The Conservatives have trolled Keir Starmer over his ability to “hold multiple positions at the same time” with a Valentine’s Day-themed social media campaign named “Starmer Sutra”.
The string of eyebrow-raising posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, highlight a number of U-turns the Labour party leader has made in recent weeks.
Dubbing him the “father of U-turns”, backtracked policies including Starmer’s stance on backdating Labour’s windfall tax, a second Brexit referendum and monarchy are featured.
Introducing the series, the Conservative Party wrote: “The Starmer Sutra is the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for the politically promiscuous. Written by the father of u-turns, this is the definitive how-to guide on flip-flopping into different positions on anything.
“*Only available in paperback and spineless editions*”
The mock front cover also features a photoshopped picture of Starmer appearing in a twisted position.
The first “position” spotlights Starmer saying £28 billion of extra spending on green measures was needed on February 6 on Times Radio, before he dismissed the stance the next day on BBC News.
Position two features Starmer’s infamous u-turn on his pledge to backdate Labour’s windfall tax on oil and gas companies, which he made on February 9 before dropping the plans the same day.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the party’s plans for an extra £28 billion a year in green investment at Labour’s conference in September 2021.
Sir Keir said £28bn of annual investment in green initiatives was “desperately needed” and that his support for the spending plan was “unwavering”.
However, the Labour leader later confirmed that the pledge is being scaled back, blaming a more difficult economic outlook since it was first unveiled.
The party has blamed the Conservatives’ “crashing the economy” and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s “plans to ‘max out’ the country’s credit card” for the conclusion it would not be possible to reach the previous commitment of £28 billion a year.
Another U-turn highlighted in the Tory series was Mr Starmer’s stance on a second Brexit referendum, which he appeared to support in 2019 before saying he disagreed with the possibility in 2022.
One of the more scandalous positions was the ninth and final one dubbed the “non-dominatrix”.
This card of Starmer Sutra spotlights Starmer’s claim he would scrap the non-dom tax status in early February before Labour said they would not do this on February 12.
The posts received mixed responses online, with some social media users saying they were “impressed” with the witty tweets, while others labelled them as “desperate”.
Others scorned the party for making sexual jokes whilst several Tory MPs are being investigated for sexual misconduct allegations.
It is not the first time Tory Twitter has endeavoured to entertain the masses with cheeky tweets.
In December Tory HQ used a viral image of a BBC news anchor giving the middle finger to attack Labour over immigration.
The Conservative Party’s official account used the image and the caption: “Labour when you ask for their plans to tackle illegal migration.”
The move sparked a row among Conservative MPs with some urging the party to take down the post.
On Thursday evening, Alicia Kearns wrote: “Amazed this has not – despite requests – been taken down, it is beneath us”. Tobias Ellwood also posted a tweet asking for it to be deleted.
Political campaigning experts, More in Common, also carried out research to see how the tweet was received by the public and found that by a 68 per cent to ten per cent margin it was seen as “inappropriate” rather than “appropriate”.
“We are being governed by 14-year-olds,” one social media user wrote, another adding: “This will have cost you votes. Keep digging that hole, you’re about to hit lava.”
