Here he is, David Lammy, Justice Secretary, man of the moment – albeit perhaps not quite the moment he’d have chosen – in an arresting two-minute, 12-second video.
First, we see him striding masterfully through the chamber of the House of Commons, black and gold liveried cloak billowing and horsehair wig gleaming.
Next, a raft of excitable MPs jump to their feet, cheering and whooping.
Then, and with a conviction and determination not always displayed in his work life, the Right Honourable Member for Tottenham whips off his cloak to reveal a perilously tight red latex body suit, surprisingly flat stomach and pair of impressively strong and sturdy thighs, and launches into Britney Spears’ 2000 hit, Oops!… I Did It Again. With a few tweaks.
‘Oops, I’ve freed them again. I let out two cons and blamed all the Tories… Ooh, Lammy Lammy,’ he sings, from within a cloud of dry ice.
On it goes. Cutting first to the front of Wandsworth prison, where the giant doors fling open and two delighted convicts in grey tracksuits sprint out to embrace their unexpected freedom.
Then to this week’s PMQs where, somehow, disaster-prone Lammy – filling in for Sir Keir Starmer – mislaid his Remembrance Day poppy and stonewalled all questions about escaped prisoners. The video, finally, returns to the Chamber where ‘ooh, Lammy Lammy’ – still in his scarlet latex suit and wig and surrounded by six topless male dancers – levitates like a superstar towards the ceiling.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the video has gone viral, with more than 1.2million views already.
David Lammy in a perilously tight red latex body suit as he launches into Britney Spears ’ 2000 hit, Oops!… I Did It Again in the latest very funny AI-generated satire from The Crewkerne Gazette
Previous videos from the Crewkerne Gazette featured a rapping Rachel Reeves
Their most famous video features a computer-generated then deputy prime minister dancing outside a row of flats in a tracksuit wearing gold bling and a fur coat
But, of course, it’s not real. Instead, it’s a very funny AI-generated satire and the latest brilliant offering from The Crewkerne Gazette, an online news and entertainment site which, over recent months, has brought us rap videos featuring Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves, His Majesty the King, the Prime Minister and others, attracting tens of millions of views.
The Gazette describes itself as ‘the sharp end of Somerset – a politically incorrect, AI-fuelled, chaos-driven newcomer, where truth and satire dance together, like drunks at The White Hart.’ (Which, naturally, is a pub in Crewkerne).
It is run by two old mates who met at Yeovil College as teenagers. They are now in their mid-30s, were inspired by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, describe themselves as ‘shadow creators, working mostly behind the curtain’, and operate anonymously for their own security.
Yesterday, one of them – who goes by the moniker ‘Crewkerne Man’ and was indirectly involved in Trump’s last campaign – agreed to chat.
But first – and for the benefit of anyone not among the estimated 30 million Brits who’ve seen one of The Crewkerne Gazette’s videos – a bit of a run-down on some of their funniest hits of the past four months. Such as Sir Keir sporting Boy George plaits and singing ‘Karma Starmeleon’ – ‘You’re a man without conviction. Broken pledges all on show.’
Or Nigel Farage DJ-ing to Bo Selecta in a rotating wardrobe of beige blouson jackets, heavy gold necklaces and white fur coats. Or ‘King Chas’, the woke monarch rapping in snug-fitting tracksuit, about nature with great lines such as: ‘Talk to plants, yeah. Them daisies ain’t lyin’.
And the best of the lot – How Many Homes Can Rayner Buy? – in which a computer-generated then deputy prime minister dances outside a row of flats in a tracksuit, gold bling and fur coat, flashing cash, smoking two cigarettes at once and rapping: ‘Bought me one house, bought me two; Flip another flat, taxman no clue; £80K saved with a Brighton tan; Dodgin’ more duty than the average man. How many homes, I’ll name ’em all; Big Ange dancin’ in the Commons hall; Taxman cryin’, Rayner smilin’; One rule for me, none for thee!’
This one alone had more than 10 million views worldwide and generated endless Press coverage. Something most ‘content creators’ can only dream of.
The Gazette describes itself as ‘the sharp end of Somerset – a politically incorrect, AI-fuelled, chaos-driven newcomer, where truth and satire dance together
The Rayner video has more than 10 million views worldwide and generated endless Press coverage
But this pair insist that for them it will never be about money.
‘It’s about listening to people in the community and giving them a voice,’ explains ‘Crewkerne Man’. ‘Because a lot of people are too afraid to say what they really feel, so we speak out for them. We cover issues that they don’t dare raise.’
Such as immigration, wokery, gender controversy – all the usual suspects. Which is why they like to keep under the radar themselves.
‘Everything we’re doing is 100 per cent legal, but with this Government you never know what they’re going to criminalise next when it comes to matters of free speech and how they interpret the Online Safety Act. We don’t want the police knocking on our door.’
While he’s keen to stress that they don’t specifically target the Labour Party, it’s hard to ignore the public sentiment down the pub. And of course the fact that Starmer’s Government offers so much to satirise.
‘I don’t think there’s been a day when there isn’t some story or other,’ he says.
The Lammy/Britney skit came to him in a flash on Wednesday.
‘The news story [about the second mistakenly released prisoner] broke about noon and our video was out by about 6.30pm,’ he says.
The pair behind the Crewkerne Gazette said the Lammy/Britney skit came to him in a flash on Wednesday
Which meant for a very busy afternoon.
‘I consider these pieces a work of art – they can take hours, if not days, to create and build. It isn’t just a case of sticking it all into an app and letting it do the work.’
So they rewrite the lyrics and do the singing themselves – before changing their voices (to avoid being identified) and getting AI to add the rest. But first they have to choose the song.
‘Oops!… I Did It Again’ was ‘sort of obvious’, given Lammy’s last couple of weeks, they say.
And ‘Under Labour’, a very funny ditty set to the tune of YMCA’s In The Navy, listing all the scandals of the past year, came to him over a pint in his local, The Crooked Swan.
They are all funny but, other than Nigel Farage – who retweeted his Garage Farage rap in delight – none of the politicians, or indeed any of the celebrities, featured have ever commented. Not even Jeremy Clarkson, who they put on the decks in his own 1990s acid house farm rave.
But the Crewkerne Gazette isn’t just satirical music videos. It has always been about promoting their beloved town of Crewkerne, population 7,333, which he describes as ‘one of those towns that represents the real Britain. Small-time life, big sense of humour.’
He also tells me they’re now branching into other projects.
Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves together in one of their videos. The the Crewkerne Gazette is run by two old mates who met at Yeovil College as teenagers
Including a brand-new, 13-minute, AI-generated episode of Fawlty Towers, in which Basil and Sybil’s pride and joy has become a migrant hotel with Manuel as the incompetent Border Force official in charge. Or not.
‘It works very well – it’s very funny,’ he says.
They’re also aiming for a Christmas No 1 with a song that will be unveiled on November 28.
And, er, what’s this one about, I wonder. ‘Keir Starmer, of course! Humour’s a great way of connecting with people,’ he says. ‘Not that the Labour Party has much of a sense of humour. Starmer comes across as awkward when he tries to be funny – like a Dalek.’
Which is ironic, because, as he points out, the Left has long dominated satire in this country. But perhaps not any more.
‘It’s our turn now,’ he says.
And if the sight of poor old Lammy trussed up in red latex and belting out Britney is anything to go by, they’ll be hitting the spot for some time.
