Pants, chips and kiss me quick – the good, bad and funny of politics

● The memorable moments in the chase for votes were not about policies, photo-opportunities were far more important

It was the general election campaign that saw the Prime Minister savage a poke of chips in Cornwall and Willie Rennie emerge in a puff of smoke from a Delorean and which gifted the world a photograph of Nicola Sturgeon with a stained glass plate in the shape of underpants. Now, finally, the daily campaign grind has come to an end.

The party leaders will undoubtedly be relieved that the constant round of photo calls and ludicrous campaigning gimmicks has finished.

It was a six-week campaign period which gave us a series of revealing insights into the personal life of Prime Minister Theresa May, a woman about whom little personal information was previously known, aside from the fact she had a penchant for colourful shoes.

Mrs May enraged feminist voters when she admitted during a lighthearted TV interview that there were “boy jobs and girl jobs” around her house.

Then there was another question a few weeks later which saw her admit that the “worst” thing she had ever done was to run through a wheat field with a friend before it had been harvested, that caused a chuckle – and sparked a number of comic internet memes.

Her apparent horror and disgust when faced with a cone of chips – but no knife and fork – while campaigning in Cornwall, also raised a few laughs.

The Tory leader was left red-faced when she travelled north of the Border to campaign with Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson only to find that not a single house on a street in Aberdeenshire would answer the door to her.

Meanwhile, just days before the election, it was pointed out on social media that the headquarters of a removal company in Edinburgh may not be the most tactful place to hold a party rally for a PM battling to keep her place at Number Ten Downing Street.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was captured puckering up with 79-year-old pensioner Alice Mahon, a former Halifax MP, at Hebden Bridge Town Hall, while the Arsenal fan was also caught on camera conceding a goal to a group of children during a visit to Hackney Marshes football pitches in London.

In Scotland, he preferred to avoid the gimmicks and stick to a more straightforward style of campaigning, leaving the more eyecatching photo opportunities to his counterpart, Kezia Dugdale, who proved to be handy at pool when she picked up a cue in thechampionsbaratglasgow University – and continued to show off her sporting prowess with a pair of pink boxing gloves after a speech on mental health in Edinburgh.

Indeed, left to their own devices, the Scottish party leaders had a whale of a time.

Ms Davidson revealed her love for local foods when she turned ice cream seller to serve parched day trippers in Giffnock and donned white protective clothing to horse around with flour while out campaigning at Express Bakery in Dumfries.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tootled out a tune on a recorder during a visit to Paisley – and showed off her wild side as she sat astride a “Yes” emblazoned motorbike in Stirling. She was also captured holding a decorative plate in the shape of underpants urging voters to ‘grab life by the balls’ during a campaign event in Anstruther, Fife.

However, it was Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie who stole the show when he was seen emerging from a Delorean car at the Queensferry Crossing dressed as Back to the Future star Marty Mcfly. “It’s back to the future with their campaign,” quipped Rennie, referring to the SNP’S bid for a second independence referendum.