A Labour MP challenged a Latin America lecturer on Peruvian politics - and got promptly owned

Labour’s Chris Bryant was left embarrassed on social media on Sunday, when he questioned someone’s expertise on Latin American politics, only to be told that they secured a PhD, lectured and have written several journal articles on the subject.

The Rhondda MP began the conversation by tweeting his thoughts on the Peruvian presidential election, which was won by left-wing teacher Pedro Castillo.

He wrote: “Perú is a wonderful country but it’s depressing that voters were left with a choice between Fujimori and Castillo. Sadly the new cabinet looks set to take the country down a failed Marxist route.”

The post on Saturday comes after Castillo selected Guido Bellido, a Marxist, as his prime minister on Thursday.

However, Alan MacLeod, a senior staff writer and podcast producer at the independent outlet MintPress News, replied: “It is truly extraordinary that a Labour MP in south Wales could say such a thing. It goes to show how bought out the party has become.”

Clearly taken aback by the comments, Bryant responded: “Do you know anything about Peruvian politics? Have you even been there?”

It’s a type of question you should never ask on social media, as MacLeod’s reply soon came through: “I’ve got a PhD in Latin American politics, lectured about it in universities, and have produced a book and five peer-reviewed journal articles on the topic.”

Ouch, and even MacLeod’s bio states that he “mostly tweet[s] about US and Latin American politics”.

Twitter users have since provided the memes, with many describing the exchange it as a “murder”:

Bryant did later issue a response to MacLeod, writing: “Yes, [Alan]. And I worked in a pueblo joven in Comas in Lima and for a human rights organisation in Buenos Aires where my friends were tortured and thrown out of Chile by Pinochet.”

But that just led to even more ridicule in the replies:

And MacLeod continued the conversation, tweeting: “That’s nice, Chris, but if you are truly concerned with authoritarianism in South America, I’d advise you not to pall up with far-right Columbian strongman Alvaro Uribe”.

He shared a photo of the two meeting while Bryant was a minister in the Foreign Office:

“I literally took him to task at that meeting! And asked why he was planning to change the constitution so he could remain in office.

‘Why don’t you announce you’re not standing,’ I said. That day he said he wasn’t standing,” he replied.

So much back and forth would have you think this is an Olympic sport.

At the time of writing, MacLeod has not responded to Bryant’s latest tweet.