Off the record

If - as seems likely - Boris Johnson becomes our next Prime Minister - he would be well-advised to appoint someone to come up with better jokes than he has deployed during the campaign.

At the hustings in Maidstone, he quipped that he had warned voters in Sevenoaks “that Jeremy Corbyn would put up a garden tax so that Sevenoaks would have to change its name to Threeoaks as a result of his deprivations.” Apparently, he had used the same joke at a previous hustings and Off The Record was present for the original gag - in the actual garden centre in Sevenoaks where he alluded to four oaks. And, yes, it left those present equally underwhelmed. Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt tried his hand at stand up comedy, telling the audience that “I discovered that the Mayor of Maidstone gave the death penalty to Charles I and I am hoping you will be a bit more generous to the runner-up in this contest because I want Boris in my cabinet.” Oh well, at least he had done some research. But this only proves that comedy should be best left to comedians and politics, er, best left to politicians.

Supporters of the two contenders had their own stalls at the hustings, selling the standard merchandise of pens, drinks mats and t-shirts.

We weren’t entirely sure that the slogan on specially branded biscuits on the Hunt stall quite hit the mark - “One Tough Cookie.” Which might have been taken by some as a reference to the quality of the product rather than the quality of the candidate.

Kent MPs were out in force for the hustings - mostly those backing Boris. Among them were Ashford MP Damian Green, Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch and Faversham and Mid Kent MP Helen Whately, and Maidstone’s Helen Grant.