Tory leader in shambolic BBC interview saved by even more embarrassing sign on his bookshelf

Mark Spencer urged people to avoid 'scaremongering' around cost of living crisis

The Leader of the House of Commons, Mark Spencer, has been met with a wave of ridicule following his appearance on BBC Breakfast on Thursday - not least because of a rather humorous lightbox spotted on his bookshelf. While it's the sort of thing you tend to see around your mum's house, displaying something like, 'Live, Laugh, Love', Spencer's  reads: "Sheep or Leader?". Those watching at home arrived at their own answer fairly quickly. https://twitter.com/marionmain3/status/1557619524941357056?s=20&t=dsQRh-gwqrAcMoIUc5vvIQ Spencer was being interviewed by Charlie Stayt when comfortably less than eagle-eyed viewers were able to spot the sign poking out from the background and while many were amused, others were simply annoyed. https://twitter.com/SteveHyett/status/1557618022961106950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1557618022961106950%7Ctwgr%5E7bd3b53769e7d81e4fc766f90cb3f7c0448821f2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.joe.co.uk%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D353330action%3Dedit Having admitted to the presenter that Cabinet has not met since toward the end of July, social media was awash with people angered by his suggestion that the people need to avoid "scaremongering" amid the ongoing energy price surge and cost of living crisis. https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK/status/1557620442923499521?s=20&t=GrZIRplblaRiR0SdNHPl6w https://twitter.com/aa_mcintosh22/status/1557618814065512448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1557618814065512448%7Ctwgr%5E3a19472871dbfd4d35152f719361587ec1f0f483%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.joe.co.uk%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D353330action%3Dedit Spencer also angered LBC listeners for spouting similarly prepared responses to Nick Ferrari. Quizzed on the sign by the presenter as to whether it could be interpreted as a dig at one of the Prime Ministerial hopefuls in Liz Truss, Spencer said it was simply his kids "taking the mickey" out of his role. They weren't the only ones it would seem. https://twitter.com/Stuzipants/status/1557622929239805953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1557622929239805953%7Ctwgr%5Ee7ddd738faca640c7f5f75636f127fddd7e877ac%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.joe.co.uk%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D353330action%3Dedit Ferrari went on to ask whether an emergency budget is needed for whoever steps into office, a possibility put forward by Truss herself along with the proposition of "windfall taxes" — both of which he was quick to dismiss. Resisting the comparison of Ms Truss' proposals to a more Labour-like policy, Spencer labelled the opposition a "vacuum" and insisted that it is always the Tories that have to fix things "whenever the country's got into difficult financial challenges", suggesting that previous Labour government are partly responsible for the current economic struggles of working people. In contrast, when taken to task over high wages in the energy sector as UK households' energy bills are set to more than double this winter, while the Commons leader admitted that one chief executive's £11.5m a year salary is a large figure, he said that the issue was less about how much he earns and more about paying "the very best people at the top to help us solve these challenges" https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1557623458040877058?s=20&t=5hN2vNVVzY-jfFiUa7I_2Q The representative for Sherwood later went on to appear on Good Morning Britain as well and was grilled by Adil Ray who noted that MPs can go so far as to claim expenses on second homes with no upper limit, yet the current government has no real plans to help the British public in the face of rising costs and energy bills. He was quick to label the point as a separate issue and an attempt to take viewers down a rabbit hole before Ray ultimately concluded the interview. https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK/status/1557636840441745409?s=20&t=Jjv6YiUBgxZ-fr6PcM9EaQ https://twitter.com/simongalcock/status/1557620323515777025?s=20&t=5hN2vNVVzY-jfFiUa7I_2Q It's fair to say he's had better mornings.

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