In a somewhat ill-advised publicity stunt, Keir Starmer took part in a mock HGV exam on Tuesday. It didn't go well. He crashed into a barrier, after having ignored the examiner's instructions to move to the left - cue puns aplenty. "He would rather crash and burn than move to the left" was just one of many comments on the BBC clip.
After knocking over the barrier Starmer was told by the Oldham examiner: "You'd have failed your test". The hapless Labour leader muttered "very good" in response. Presumably the intention was to show how tricky HGV tests can be and how only cheap foreign labour can save us. There are countless things wrong with that idea, not least the fact that budding lorry drivers don't just rock up to a driving test without having undergone lessons beforehand. Having said that, Starmer was not even driving an articulated lorry for his mock test and yet still managed to steer a rigid truck the wrong way under instruction!
Click below for the clip.
The timing of Starmer's mishap comes twelve months after he was involved in a road traffic accident. Last October he struck a cyclist while driving his car in north London. Perhaps it's just as well he is not taking up a career behind the wheel of a 44 tonne vehicle.
