The Conservatives, desperate to shame Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn into supporting Boris Johnson’s bid for a general election, have been bandying “chicken” imagery around – but they bit off more than they could chew when they tried to include a major US fast food franchise.

The practice of calling somebody “chicken” to imply they’re frightened is well-established – although it is usually employed by children or people of childish nature to shame somebody of otherwise far better wisdom into doing something that is extremely ill-advised.

In this instance, Mr Corbyn knows it isn’t in anybody’s best interest to allow Boris Johnson to have the general election he wants.

Mr Johnson demanded that Parliament be suspended for five weeks, right before the deadline for the UK to leave the European Union, because he wanted to ensure that MPs could not mount any democratic opposition to his plan for the UK to leave without a withdrawal agreement – a “no deal” Brexit.

But MPs managed to foil his plan by passing a law preventing the UK from leaving the EU without an agreement.

This means Mr Johnson has tied his own hands by ensuring that Parliament can’t sit.

So he thought he’d have a general election to give him a mandate to change the situation – again – to his own design.

The problem was that the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, passed by Mr Johnson’s fellow Tories – and the Liberal Democrats – in 2010, requires a motion for a ‘snap’ election to be supported by two-thirds of MPs – 434 of them.

That can’t happen if Labour MPs, led by Mr Corbyn, don’t vote for it. And they’re not voting for it because it would be insane to offer Boris Johnson a way out of a corner into which he has painted himself.

So the Tories have nothing left but insulting imagery – like this, which appealed to the fast-food franchise Kentucky Fried Chicken:

Unfortunately the tweet backfired badly. Perhaps it was unwise to suggest the makers of a famous chicken-based take-away were “chicken”?

Whatever the reason, KFC bit back:

Whoever wrote that line is a genius as it not only ridicules the Tories but also the right-wing talk-radio channel LBC, that predominantly promotes the Tory viewpoint.

It put the Tories in their place – as at least one commenter pointed out:

And it ensured that the Conservative Party was left with egg all over its collective face.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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