Ed is ridiculed on a Biblical scale
ED MILIBAND had clearly thought it was a rock solid idea. But his 8ft limestone manifesto quickly proved a monumental gaffe – and was met with a Biblical tide of mock-ups and ridicule online.
Most lampooned the Labour leader by depicting him as Moses delivering the Ten Commandments, including mock-ups of him as Charlton Heston, who played the Bible figure in the 1956 film. One Twitter user wrote: ‘Perhaps the stone slab is Ed’s way of praying to God for a miracle’. Another, David Freeborn, wrote: ‘Cameron may pass a law forbidding himself from raising taxes, but Miliband is going Old Testament with his pledges.’
There were also comparisons to the BBC political satire The Thick of It with even the show’s creator, Simon Blackwell, suggesting the stunt was beyond parody. ‘Ed Miliband builds a policy cenotaph. And you wonder why we stopped doing The Thick Of It,’ he wrote.
Many said they thought the i dea was a j oke until they saw the pictures. Ross Ward said: ‘You couldn’t make it up.’ The Tories led the ridicule. Chancellor George Osborne said: ‘Once again, Ed Miliband’s judgment not rock solid.’
By yesterday afternoon the hashtags ‘Edstone’, ‘Milistone’ and ‘Milimonument’ were trending widely on Twitter.
Other Twitter users turned the giant tablet into a tombstone, saying ‘RIP Britain’s recovery 2010-2015 (if Labour and the SNP get in)’.
There was also discussion about what archaeologists would make of the monument in years to come.