Rishi Sunak’s Christmas gift to social media was certainly unexpected this year.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Christmas Day, the prime minister can be seen apparently beavering away in an empty No.10 Downing Street office – before realising he is actually the only person in the whole building.
At which point, the PM piles up cans of his favourite drink (Coca Cola), tries to knock them all over on his own, plays music loudly, cuddles Larry the famous Downing Street cat and eats all the chocolate from the Christmas tree.
He somehow finds time to watch the Christmas movie Elf, pour syrup on some spaghetti bolognese and roast marshmallows, too.
Sunak is then interrupted by a ringing phone in No.10 press office – and quickly tells the person on the other end of the line: “Harry, you’ve got the wrong number!”
It remains unclear exactly which Harry this is a reference to, although it may be a nod to The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole who revealed Sunak’s personal number was leaked online earlier this year.
The entire clip seemed to be inspired by either Home Alone – a 1990 film about a boy being accidentally stranded in his family’s house over Christmas, and followed by thieves – or by Love Actually, where the prime minister played by Hugh Grant can be seen dancing around Downing Street.
Either way, the clip went viral, reaching almost 10 million views in 48 hours.
And – obviously – the internet was pretty quick to draw its own conclusions about the PM’s performance…
Would have been more self aware to do Last Christmas in Downing st than Home Alone.
— Benjamin Butterworth (@benjaminbutter) December 26, 2023It’s good – slick, funny – way better than most political content. But I’m not sure what it’s for or who it appeals to. Surely a pic of Rishi and his very cute kids opening their Christmas presents is better for showing voters he’s a nice, normal person. https://t.co/uGEtM5q2ir
— Liz Bates (@wizbates) December 27, 2023Judging by his last few PR releases, I think that there’s a fifth columnist in Sunak’s team of advisers who’s trying to bring him down from within. https://t.co/m71yUyc3gO
— Hal Cruttenden (@Halcruttenden) December 27, 2023I don’t understand the messaging – if he were still hard at work on Christmas, while everyone else rests, I’d get it. “Your PM is always on duty” etc etc. But he’s watching Elf alone… what is this for? https://t.co/TBWTYWFIRD
— Greg Jenner (@greg_jenner) December 26, 2023The only way I can rationalise this is that his PR team loathe him but, at the same time, quite want to indulge him so they get a job in Silicon Valley when he finally succumbs to the inevitable and becomes a tech bro https://t.co/tBUxlpkfrw
— Sathnam Sanghera (@Sathnam) December 26, 2023I don’t mean to be rude, but what the actual fuck is this? We’ve got people who can’t afford to put their heating on, young mothers becoming criminals because they have to steal baby milk formula, crumbling schools & a destroyed NHS, and this utter clown is making silly videos? https://t.co/lmGQF7ydnM
— mick dore (@14thefrog) December 27, 2023Shows why the country is going down the drain if he’s got time to make pathetic short films for public relations purposes
— Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 (@MrMatthewTodd) December 27, 2023When this opened with him working alone on Christmas, I legit thought he was about to be visited by the Ghosts of Budgets past, present and future https://t.co/I6OY397ujQ
— Vinay Patel (@VinayPatel) December 26, 2023Does he thinks he’s Hugh Grant in Love Actually??
— Rachel 🌸🇳🇿👑 (@RachelSteine) December 25, 2023
