Rishi Sunak sat there humbly, waiting his turn, as if he were a little boy nervously sitting outside the CEO's office, while in the foreground Britain's most tattooed woman chatted about getting her genitals tattooed.
This is ITV's This morning—the long-running, scandal-plagued daytime TV programme, in which a recipe column can be followed by an in-depth interview with a stalking victim—the British prime minister was desperate for a few final votes on the day before a British general election that will determine his fate and that of the ruling Conservative Party.
Thursday’s polls suggest a potential landslide for the opposition Labour Party is on the horizon. The prospect has prompted Sunak and his ministers to predict the downfall of the entire country, despite the fact that many voters see the corruption and bribery-ridden Tories as responsible for a long-term slide toward exactly that.
Boris Johnson delivers dramatic speech to boost support for UK Conservative election
Before Sunak could make his hard-hitting, last-minute sales pitch, the presenters wanted to talk to “the UK's most tattooed mum”, Becky Holt, and while the cameras caught her chatting to Sunak with presenters Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, they also spotted the country's leader looking on mournfully in the background.
The two met up after the show and exchanged greetings, which was also captured on camera. It must have been a surreal turn of events for both of them, but perhaps not as surreal as it was for Sunak, who was banished to the back of the studio and listened to every detail of Holt’s life written in ink.
“I got my first tattoo when I was 15,” Holt told the hosts. “It wasn't a smart decision, I got my boyfriend's name tattooed right on my crotch. Obviously that doesn't exist anymore, but that's when the obsession really started.”
She has spent around £30,000 ($38,000) to get tattoos covering about 95% of her body. As the interview showed, the refreshingly direct Holt could teach politicians a thing or two about communicating clearly. She said she was “living for the moment” and wasn't thinking ahead to growing older with tattoos. At least she would have an “interesting story” to tell the staff at the nursing home where she might end up, she added.
Of getting her genitals tattooed, Holt said, “It took three sessions, the first one was an hour and a half, which was just the line work, and then a couple weeks later I got it colored… It was horrible, it was like tearing, burning, not nice at all… It was just swollen, you have to be careful, it stung a little bit. But it actually healed really quickly. I think the skin is a little different there, so it healed a lot quicker.”
Perhaps taking what he had heard as a metaphor for how he might bounce back from a severe thrashing at the ballot box, Sunak, when asked in passing how he was feeling in the next segment, made a slightly bemused statement: “I feel very good. That was incredible… that was quite something.”
Shephard said it was 'the nature of This morning: we go from the most tattooed mother in the UK to the Prime Minister.”
Becky Holt, left, and Rishi Sunak on 'This Morning.'
Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
Sunak, trying to look relaxed and Mr Normal (a pointless drag act given everyone knows his wealth and political ambitions), laughed off his attempt at a popular laugh and said: “Yes, without tattoos – probably not surprising to most people.”
He added, pointing to his arm, that if he were to get a tattoo, he would get the “Saints crest,” which is the Southampton FC crest. “It’s a great crest. I think it’s one of the best crests in football.”
Curious friends can be made in TV studios, and so it was that Holt later posted a photo of her and Sunak on Instagram with the caption: “Can't believe I met the Prime Minister today.” She said OK he was “very nice and very, very polite. He asked how much my tattoos were worth. He asked me which one was the most painful. It was short and sweet and we shook hands.”
The other revelation from his interview: “I love big sandwiches,” Sunak admitted, with Sky News later scooping that his favourite was “a club sandwich, with chips and a coke”.
On election night, Sunak said This morningthen he would eat his favorite pie, described as a “really nice pork pie with a special chutney and some cheese too.”
For many Britons, tomorrow's election will at least put an end to this nonsense – and the political madness that goes with it.
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