Ed Balls poses with a 'pigeon' in bizarre Twitter picture
Labour have previously promised 'an owl for every man'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.It’s less than a week since Ed Miliband took a stand against "photo-op politics", yet on Monday his Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls, posted a picture to Twitter that couldn’t help but raise eyebrows.
As other mothers cradled their babies at Stanley Children's centre, Balls appeared to be tenderly nursing a pigeon.
While some questioned the use of pictures in the wake of Miliband's speech, others were more baffled by his fowl baby. One tweeted "coo far and coo fast?"
After Labour's Twitter snafu where the party's press account accidentally promised every man an owl, some expressed disappointment that Balls had only been pictured with the humble urban pigeon, rather than the wise forest bird. Could this indicate that the electorate would soon suffer another broken promise?
Perhaps the most famous of all political Twitter snafus happened on this exact date in April 2011.
After attempting to search his own name on twitter, the shadow chancellor instead sent a tweet that simply said "Ed Balls". It has now been retweeted 29,190 times.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments