John McDonnell has been mocked for referring to John Lennon in his Labour Conference speech advocating Socialism.
The Shadow Chancellor’s speech was called “the political equivalent of David Brent” and “reheated mantras of a bygone era” by the Lib Dems after he echoed Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’, about a better world.
He told the Liverpool conference: “In the birthplace of John Lennon, it falls to us to inspire people to imagine. Imagine the society that we can create. It’s a society that’s radically transformed, radically fairer, more equal and more democratic.
The Lib Dems’ jibe was just the beginning.
Some imagined there was no policy...
Others imagined there was no electoral strategy...
Or that there was no editing...
It wasn’t hard to do...
No reference to Lennon’s earlier work...
...And no debate on Brexit, too
Imagine all the parties...
Mocking Labour as one...
That last is the latest gag from the Lib Dem press office, joking about how Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis had his speech changed at the last minute to keep alive the possibility of Labour committing to abolishing Trident nuclear weapons.
Lib Dem economic spokeswoman Susan Kramer said of McDonnell’s effort: “To be fair most speech writers say open with a gag and when he said ‘we have to become a government in waiting’, he delivered a decent joke.”