Keir Starmer being prepared for rain at Olympic opening ceremony becomes instant meme

There’s just something about politicians dealing with rain which gets social media users talking, and when UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was pictured at the Paris 2024 Olympics being the only person in a crowd of spectators to don a coat instead of the classic poncho, the memes soon followed.

Of course, for Rishi Sunak, standing in the rain at the end of May marked the beginning of the end of his time as PM, as he called the general election which saw him lead the Conservatives to their worst electoral defeat in history and Starmer enter No 10.

The Labour leader was in Paris to cheer on Team GB at the opening ceremony for the games – one which angered right-wingers with a headless Marie Antoinette and drag queens telling the story of Greek god Dionysus (not da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’, as many claimed), which prompted the likes of Andrew Tate to brand the event “satanic”.

And so, as Twitter/X relished the meme potential of the international sporting event, social media users were quick to comment on Starmer’s cagoule-less attire, with the ‘Parody Keir Starmer’ account writing it was “another Tory policy I see no reason to change”.

Another user commented that Starmer being the “only person” to have brought his own coat “is the most Keir Starmer thing I can imagine”, while a third said they have "never been prouder to be British" to see Starmer's refusal to wear a poncho.

One even referenced a line Starmer deployed a fair amount during the election campaign, but in French: “Mon père était outilleur.”

For those who, like Girls Aloud, ‘can’t speak French’, if we told you that “pére” means ‘father’, then that should give you an idea of what the tweet is saying:

Some even claimed that it went 'harder than the Trump assassination fist pump photo.'

Team GB have already won their first medal of the games, with Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen claiming bronze in synchronised diving.

Labour has since addressed the memes by tweeting: "Preparation is the key to success."

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