Brexit is dominating the news again. On 2 May, Theresa May faces a major challenge from 60 Eurosceptic MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg. They claim that the government’s preferred customs model is flawed and “deeply unsatisfactory”. This follows a major defeat for the government in the House of Lords, which voted to give parliament a final say on Brexit. And then Christopher Hope, The Daily Telegraph‘s chief political correspondent and assistant editor, asked Twitter for “poems, limericks or ditties about Brexit”.
Poetry please! We are starting a new poetry corner on Chopper’s Brexit Podcast. Please send your poems, limericks or ditties about Brexit to me [email protected]. Or Tweet me and @brexitbroadcast. The best (and cleanest) will be read out by our guest of the week.
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) April 30, 2018
But it wasn’t just the Brexit supporters that rally behind The Telegraph who responded.
Oops.
“And hast thou slain the Brexit beast?”
Hope’s own entry suggests that he intended to create public praise for May’s Brexit plans and shower her with patriotic support:
Early entry for #BrexitPoems on Chopper's Brexit Podcast. The best will feature on air every week:
"Red for the poppy, brave and bold
"Blue for the passport, so proud to hold
"White for the flag we wave as we exit
"Thank God for Mrs May and our glorious Brexit.— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) April 30, 2018
But people on Twitter had other ideas.
Poet Murray Lachlan-Young had already penned a Brexit poem:
Brexit Poem …
The Brexit Beast by Murray Lachlan Young, After the Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. https://t.co/qFrkVMyPRH@christopherhope #BrexitPoems pic.twitter.com/qoiVp78rsD— Sequin World (@ann_sequinworld) May 1, 2018
But for other writers, acrostic poems were an easy way to answer Hope’s call:
Well @christopherhope has asked for #BrexitPoems and I'm happy to oblige… pic.twitter.com/MmEzjm8Koy
— Otto English (@Otto_English) April 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/RossH1983/status/990935643101548549
May and her cabinet ministers were a favourite topic:
Most of the press give the liars carte blanch
And everyone goes round as if in a trance,
Johnson & Gove, Treeza & Hunt,
It's quite hard to decide who's the nastiest c**t. #BrexitPoems— Sir Robert Godwin KFC. (@chirpychappy1) May 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/xugla/status/791345995334516736
Meanwhile, others looked to established poets for inspiration:
A call for #brexitpoems from @christopherhope and @brexitbroadcast. Auden's 'O Tell me the Truth about Gove' pic.twitter.com/tkxXtnJvVU
— Will Burn (@gingerburn) May 1, 2018
…while others took inspiration from some of the more ludicrous pro-Brexit comments from ministers:
Vote with me
And you’ll be in a world of
Pure Imagination
Take a look
And you’ll see
That your job’s
In another nationTrick the dim
With your spin
Make it all about the immigration
What we’ll see
Will defy explanation— MunchBunch (@Munchbunch87) May 1, 2018
Brexit Shmexit
As a rallying call to support Brexit and May, Hope’s Brexit poems challenge failed. As an opportunity to challenge the ongoing chaos of May’s botched Brexit efforts, it was quite simply brilliant.
Get Involved!
– Add your own poem to the #BrexitPoems thread on Twitter
– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.
Featured image via Jeff Djevdet/Flickr
