Rishi Sunak Campaign Gaffe As Tory MP Accidentally Reveals Instructions

A Twitter classic.
Screengrab from a video posted by the former chancellor Rishi Sunak who has announced he will stand to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Screengrab from a video posted by the former chancellor Rishi Sunak who has announced he will stand to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Rishi Sunak via PA Media

Rishi Sunak’s Tory leadership run got off to a less than promising start after one of his backers accidentally posted instructions he appeared to have received from the campaign.

On Friday, the ex-chancellor announced he will stand via a slicky-produced video that has become his trademark, alongside a #Ready4Rishi hashtag.

Paul Maynard, the Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, swiftly said he is backing Sunak’s push to succeed Boris Johnson – but didn’t fully grasp what he was supposed to do on Twitter.

In a now deleted tweet, the apparent instructions said: “If you’re happy, can you tweet and include the hashtag Ready4Rishi, and crucially the website Ready4rishi.com, and then your infographic below.”

Excellent pic.twitter.com/NgVhYyVuzM

— Ned Simons (@nedsimons) July 8, 2022

Given that Paul Maynard doesn't appear to be the most tech savvy of MPs, it looks as though team Rishi has been drawing up individual infographics for each of his supporters

slick PR https://t.co/fdjAgOj43C

— Harry Yorke (@HarryYorke1) July 8, 2022

This is how it should have gone ...

I want Rishi Sunak to be our next Prime Minister #ready4rishi https://t.co/nPEwl0zd2V pic.twitter.com/Lg3XDKWSt1

— Paul Maynard MP (@PaulMaynardUK) July 8, 2022

At least Oliver Dowden got it right...

Why I’m backing Rishi 👇

To get involved https://t.co/xnDLgy7iRv #Ready4Rishi pic.twitter.com/Fp7xcm55wC

— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) July 8, 2022

Another Sunak supporter couldn’t quite get it either...

This is no ordinary copy-and-paste tweet, this is a Mark Spencer copy-and-paste tweet pic.twitter.com/vwdFi7FpCy

— Denis Hurley (@Denis_Hurley) July 8, 2022

Fascinated to see how many more of @RishiSunak’s dynamic campaign team forget to remove their name from the copy and paste proforma… pic.twitter.com/pRhmlGjNGY

— Andrew Western (@AndrewHWestern) July 8, 2022

It brought to mind the time Jeremy Corbyn accidentally read out the instruction “strong message here” during a speech, and footballer Victor Anichebe’s “tweet something like” classic.

***Strong message here*** pic.twitter.com/9GgXFQe1ni

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) July 8, 2022

Maybe the @RishiSunak leadership campaign isn't as 'slick' as some assume..#cutnpaste pic.twitter.com/6N1sH2Evck

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) July 8, 2022

I think I'm having a fever dream. Just laughing hysterically now. pic.twitter.com/Qq26fB0Zip

— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) July 8, 2022

Can you tweet something like

Unbelievable support yesterday and
great effort by the lads! Hard result to
take! But we go again! pic.twitter.com/HtuP8b8zaO

— . (@twlldun) July 8, 2022

pic.twitter.com/9DcelKlBrB

— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) July 8, 2022

All Sunak’s early backers shared a link to the campaign website, www.ready4rishi.com.

It appears that a site with a slightly different name, www.readyforrishi.com, which redirects to the official campaign page, was set up in December 2021.

Sunak’s team said domains are bought all the time, adding that they had been transferred a number of them.

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