After Jeremy Corbyn’s hugely successful appearance at Glastonbury festival, Tory MP George Freeman announced that he had a dream – a Conservative festival that would be a “cross between Hay-on-Wye and the Latitude festival”.
The idea was mocked far and wide, because – let’s face it – it showed just how little Tories actually understood about the real world:
https://twitter.com/josh_hardman/status/893954339089391617
However, Norfolk MP Mr Freeman wasn’t laughing.
He was deadly serious about the event, promising that it would be like a:
first rave, you’ll remember who you brought
And, as Freeman went about setting up the one day, invitation only event, he attempted to justify it by asking:
Why is it the left who have all the fun in politics?
As ‘Big Tent Ideas’ hit a farm field owned by a millionaire, it seems fair to ask if anybody actually accepted the invitation to attend.
We ask because several pictures have now emerged showing just how hard stewards had to work to hold back the maniacally over-enthusiastic crowds:
Back in Berkshire, the Tory Glastonbury crowds flock to 3 tents in a businessman's field. Crowd control now a concern for event stewards. pic.twitter.com/ToI1WLd0wk
— Rachael Swindon (@Rachael_Swindon) September 22, 2017
It didn’t take much imagination to make fun of the festival, either.
In fact, it was literally just pictures of the event that gave us the most laughs:
https://twitter.com/alexGspence/status/911139237218734080
The official Twitter for the festival announced that Theresa May was live on the main stage.
This was particularly entertaining, seeing as it was May on a television screen, making her disastrous speech in Florence:
#TheresaMay on the #BigTentIdeasFest main stage pic.twitter.com/eYWcbsSM9N
— Big Tent Foundation (@BigTentIdeas) September 22, 2017
The festival was quickly likened to a scene from Alan Partridge:
We now go live to Tory Glastonbury… #BigTentIdeasFest pic.twitter.com/0LY0j4JpUF
— EL4C (@EL4JC) September 22, 2017
When asked if the pictures on Twitter were a fair representation of the event by Sky News, Mr Freeman said:
Yeah, probably. This is a first event. I’ve put it together in two months really to demonstrate what political festivalism could and should look like.
We have had some music but we haven’t had chance to get most of that organised.
Jokes aside, the Tories repeatedly attempt to try to replicate the connection that Jeremy Corbyn has with people up and down the country and are continuously unable to do so.
The main problem seems to be that they are so incredibly out of touch with anybody who actually inhabits the real world.
Tory Glastonbury was simply further evidence of this:
spot the difference: "Tory Glastonbury" and "Glastonbury" pic.twitter.com/aOa0kj0tdw
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) September 22, 2017
Although humour can be found in the Tories’ shambolic attempts to gain followers after their popularity took such a dramatic plunge, it should be remembered that the everyday person is being torn apart by their policies.
A Facebook comment made on a Buzzfeed article about the festival made a very important point about the Conservative’s desperation to win votes:
Saw this comment on a Buzzfeed article about tory glastonbury (or what ever it is) if only they listened to actual people. pic.twitter.com/CVovU43kUb
— Steven Nicholson (@ste_nic) September 20, 2017
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