00:39ball-potting time. But political stunts don't always pay off.

00:47Join me as I take a look at the comical antics of our would-be rulers, and how their desperate

00:52desire to grab our attention can sometimes succeed for all the wrong reasons.

00:591983, and Labour leader Neil Kinnock is in Brighton for his party conference, and he

01:08makes a fateful offer to the press.

01:11Do you want a real stool? Go on then. I'll walk on the water.

01:25Another Labour leader, Ed Miliband, is probably most famous for that bacon sandwich photograph,

01:30but it was during the 2015 election that things took a turn for the worst.

01:36An ill-conceived idea to carve manifesto pledges into stone cost over £7,000, which, along

01:42with £120,000 of missing payments from their election expenses return, saddled them with

01:47a £20,000 fine.

01:53Next up in the politician's rulebook, try not to get caught out by a sneaky question.

01:57What's the naughtiest thing you ever did?

02:00Oh, goodness me. Well, I suppose the... Gosh, do you know? I'm not quite sure.

02:08There must have been a moment.

02:09Nobody is ever perfectly behaved, are they? I mean, you know, I have to confess, when

02:14me and my friends sort of used to run through the fields of wheat, the farmers weren't too

02:18pleased about that.

02:19In 2015, Harriet Harman took to the road in a bright pink bus in a bid to attract women's

02:26votes, but the wheels came off when the colour of the vehicle was described as patronising.

02:31And who remembers when Gordon Brown forgot he had a microphone on?

02:36That was a disaster.

02:39I should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that?

02:45I don't know, I didn't see it.

02:47Sue, I think.

02:49It's ridiculous.

02:52I'm not sure they'll go with that one.

02:54They will go in.

02:56What did she say?

02:57Oh, everything. She's just a sort of bigoted woman that said she used to be great.

03:02It's ridiculous.

03:03They will go in.

03:06Oh, can't remember.

03:07Her face says it all.

03:09She used to be great.

03:15Now, here's a man who's no stranger to a visual stunt, but when you need to make a

03:20political statement, there's no point in hanging around.

03:50You

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