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David Cameron’s doctored poster is spin-doctored by Labour
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor15 Jan 2010
Labour came under fire today after it emerged that the party was using a doctored photo of David Cameron to attack his nationwide poster
campaign.
Critics hit out as the man behind Labour's spoof version of the touched-up poster admitted having airbrushed the Tory leader's image to make him look even more artificial.
Clifford Singer, who has set up a mydavidcameron.com website to ridicule the Conservative campaign, insisted that he was independent of any political party.
Mr Singer said he thought it was obvious his own spoof was “even more touched up than the original”.
He said: “We were indeed parodying a poster that had already been airbrushed.”
Labour incorporated Mr Singer's image in its own website, adding the words “Is what you see what you'd get? They need more than an airbrush to make their policies appealing”.
Today one Tory source said Labour had been “caught red-handed” in its used of a doctored image. Gordon Brown lambasted Mr Cameron this week for the billboards and suggested that he “looks very different” in real life.
He said: “If you can't get your photograph right, it's pretty difficult to get your policies right as well.”
A Labour spokeswoman said: “This developed from a campaign set up at mydavidcameron.com where people can make their own mock-up of the Tory poster. We used the templates set up by the site and once again the Tories cry foul when we hit a nerve.”
Mr Cameron this week said he was not responsible for the way his photo was drafted by ad men.
A senior Tory source said today: “It's typical that Labour felt they needed to airbrush our poster with this trickery. Clearly Labour spin is alive and well.”
Reader views (19)
So many of those who have commented above seem to think that the spoofs have been done by Labour supporters. Have you not considered that the Conservatives are worthy of ridicule regardless of whether you support Labour or not?
I won't be voting for either party but instead for a fairer parliamentary system. Hopefully in the future there will be a real choice rather than the current "lesser of two evils" campaigning we have now.
- Steve, Derby, UK, 18/01/2010 09:49
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Erm, you do realise that the airbrushing was part of the joke, don't you?
We're in for a fun, fun, fun five years if we're going to have to explain the concept of humour every time somebody dares crack a joke in the direction of David Cameron.
- Mat, London, 18/01/2010 09:44
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Amusingly, he looks dreadful in all of them.
Surely if the policies were anything more than media fodder people would be discussing them rather than his ridiculous face. Proof again that Mr Cameron and his band of Merry Men spout nonsense and rely on the rest of us to find something of amusement to keep them in the headlines. It's like Jedward all over again...
- Greta From Chiswick, London, 17/01/2010 23:52
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Labour has always fought elections dirty and they use smears it is their gutter politics they must be desperate. ask them about their int develop aidthe budget that does not go to the dept for int dev it goes instead to the TUC which is the umberella for several unions then it is diverted back to the Labour Party so you the taxpayer are in fact funding the Labour partys general election. what about the huge bill for advertising yet again you the taxpayer are funding Labours advertising for the general election via the government so what else has Labour done that we do not know about. There is something wrong with Brown mentally he thinks people must obey him otherwise he has a fit of throwing etc he is not open to compromise as such unless it is to save his skin and keep him in power he is like the old soviet leaders think about it
- Tilly Williams, peterborough uk, 15/01/2010 15:27
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I've always found Cameron somewhat robotic in style. Appropriate therefore that he seems to have morphed into Commander Data from Star Trek.
- Kevin Lynch, Dublin, 15/01/2010 15:24
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I see no reason whatsoever why the next Government should not make it illegal to airbrush public photographs FULL STOP. Look at the difference between the pics of Kate Moss looking natural on the beach last week - she looked great, but not quite as great as in her model campaigns for Top Shop, etc. It is basically a deliberate attempt to deceive people who view the picture and the practice should be banned.
- Roz, France, 15/01/2010 14:24
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You cannot go any lower than this government. Not surprised by the actions of a failed political white elephant that have dragged this country to it's knees.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 15/01/2010 13:43
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Dear me, can this Labour government not get anything right?
- St, London, 15/01/2010 13:16
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cameron oily by name oily by nature come on william haig take over or we will end up with a hung parliment with gordon clown
- Anon, leicestershire, 15/01/2010 12:42
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You now this sort of lie is what we expect from Labour they became seriosuly distanced from truth when they allowed B.Liar and the spinmeisters in - they can't even tell they are lieing - I suspect the polls are significantly underreporting Tory supoort - they always do and so when Brown is finally voted out can we please never again be subjected to this type of deeply flawed personality politics - it is Labour that have run us into the ground and we all know this is true to say anything else is to ask us all to believe that the moon is made of cheese - as absurd and as scarey - the Labour contributions here want to talk about conservatives as that way we don't talk about illegal wars, troops underfunded, Brown starving troops of resources leading to avoidable casualities, a tax and spend regime just as awful as it ever was in the late 1970's etc - these are what we all know and Labour never says sorry and its corrupted politicians never ever resign...
- Christian Ball, London, UK, 15/01/2010 12:34
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Labour. Crikey - even my Labour-supporting friends are embarrassed by Brown and his 'team', not wanting five more years of this shambles.
Can anyone honestly say that five more years of this government is a good thing?
Postergate is irrelevant. Good bye Gordon: you had your chance(s) and you belw it (well, just about blew all of them).
- Lester May, London, 15/01/2010 12:33
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Labour won't be able to airbrush the opinions of the long-suffering electorate. That's why they don't show Broooon on their election posters, everyone instintively feels bored and nauseaous as soon as he attempts another monologue.
- Jamal Akhbar, Edinburgh, 15/01/2010 12:32
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Labour, as ever, the party of dirty tricks. They just can't stop themselves.
Just creates sympathy for David Cameron as people aren't stupid.
- Stephen C, London, 15/01/2010 12:32
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Good likeness, shows what he is all about.
- Graham, London, 15/01/2010 12:18
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The person who did this says they are independent of any political party. I don't think it does Labour any good as this type of negative campaigning usually backfires, as it did for the Tories when they placed billboard size posters of Blair with demon eyes. However, this attempt at ridiculing Cameron has not been initiated by the Labor Party and I hope your readers realise that.
- Bob, London, 15/01/2010 12:17
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"A senior Tory source said today: “It's typical that Labour felt they needed to airbrush our poster with this trickery. Clearly Labour spin is alive and well.”"
Unlike Tory spin doctors hiding behind anonymity to feed stories to political journalists? Unlike Boris Johnson paying his chief spin doctor £125k a year to buff up his image while he does nothing? Who's fooling who?
Anyway, Labour are just jumping on a bandwagon here, you don't need to be a Labour supporter to find the various Cameron poster parodies funny.
- Tom, London, UK, 15/01/2010 12:13
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It's got to be better than being subjected to Brown's face gurning at us.
- Eddie, London, 15/01/2010 12:10
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Is that the best Labour can do? We have to ask why is this campaign so long? Simple - Gordon Brown the connoisseur author on books of courage is TERRIFIED of calling an election so the whole country has to suffer economically and socially until he gets his big fat backside up to the Mall and ask Her Majesty to dissolve parliament.
Lousy Losing Labour is on the attack as they can't defend their disgusting record of making a total mess of this country! The UK is now a complete Ed Balls up!
Cue.....Keith Price, the Labour Luton Luvvie who writes so often on The Standard who thinks Labour Downing Street backs onto the Garden of Eden!
- James From Camden, London, 15/01/2010 12:08
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Desperate, Labour creeps up to their amateur childish tricks again. The sooner they're airbrushed from government the better.
- Laurie, London, 15/01/2010 12:07
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