The official Conservative Party account on X has published a bizarre post that claims Britain is “the second most powerful country in the world”.
The Tories called on “doomsters” to stop “talking down our country”, and included a montage of Rishi Sunak with images of The King and the England football team, among others, in an apparent effort to stir up some patriotism.
The post says: “Don’t let the doomsters and the naysayers trick you into talking down our country. The UK is as strong as ever”, with the image emblazoned with the words “Britain is the second most powerful country in the world”.
The claim is based on Brand Finance’s 2024 Global Soft Power Index, which was written up by The Express as “Huge Brexit Britain victory as UK is world’s second most powerful country”.
People were quick to pick holes in the message, from the Tories doing their best to talk down London and Birmingham in recent mayoral campaign ads, to where a container ship included was actually made, and the English-focus in an apparently UK-wide proclamation.
Here’s just some of the reaction ...