The Paralympic athlete Jonnie Peacock is among several public figures who have asked to be removed from the promotional video released by the Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt as she launched her party leadership bid. On Sunday morning, Mordaunt, the MP for Portsmouth North, posted the video on her Twitter account with the caption “Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.” Peacock, 29, appeared in the original video crossing the finish line of a race in slow motion, with the voiceover speaking the words: “There must be focus on who we are.” The clip also featured a shot of South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who was later convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Peacock, an English sprint runner who won gold at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics tournaments, replied to the video on Twitter, saying: “I officially request to be removed from this video … anything but blue please.” Peacock’s comment had received 25,000 likes by Monday morning – more than treble the number received by Mordaunt’s tweet announcing her entry into the leadership race. The TV presenter Sue Perkins was among those who had tweeted in response to the athlete, saying: “Can’t believe you weren’t even asked for your consent. Oh, hang on …” Later on Sunday afternoon, an edited version was tweeted from Mordaunt’s account, with users quick to highlight the changes. Journalist Hugo Gye said: “Mordaunt appears to have put out a new version of her launch video, which no longer features either @JonniePeacock (who complained about being included) or convicted killer Oscar Pistorius.” “Is this a new one without @JonniePeacock who asked you to remove him?” said another user. There were other changes including video from an interview with Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, the British co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, which was replaced with more generic footage of healthcare staff.
Mordaunt’s announcement continued to attract attention on social media throughout Sunday, with many likening the video to a clip from BBC satire The Day Today, which uses the same background music. She is one of nine candidates who have so far declared their candidacy for the leadership role following Boris Johnson’s resignation.