This rogue Tory MP is responsible for the most Alan Partridge tweet of 2018

Johnny Mercer MP and Alan Partridge


Support us and go ad-free

Johnny Mercer went rogue from the Conservative Party on 18 October. The MP for Plymouth Moor View described the current government as a “shit show”. When people looked into it more, an interesting tweet emerged:

Err… what?

Ah ha!

The tweet prompting this response has since been deleted. The account that posted it – @Billabong1965 – no longer exists. Possibly this means Mercer caught up with them and instigated some sort of duel:

Although – you know – probably not. They likely just deleted their account or got banned for making more baseless insinuations.

People pointed out that Mercer had just drawn more attention to the issue:

Read on...

Others wondered if he’d made a mistake:

And eventually, it snowballed into a full-blown meme:

Hark, the herald comes!

People played off several other memes:

Some made references to popular culture:

Some thought the idea bore expanding upon:

People also wondered about this event’s eventual legacy:

And in the middle of it all, people asked that we spare a thought for the Plymouth Herald:

Although the team there have played it to their advantage:

Although all good things come to an end:

The Plymouth Herald has unearthed what they believe was the original comment, but it’s been deleted for breaching the site’s guidelines. If the commentator was spreading untrue information about women, obviously that is completely unacceptable, and the site was right to delete it. Comments such as those alleged should be reported and dealt with, but Mercer’s macho handling of the matter has just amplified them. As a golden rule of thumb, don’t insinuate something about a person you wouldn’t want insinuated about yourself.

Legacy

The executive editor of ConservativeHome thinks Mercer might have done himself a favour:

On 18 October, however, Mercer said:

If the situation was like it is now, I can safely say there would be absolutely no chance that I would try and be a Member of Parliament.

He also drew attention to his opinions that UK soldiers shouldn’t face consequences for incidents like the killing of John Pat Cunningham. The Canary has previously reported:

The British Life Guard Regiment shot and killed Cunningham near his home in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. They shot him in a field. He was unarmed and described as “a vulnerable man with learning difficulties”.

In April 2015, Dennis Hutchings was charged with attempted murder. The case is still ongoing.

Take Mercer

Now he’s done trashing the reputations of himself and his party, there’s only one logical place for Mercer to go next. So look out, the comment section of the Plymouth Herald:

Get Involved!

– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.

Featured image via UK Parliament Johnny Mercer / BristleKRS Flickr

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us

Comments are closed