Ed Miliband And John Healey Were Filmed Eating Snacks In Bangkok And The Reaction Was ... Not Positive

The government has certainly upped its TikTok game since Andy Burnham became prime minister.

Unlike like his predecessor Keir Starmer, Burnham has enthusiastically embraced social media as his preferred method of communicating with the public.

If the opinion polls are to be believed, the PM’s approach appears to be working, with Labour now ahead of Reform UK and the Conservatives in virtually all of them.

Looking good online does have its limits though, it seems.

Foreign secretary Ed Miliband – another earlier adopter of using videos to reach the masses – and chancellor John Healey are currently attending an international finance summit in Bangkok.

For some reason, the cabinet duo agreed to be filmed in the back of a Tuk Tuk car while eating Thai snacks.

In the video, Miliband, whose hopes of becoming PM were dashed by an unfortunate altercation with a bacon sandwich, says: “Eating on camera has not been my forte John, but I’m going to give it a go.”

After biting into one tasty treat, Miliband declares it is “not bad”.

Healey then says it is “better than scampi fries”, a reference to a video he made with Burnham in which the two men tested pub snacks.

Warming to the them, the foreign secretary replies: “And arguably better than pork scratchings.”

The pair then seem to remember that they are actually holders of two of the great offices of state and go on to explain why they are in Thailand.

Miliband says: “We’re never going to solve the problems that we have at home without working internationally. I think that’s the fundamental principle.”

Healey then adds: “If you look at the challenges we face in Britain – cost of living, economic pressures, need for greater growth, we solve those in part by working with other countries.”

But judging by the online reaction to the video, it seems that filming themselves eating snacks in Bangkok while Brits struggle to pay their bills back home may well have been a political own goal.

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