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The Conservative party have used a Star Wars meme to mock prime minister Keir Starmer following his now infamous “sausages” blunder at the Labour Party conference.
Speaking on 24 September, the 62-year-old Labour leader mistakenly called for the “return of the sausages” in his major speech in Liverpool.
The prime minister was calling for restraint and de-escalation between Lebanon and Israel, a ceasefire in Gaza, and the return of hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October as well as “a recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel”.
However, he accidentally said “sausages” before quickly correcting himself to say “hostages” instead.
Despite the seriousness of the appeal, Starmer’s gaffe managed to overshadow most of his speech, which his opponents and critics were quick to take advantage of.
It didn’t take long for the Conservatives to whip together a Star Wars-themed meme for their TikTok page.
In the video posted on 25 September, which had more than 200,000 pageviews at the time of writing, Starmer is making his speech, then says the "return of the sausages" mishap.
Almost immediately, the screen cuts to a version of the iconic scrolling texts from the Star Wars films, which introduces viewers to each movie.
While the films would say, for example: "Episode VI: Return of the Jedi," the Tories version says: "Episode X: Return of the Jedi".
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Although the TikTok has gone viral, the Tories still faced some criticism for posting it. One person in the comments wrote: “Because Boris Johnson has never accidentally said the wrong thing.”
Another said: “First TikTok from the conservatives that’s actually funny.”
A third added: “Probably the most progressive thing they’ve posted since they left parliament.”
Outgoing Tory leader and former prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is on record as a huge fan of Star Wars and in September 2023 asked a local BBC radio station if it could “get me a cameo” if a future Star Wars project were filmed in its area.
It came after he was asked whether he identified more with the series’ heroes Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, or its villains like Darth Vader.
Mr Sunak declined to say which character he was most like, saying: “I’ll leave others to come to their own conclusions.”
But the then prime minister did share his desire to play a bit part in a future Star Wars film with BBC Three Counties Radio, a local service which covers Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
“If they could get me a cameo in an X-wing and I would get to say ‘Red Seven standing by’ before we take down the Death Star that would make me a very happy man, so that was always my childhood dream,” he said.
