Priti Patel struggled to report the number of Covid-19 tests – our threevety-eleven favourite responses
As if Priti Patel‘s failure to manage a simple apology for the government’s inability to procure enough PPE for the NHS weren’t enough, the Home Secretary made her Covid-19 update even more memorable by having this nightmare of an attempt to read a number.
WATCH: Home Secretary Priti Patel slipped up at today’s Downing Street briefing, saying the total number of #COVID19 tests conducted in the UK was “Three hundred thousand, thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand”. pic.twitter.com/QAzcbVM7dW
— PoliReview (@PoliReview) April 11, 2020
There definitely haven’t been that many tests, because that’s not a number.
Of course, much piss was taken.
1.
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking three hundred thousand and thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand." pic.twitter.com/9bE98Wf5T0
— David Quantick (@quantick) April 11, 2020
2.
Reassured that there have been "three hundred thousand, thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand" tests carried out so far.
Far less reassured by Priti Patel's grasp of numbers pic.twitter.com/AtxP7ORfB1
— Otto English (@Otto_English) April 11, 2020
3.
Priti Patel just said there have been… and this genuinely is the actual number she gave …
300,000,34,974,000
… tests carried out.
Can she go missing again now, please?
— Russ (@RussInCheshire) April 11, 2020
4.
Listen love…when Keith here says he’s blown up three hundred thousand and thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand planets, then he’s blown up three hund…wait. Keith. She’s right…that doesn’t sound right.’ pic.twitter.com/nSqTNcdkmi
— BATTLES (@B4TTL3S) April 11, 2020
5.
Excuse me @patel4witham, what are you twittering on about? I've listened to this 17 teen seventh teen 9 times and it never makes any sense https://t.co/CpG2xY68su
— Will Black (@WillBlackWriter) April 11, 2020
6.
BREAKING: Priti Patel will increase police numbers during the lockdown so that each city has at least eleventy four officers
— end of daves ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@davemacladd) April 12, 2020
7.
I hear Priti Patel is Prime Minister material and her popularity just went up by twelvety.#Numberwang
— Tim Ireland (@bloggerheads) April 11, 2020
8.
I’ve written Priti Patel’s number out to make it more understandable: 300,000,34,900,74,000
— Adrian Edmondson (@AdrianEdmondson) April 11, 2020