The Conversation (0)
Going into politics means risking tumbling from grace at some point.
Through scandals and scapegoating, numerous public figures lose public popularity and often shuffle into obscurity to lick their wounds. But they often don’t go quietly and try to reclimb their career ladders, often utterly cack handedly.
This year has been no different and British and US politicians alike have suffered career blows then tried to get back in the public's’ good books.
From Matt Hancock to Nigel Farage, here are some of the worst attempts at political comebacks from 2021.
Matt Hancock
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
It is safe to say that Hancock didn’t have the best year in politics, after being demoted from health secretary to backbencher for breaking his own social distancing rules in a pretty embarrassing way.
Dusting himself off, he launched his comeback almost immediately. He got a job at the United Nations, which was then cancelled, and he tried to make social media videos celebrating what a good MP he was (and was roasted).
Hancock was also rumoured to be considering a £100,00 book deal but then publisher HarperCollins said that wasn’t the case.
Awkward.
Mark Francois
In another book news, Brexit loving Mark Francois has been out of the limelight recently what with Brexit being ‘done’ and all. So, perhaps in a bid for attention, he also announced he was going down the book route and revealed he had penned a memoir about Brexit, of course.
Unfortunately, the blasted Remainer elite publishing world didn’t even want to use it as toilet paper, so the brave maverick self published ‘Spartan Victory’ on Amazon instead .
Shame the reviews haven’t been great.
Donald Trump (Niall Carson/PA)PA Wire
Trump didn’t win a second term as president and he has been a pretty sore loser. Moaning about his loss the extent he was banned from social media platforms for inciting the Capitol Riots, the former president said he would create his own social media network and no-one cared.
He also made a blog, which no-one cared about, and said he was bookable for weddings and other events.
Rumours have circulated that he will stand for the 2024 presidential again but, again, people do not care.
Nigel Farage
Farage loves resigning from politics then announcing he is back again, like an unflushable turd. This year, despite seeming to have achieved his life’s purpose - Brexit - he has bounced back again and has appeared on odd platforms including GB News, Cameo, Thrillz (?!), and more.
It is rumoured his is a way of setting himself up for a return politics, to which we say, please. No. Enough.
Mike Gapes
Parliament Live
When several Labour and Tory MPs quit their respective parties to form Change UK in 2019, they made a very big political risk indeed.
The risk didn’t pay off, they all lost their seats in the subsequent general election, and Change UK is no longer with us.
It’s no wonder then that the politicians involved in the failed project have tried to get back into the mainstream and to do so they wrote a book this year called “Change - The Independent Group”, about “the dramatic events of February 2019” with Gapes announcing it to the Times in April.
Ann Coffey, Chris Leslie, Joan Ryan and Anna Soubry have also authored contributed to the book so we won’t be letting them off the hook either.
Owen Paterson
When parliament’s standards watchdog ruled that Paterson had broken rules by lobbying on behalf of companies he was employed for, he was slapped with a suspension from parliament and put on the naughty step.
Rather than sitting on the sofa and watching TV with grace, he dug his heels in and the Tories voted to let him off the hook. Quite a comeback. Except...
Unfortunately, his comeback resulted in a huge Tory sleaze crisis that damaged the party’s reputation and caused them to plummet in the polls.
Paterson eventually resigned rather than taking the L of a temporary suspension and so his political calculations completely backfired.
Top 100
x