{"id":300039,"date":"2025-12-05T07:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/300039\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T07:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:25:10","slug":"labour-mps-video-explaining-uk-debt-with-biscuits-racks-up-3-3m-views-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/300039\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour MP\u2019s video explaining UK debt with biscuits racks up 3.3m views | Labour"},"content":{"rendered":"

A perennial head-scratcher for progressives is how to craft a simple, compelling message on the economy. One Labour<\/a> MP found the answer in a few packets of M&S biscuits.<\/p>\n

Gordon McKee, who represents Glasgow South, has racked up more than 3.3m views on X<\/a> with an 101-second video in which he demonstrates the UK\u2019s debt to GDP ratio using stacks of custard creams and chocolate bourbons.<\/p>\n

It may not seem like a major feat when several of the world\u2019s most impactful politicians \u2013 Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Zohran Mamdani among them \u2013 have used sleekly produced short-form videos to spread their campaign messages with considerable success.<\/p>\n

But in the parliamentary Labour party McKee is a pioneer, and the only backbencher known to have hired a digital content creator.<\/p>\n

The decision has paid off, with a series of professional-grade videos using grabby analogies designed to go viral. In recent weeks a few of his colleagues have began to emulate him, including the Leeds East MP Richard Burgon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I should apologise for having started this!\u201d McKee joked \u2013 before arguing that digital comms and campaigning was now essential for politicians.<\/p>\n

He said he aimed to produce a couple of such videos a week and was focused on Instagram<\/a>, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, which unlike X reach audiences beyond the politically hyper-engaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke at a high school in my constituency last week and I asked how many people read a newspaper every day \u2013 one put their hand up. When I asked how many are on Instagram, they all did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way people consume information has changed enormously in the last 10 years but the way politicians and MPs communicate with their constituents hasn\u2019t as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are signs that the Labour party machine is cranking into gear. Keir Starmer emailed Labour MPs on 21 November announcing a \u201csignificant investment\u201d from the party in \u201cnew comprehensive training programme\u201d in digital campaigning.<\/p>\n

Internally, the party has unveiled what it calls \u201cOperation Second Term\u201d to modernise its campaign operation \u2013 using social media and an app called Labour One \u2013 on the basis that \u201cthe way we campaigned in 2024 won\u2019t be how we win again in 2029\u201d.<\/p>\n

MPs are also increasingly taking the initiative. Burgon used 200 packets of Sainsbury\u2019s fusilli to demonstrate<\/a> just how much \u00a31bn is compared with the average UK salary of \u00a333,000. His video has garnered nearly 650,000 views on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going around the church fairs in the constituency this weekend \u2013 it was amazing how many people had seen the video,\u201d Burgon said. \u201cI\u2019ve been campaigning for a wealth tax for a while and it seemed a fun way of communicating that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 106kg mountain of pasta, which Burgon\u2019s parliamentary researcher bought the weekend before last, could not feasibly be transported to Leeds and so has been donated to food banks in London.<\/p>\n

Jeevun Sandher, the MP for Loughborough and an economist, made a James Bond-themed video during budget week<\/a> explaining the various factors that affect government bond rates. \u201cI\u2019d love it if people read my 2,000-word essays but they don\u2019t. You have to find a way of being engaging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He relies on his existing team of parliamentary staffers \u2013 armed with a smartphone and ring-light mounted on to a tripod in the corner of his office \u2013 to produce online content. Social media<\/a> planning is part of his office\u2019s regular weekly catchup meeting.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the government should be doing more to encourage MPs to modernise their communication, Sandher thinks that would risk becoming too regimented.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt works quite well when it\u2019s more organic and people understand what the government\u2019s message is and take it on in different ways,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you have a unified vision, everyone should be able to read off that script.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several junior ministers are also experimenting with social media, including the Treasury exchequer secretary, Dan Tomlinson, who filmed a chatty pre-budget clip on his way to Gregg\u2019s for a doughnut at Westminster tube station<\/a>, and the AI minister Kanishka Narayan who shot a video on his iPhone<\/a> about the technology\u2019s growth in the UK.<\/p>\n

Some of the cabinet are also getting involved \u2013 Steve Reed, the housing secretary, did an \u201cask me anything\u201d session on Reddit about a policy to reopen local pubs in September, and Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, who is a longtime vertical video enthusiast, used ASMR to promote a government announcement<\/a> on small modular reactors (SMR).<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the general election we had a big old team to support people doing this stuff and now they\u2019re having to do that within their own offices,\u201d said a Labour source. \u201cIt\u2019s harder when you\u2019re not attacking and instead having to defend and make a positive story about something, which is why you\u2019ve got to be even more creative. It\u2019s a difficult skill to learn but it\u2019s an absolutely essential one.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKee argued that the challenge was especially acute for the left because rightwingers such as Farage and Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, are skilful at communicating very clear and simple stories on and off social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe task from progressives is to articulate a complex argument that is realistic and ambitious but also real and deliverable \u2013 and to do that in an interesting, engaging way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n