What a hoot! The owl prank that ruffled Labour
IT was the policy announcement that really ruffled feathers among Labour’s 47,000 Twitter followers.
After a prankster managed to hack into the party press team’s Twitter account yesterday, it seemed that Ed Miliband had come up with his most revolutionary policy so far.
‘Everybody should have his own owl,’ said the tweet that quickly took flight on social media.
Former deputy leader John Prescott was quick to reply. ‘I’ve always been Owl Labour,’ he declared.
The political blogger GuidoFawkes tweeted: ‘ For more information about the Labour owl policy, contact their press office on 2 2 20.’
One tweeter said: ‘We had hoped our compulsory owl guarantee would be a head turning policy, but sadly it’s no longer going to take flight. #tweettwoo’. Another, Lucy Vine, said: ‘You know... I think a free owl would actually genuinely make me vote Labour.’
Other internet posters put up mock images of Mr Miliband with owls, including one that was pasted on to the picture of him struggling with a bacon sandwich last month.
More serious-minded observers pointed out that it would be a policy unlikely to find support at the Treasury, as baby barn owls cost around £ 0 each.
To provide one for all 63million people in the country would cost a barnstorming £5billion a year, or around 5 per cent of the entire budget for the NHS.
What a wise owl would think of Labour’s chances of winning the General Election next year is another matter.