Overmatter: vote-losing print

Ah, a general election. Time for political parties of all persuasions to mess something up in printed form.

Overmatter’s attention has been drawn to a few cracking examples, despite an unusually low-key UKIP campaign devoid of the party’s usual propensity for sourcing foul-ups involving Johnny Foreigner.

Thanks must go to BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine for sharing some fine examples of election-related gaffes, including a leaflet promoting Roger Godsiff that appeared to self-describe the Labour candidate as “unwanted, unnecessary and opportunistic”.

And a hat-tip must go to Scottish Labour’s Ian Murray, who used social media to make the most of a printing fail by creating a video showing his faulty mailer: “It says that if you turn to the reverse you’ll see my record of being an effective member of parliament, but if you do turn it around you’ll see it’s actually blank, due to a printing error,” he explained, before listing his many achievements. 

But Overmatter’s favourite comes courtesy of comedian and TV presenter Dara Ó Briain, who was excited to receive a personal letter from Prime Minister Theresa May, no less. Unfortunately, something had clearly gone awry with the corresponding data file, as the salutation reads “Dear Dara and Briain”.

With just a few remaining days of election-based print hilarity to go, that blooper will be hard to beat.