Americans are convinced the UK “is not a real place” after a baffling BBC TV clip from the election went viral.
The UK electorate voted for change on Thursday, ushering in sensible politics following 14 years of tory chaos. But across the pond, American onlookers found some aspects of the UK’s election to be somewhat odd with the country being branded “not a real place” as a result.
In a viral tweet shared by Atlantan Brent Peabody, a clip was shared from the Kingston & Surbiton seat in Greater London where Lib Dem leader Ed Davey won convincingly.
But it was not Mr Davey’s win that drew attention, despite the Lib Dem’s stunt-packed campaign, with attention being focused solely on the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate A.Gent Chinners.
As the count was being read out, Mr Chinners stepped forward on the stage to shout “thank you” while clad in a badge filled red robe and top hat, complete with an oversized black and yellow rosette. Mr Chinners came last in the count, earning 230 votes – far behind Mr Davey’s 25,870.
The Monster Raving Loony Party typically attracts protest voters and deliberately presents bizarre policies. In an odd twist the party has fielded policies that are now part of UK law – including 24-hour licensing laws.
But the post quickly went viral on X/Twitter with some 1.3million people having seen the clip since it was shared in the early hours of Friday morning. Many of those who commented on the post found the humour in the clip and even compared it positively to the state of politics in the US.
Alan Dartnell said: “He got 230 votes. Scaled to size he’d get 2m in USA.” Steely commented; “Coming from someone in a country that elected Trump, that’s pretty rich.”
Vickster51 praised the UK’s electoral system despite the bizarre clip, posting: “And yet we have a smooth transition of leader/ government over the course of one working day.” Bob Fleming added: “We also don’t **** around after the election result for weeks and months before bringing in the new guy…here, it’s a few hours. That includes shoving all the possessions of the outgoing premier, into a van, and moving the stuff of the new premier into the premier’s apartment.”
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AFP via Getty Images)
Numerous bizarre and wonderful candidates made an appearance at the General Election. In North Yorkshire, Count Binface challenged Rishi Sunak for his seat, but also lost.