They used to say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, so long as they spell your name correctly. Maybe that’s true. Maybe Labour’s comms people are rubbing their hands in glee at the widespread ridicule that’s greeted their ‘triple whammy’ poster.

I’m not so sure. I have to say, my first thought on my first glance was ‘What the….?’

I still remember the impact of the original:

I remember a Tory spokesperson responding to criticism that ‘double whammy’ was an American expression, little known in the UK. “On the contrary,” he said, “it’s easily grasped, and indeed people have started using it. You hear it in pubs. We’ve introduced a new phrase into the national language – what could be more telling than that?”

What indeed.

And of course nothing speaks more eloquently of the success of that poster than Labour’s ‘tribute’. And maybe, as I say, my disbelief simply betrays my pathetically prosaic approach to such arcane matters….maybe Labour people have a more sophisticated ‘meta-agenda’. They eagerly anticipated the hoo-hah. They haven’t actually paid for it to be put up anywhere, but people are talking about it, so that’s a win, right?

Again, I’m not so sure. I still suspect that if you want people to see you as a government-in-waiting, having them regard you as a laughing stock may not be such a great move, spelling notwithstanding

It’s all the more baffling when you consider that it’s presumably come from the same team that devised probably the single best piece of political messaging of this campaign thus far:

That’s almost up there with ‘Make America Great Again’. Clear, simple, punchy, and right on the money in capturing the party’s pitch, its USP, in a form accessible not just to its core supporters but to the people who matter: borderline voters in marginal constituencies.

So what made the people who came up with that decide that the ‘triple whammy’ was a good idea? Baffling. Almost as baffling as the support for that third glove. Tho’ fortunately Sun-reader ‘bukey’ can help us there:

Now there’s political satire. Or perhaps not.