The ‘gay intern running the Labour Twitter account’ just channelled RuPaul and told Boris Johnson to ‘sashay away’
Did Jeremy Corbyn just out himself as a Drag Race superfan? (Getty/BBC)
The official Labour Twitter account told Boris Johnson to “sashay away” with a Drag Race gif and naturally, the internet lost it.
Britain is facing an historic and unprecedented set of choices in the coming weeks: who to crown as the UK’s first Drag Race superstar, and whether to elect Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn as our next prime minister.
With the general election just under four weeks away and the Drag Race UK finale airing next Thursday, a crossover was inevitable – but who would have guessed it would take place on the official Labour Twitter account?
At 8.43pm on Thursday, November 14, while hundreds of thousands were watching the Drag Race UK queens making over their family members, Labour tweeted a link to the government’s register to vote portal along with a RuPaul gif and the hashtag #DragRaceUK.
Register to vote today and make sure that on December 12 we can tell Boris Johnson to… pic.twitter.com/IayWJdYBKr
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) November 14, 2019
“Register to vote today and make sure that on December 12 we can tell Boris Johnson to… sashay away,” it wrote.
Naturally, Labour’s LGBT+ followers were delighted, praising “that gay intern” for “doing his work the way he should”.
that gay intern is doing his work the way he should
— jan (@butwhosjan) November 14, 2019
pic.twitter.com/eeGhVBp8PH
— JRH ? (@GeordieJay) November 15, 2019
pic.twitter.com/aT6hMrVTSe
— Geck! (15 days til Hatchday) (@Ian_Gecko) November 15, 2019
u can’t tweet this n not tell us who u want to win druk
— iazy ♡ (@hytesangelx) November 14, 2019
For the many gays and girls, not the bigots x
— Zoë with the Vote Labour msg (@ZoeYak) November 14, 2019
Though the internet agreed that the post was likely the fine work of an intern, there’s a small chance that Corbyn was the culprit.
The Labour leader was pictured with Drag Race UK finalist Baga Chipz at October’s PinkNews Awards 2019, and the two appeared to have struck a chord.
Drag Race UK queen Baga Chipz met Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler at the PInkNews Awards 2019. (PinkNews)
Baga had previously told PinkNews that she “wasn’t a fan” of Corbyn and would be voting for the Liberal Democrats, but after meeting him decided that she would back Labour in the December general election.
Call me what you want you nasty little bully. I’ll be voting Corbyn in the next election so as you were. You are just scum dear picking on a young girl. Hag.
— Baga Chipz (@ChipShopBird) November 10, 2019
“I love Jess Phillips, I love Emily Thornberry,” she said at the time. “Not being a fan of Jeremy Corbyn does not make me a Tory.”
She was addressing a 2017 op-ed which she wrote in support of then-Tory prime minister Theresa May.
In that year’s general election, she said she would be voting for the Conservatives, before switching to the Liberal Democrats and finally Labour, giving Chuka Umunna a run for his money.
