A Tory minister was openly laughed at for claiming the party “always gets the country back on its feet”.
Esther McVey made the claim at an election campaign hustings event.
The so-called minister for common sense, who is running for re-election in Tatton, was standing behind a table alongside candidates from other parties and wearing a blue rosette.
A video of the event shows her telling the audience: “The Conservative Party always gets the country back on its feet.”
The minister looks slightly bewildered as the audience then bursts into laughter.
Undeterred, McVey - who is defending a majority of more than 17,000 - then tells them: “And I will say that again.”
The clip is further evidence the the Tories are heading for disaster on July 4 as the party’s election campaign goes from bad to worse.
Chris Hopkins of pollsters Savanta told HuffPost UK that the election could be an “extinction-level event” for the Conservatives as they continue to trail well behind Labour in the polls.
In recent days, the Tory campaign has also become engulfed in the controversy over the prime minister’s decision to leave last week’s D-Day commemoration in Normandy early.