Politics

George Michael tribute act forced to share venue with Scottish Tories

Related video: Scottish Tory leader pays cringeworthy tribute to Atomic Kitten

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You probably didn’t know this (and we don’t blame you), but the Scottish Conservative Conference got underway in Aberdeen on Friday, and to give you an idea of just how popular the event is, they’ve reportedly had to share the P&J Live Arena with a George Michael tribute act because of “low ticket sales”.

So you could say people have little “Faith” in the political party (sorry).

This embarrassing fact was pointed out by The National, and the venue’s website confirms it, with a page for ‘Fast Love – A Tribute to George Michael’ stating the show got underway at 7:30 pm on Friday in Hall C.

The event description reads: “This show has it all: the power, emotion and star quality in this stunning production with full video and light show, as we respectfully recreate the soundtrack to your life.”

Arguably more fun than a party conference - and the situation has been met with ridicule online:

[twitter_embed https://twitter.com/sellar_james/statuses/1763565848638181817 text="@ScotNational Think the theme of delegates will be "Wake me up before you go go" incase they miss the last bus" name="" screen_name="sellar_james" id="1763565848638181817" created_ts="" iframe_id="twitter-embed-1763565848638181817" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=744 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=691]
[twitter_embed https://twitter.com/Seumasabhein/statuses/1763648864320430231 text="@ScotNational Wee Dougie singing "Careless Whisper" later." name="" screen_name="Seumasabhein" id="1763648864320430231" created_ts="" iframe_id="twitter-embed-1763648864320430231" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=720 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=667]

Even the Scottish National Party (SNP) MP Richard Thomson couldn’t help but mock the Scottish Tories (we’ve put the puns in bold), telling The National: “Voters in Scotland have so little faith in Sunak’s failing leadership that the prime minister has been forced to share a stage at his party conference due to low ticket sales.

“And no wonder – his predecessor’s careless whispers tanked the economy, leaving the Tory party simply praying for time until the next general election.

“Rishi Sunak will today attempt to convince voters, and a smattering of Tory members, he’s their man – but calls will fall on deaf ears long before the night’s headline act kicks off.

“With a George Michael tribute downstairs and a second-rate Boris Johnson tribute act upstairs – it may not be Club Tropicana at the P&J Live, but we’re all too aware the Tories know how to throw an after-hours party.

The sun is going down on the Tories’ sordid time in Number 10.”

Incredible.

And the poor turnout and comments from Scottish Tories leader Douglas Ross has sparked comparisons to the infamous Willy Wonka experience which made headlines this week:

Ross gave his speech to conference on Saturday, and made the claim that the ruling SNP in Scotland is “on its knees” and that they are “winning” against them, despite polling from Ipsos last month showing the SNP in the lead in voting intention polls with 39 per cent.

The Conservatives in Scotland, meanwhile, are in third with just 14 per cent, behind Labour’s 30 per cent.

Such remarks have also seen the Tories roasted on social media:

[twitter_embed https://twitter.com/ginadavidsonlbc/statuses/1763890508017918417 text="Douglas Ross telling tory conference delegates the SNP is "on its knees" *\n\n- this is going to be an election stump speech\n\n* latest poll had SNP on 38%, Labour 32% and Conservatives 15%" name="" screen_name="ginadavidsonlbc" id="1763890508017918417" created_ts="" iframe_id="twitter-embed-1763890508017918417" expand=1 embed_desktop_width=550 embed_desktop_height=369 embed_mobile_width=375 embed_mobile_height=393]

Disastrous scenes all round.

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