Penny Mordaunt’s campaign to become the next Tory leader got off to an awkward start with her launch video hastily edited to remove several identifiable figures including athlete Jonnie Peacock.
The international trade minister announced that she wants to be the next Prime Minister on Sunday morning, saying the UK’s leadership “needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship”.
Her original campaign video featured two seconds of footage showing Jonnie Peacock competing at the London 2012 Paralympics.
Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship. https://t.co/NlpxAb9Dp4#pm4pm pic.twitter.com/hhfFXD6KCs
— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) July 10, 2022
Peacock subsequently replied to Ms Mordaunt on Twitter, saying: “I officially request to be removed from this video…. Anything but blue please.”
Just over five hours later, Ms Mordaunt posted an amended version of the video to her Twitter.
The clips of Peacock were replaced with a plane flying over the camera.
I officially request to be removed from this video…. Anything but blue please 😊
— Jonnie Peacock (@JonniePeacock) July 10, 2022
Several other elements of her original campaign video were also altered in the second video.
A smiling police officer, clearly identifiable, was removed and replaced with a clip of a tractor driving through a field.
Cricketer Jonny Bairstow could be seen in the original video but was replaced by the Angel Of The North sculpture in the follow-up.
In the original video, a clip of the Welsh football team celebrating its win over Ukraine in June directly followed Bairstow. This too was removed in the second video.
A clip of soldiers wearing a uniform not associated with the British armed forces also featured in the original video but was replaced with some footage of Westminster.
Video from an interview with Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, the British co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, was replaced with more generic footage of healthcare staff.
Ms Mordaunt has been approached for comment.
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