Penny Mordaunt pointing at other parties during ITV debate becomes an instant meme

Her appearance on the BBC leaders’ debate last Friday sparked memes about her hair, now Conservative candidate Penny Mordaunt (who was leader of the House of Commons before parliament was dissolved for the election) is going viral for some frantic pointing during ITV’s latest debate programme on Thursday.

Among a line-up identical to the Beeb’s – comprising of Mordaunt, Angela Rayner (Labour), Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrats), Carla Denyer (Green Party), Nigel Farage (Reform UK), Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party) and Rhun ap Iorwerth (Plaid Cymru) – the Portsmouth North candidate spent most of her time going after Labour and warning of tax rises if leader Sir Keir Starmer becomes prime minister following the 4 July election.

This particular policy focus led to a moment which has since received the meme treatment, as she pointed the finger at each party representative like a political version of Oprah Winfrey.

“A vote for any other party will increase your taxes. Higher taxes, higher taxes, higher taxes, higher taxes, higher taxes, higher taxes,” she said.

As she moved her finger across the room, a baffled Farage interjected: “What are you on about?”

That was met with laughter from the live studio audience, and Twitter/X users have ridiculed the remarks too:

The ITV debate came a day after Sky News broadcast their election programme, The Battle for Number 10, which saw Conservative and Labour Party leaders Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer grilled by the channel’s political editor Beth Rigby, before facing questions from a studio audience.

However, while they weren’t a part of the event, the Liberal Democrats caught people’s attention by reacting to the programme with an unusual reference to a beloved science fiction series.

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