General election memes are a weird tonic during a chaotic period. At best, they numb the pain of political ineptitude; at worst, they only make the point-scoring even more unbearable.
And away from the televised debates and rallies, the main political parties have been fighting a whole different battle on social media to try and win votes from the public – to varying levels of success.
So, if you can stomach some second-hand embarrassment, we’ve rounded up the best and worst memes of the general election campaign so far. Strap in.
Conservatives: ‘Great Bills Energy’
To be brutally honest, the whole Conservative campaign has been a meme from the start, but their social media game is no different when they decided to criticise Labour’s plans for ‘GB Energy’ by suggesting the ‘GB’ doesn’t stand for ‘Great Britain’, but rather ‘Giant Bills’.
“This is just rubbish,” comments one Twitter/X user.
Labour: A Shrek-tacular meme
It’s since been taken down, but on TikTok, Labour took aim at the Conservative’s plan for national service for 18-year-olds by referencing that classic speech from Shrek villain Lord Farquaad.
10/10. No notes.
Labour: WordArt
I don’t think we need to go into much detail here as to why this shouldn’t be a thing that exists…
Labour: Delivering an embarrassing own goal for the Tories
Labour brilliantly reminded the Conservatives why you should never, ever pose in front of or next to a white piece of paper and share it on the internet earlier this month, as after Sunak filmed a TikTok in which he unveiled a blank flipchart to describe Labour’s “policy for our country’s future”, his rivals took the video and edited in their six steps for government.
“Thanks for the plug, Rishi,” they tweeted.
Awkward.
Labour: You wouldn’t ‘make’ a ‘bad meme’
Oh, but they did, going after dirt bikes being used for anti-social behaviour by doing their own spin on the iconic anti-piracy ad.
You only need to read the replies to know how well this one went, with one reading: “What in the 1990s is this?”
Lib Dems: The boat photobomb
Look, we all know by now that the Liberal Democrats have had a truly wild time on the campaign trail with a number of publicity stunts, so is it any surprise that they pulled off an incredible meme by photobombing Rishi Sunak in Oxford?
Lib Dems: A ‘Doctored’ meme
And after they were left out of the Sky programme The Battle for Number 10, the Lib Dems decided to poke fun at Sunak with an impressive reference to a scene from Doctor Who.
Reform UK: Nigel Farage isn’t the real Slim Shady
After Nigel Farage decided to return to the political arena by replacing Richard Tice as leader of Reform UK, the ex-Ukip leader who has failed seven times to become an elected member of parliament has been taunting his political opponents about coming ‘back’ to UK politics, which would be a powerful play from Farage, if he wasn’t making the same gag each time and playing that one specific part of 'Without Me' by Eminem.
Poor form from Reform, you could say.
The Green Party: Mocking Labour’s plans for social care
Obviously, we have to be balanced in our reporting on the memes of the general election campaign, ensuring an even spread like Lurpak on a crumpet, but when it comes to the Green Party, we couldn’t find many gags from them beyond their take on the ‘drowning high five’ meme.
And so, like we used to tell the dinner lady in the school canteen: give us more, Greens!
It’s also worth mentioning that we have two more weeks of the election campaign to go, so we can definitely expect more memes in the days to come. You have been warned.
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