Tory MEPs laugh about playing Brexit games, then delete the evidence

Tory MEP's playing a Brexit themed board game next to an EU flag
Joshua Funnell


It’s only been a couple of weeks since a Tory MEP seemed to compare the EU’s social democrats to Nazis. But Tory MEPs have managed to embarrass their party yet again.

This time, they’ve used their strong political judgement and posted a picture of themselves having a laugh while playing a Brexit negotiation board game. Because Brexit, which affects everybody’s lives, is clearly just a game.

Siri, show us the perfect metaphor for Tories playing with people’s lives 

The image was posted from the Conservative MEPs’ official Twitter account. But they quickly deleted the evidence, as the link originally included in Labour MEP Richard Corbett’s tweet has now vanished:

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But Corbett, an anti-Brexit campaigner, retrieved the evidence:

And long after the tweet was deleted by the Conservatives’ official account, Tory MEP John Flack remained defiant:

Pun pile-on

Whether gambling on a referendum, or playing chicken throughout negotiations, the Tories have treated Brexit like a game from the start.

Unsurprisingly, Twitter was on hand to provide a masterclass in board-game-related Brexit puns:

Yes, the board game does actually exist

The game in question is available to buy online, for £66 no less:

And dare we say the gameplay description accurately describes the Tories’ current Brexit negotiation performance:

Will you save the country, or unleash political and economic carnage? …

You’ll be… shocked by the duplicity of your colleagues sneakily pursuing their own separate strategic goals

The description of how to succeed at the game explains where the Tories are going wrong:

Working out the Brexit deal requires patience, cunning, and forward thinking.

And if this recent admission by Brexit secretary Dominic Raab is anything to go by, “forward thinking” is definitely lacking:

Games aren’t so fun when it’s real people’s lives at stake

But others are struggling to see the funny side:

Labour MEP Seb Dance added:

No self-awareness

This latest incident again demonstrates a staggering lack of self-awareness and political judgement by Conservative politicians. While they laugh, Brexit warnings are coming in thick and fast: from health, to economic standards of living, to the potential demolition of workers’ rights in a post-Brexit, Tory deregulation fantasy land.

What Tories seem to regard as a game could, in fact, be torture.

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