Boris Johnson was photoshopped into one of AC-12′s infamously tense interviews by the campaign group Led By Donkeys in a scathing takedown of Partygate.
The prime minister is facing increasing pressure about his time in office as the allegations about No.10 hosting drinks parties throughout lockdown continue to grow.
Led By Donkeys, known for their powerful online campaigns against the government, have now taken things to a new level with their take on BBC One’s popular police drama, Line of Duty.
These officers – part of the AC-12 unit – usually investigate other corrupt police.
In this altered clip, however, Superintendent Hastings, DI Fleming and DI Arnott put the prime minister on the spot instead.
In the four-minute clip, DI Arnott can be heard reading out the email invite to the boozy no.10 party from April 2020, while elements of the prime minister’s excruciating interview with Sky News about the allegations have been cut into the footage.
DI Fleming points out how ministers were imposing one set of restrictions on the public – while seemingly living by another set of rules.
Superintendent Hastings then quizzes Johnson about breaching the health protection regulations, only for the prime minister to repeatedly respond: “All that, as you know, will be subject to an investigation by Sue Gray.”
The police officers accuse Johnson of thinking he’s “above the law” and tell him “the party’s over”.
Superintendent Hastings delivers a characteristically emotional line and says: “If you’ve got one shred of compassion for all those families who sacrificed so much, who lost so much, you’ll go.”
The footage also squeezed in a couple of the police officer’s famous phrases, like “mother of god” and “fella”.
Footage from Johnson’s apology to the Commons – where he claims he believed the party in question was “implicitly” a work event – is also cut into the clever campaign.
When asked if the three actors, Vicky McClure, Adrian Dunbar and Martin Compston, had contributed extra lines to make the clip appear more realistic, Led By Donkeys replied that they could “neither confirm nor deny”.
The Metropolitan Police have so far refused to investigate the allegations of parties in Downing Street, explaining they will only look into the claims if Sue Gray finds criminal evidence in her inquiry.
The edited footage was released just a month after Line of Duty boss Jed Mercurio rejected the idea of having Johnson in the show as a cop when he was pictured in police uniform – and even he retweeted it.