Blundering press officers from the SNP have sent out a press release praising SNP policy — based on tweets from a spoof Twitter account. Spinners failed to spot the painfully obvious disclosure ‘SPOOF ACCOUNT’ branded across the Twitter bio of @SirIanBlair in capitals letters.
In their haste to advertise apparent praise from London’s former policing supremo, they rushed out a press notice which began:
“The SNP’s approach to policing … has been praised by former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police during an exchange on twitter [sic]”
Blustering on, they lift quotes directly from what they believed to be Sir Ian’s tweets:
But the supposed praise was actually lifted from the hoax account:
@angusmacneilmp you folks up there treat your police with more dignity and respect for the risk their vocation holds
— SirIanBlairofOxford (@SirIanBlair) November 18, 2012
After realising the schoolboy error, the release was swiftly pulled from the SNP website. But not content with embarrassing themselves enough, they included a quote from the SNP MSP Sandra White on the tweets.
Doubtless Sandra’s colleagues on the Justice Committee will be looking forward mirthfully to their next meeting.