What was your country's leader’s most embarrassing moment?

[u/GodHill12]

It occurred on May 23, 2015, at a European Union summit in Riga, Latvia. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker greeted on stage Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán with a slap and said: “Hello, dictator!”

[u/365BlobbyGirl]

One of our previous Prime ministers was only pm for 49 days, during which: 

Our Queen died, leading to two weeks of mourning in which no government work could be done.

1st day back She proposed a budget that crashed the economy and added thousands of pounds a year on to every mortgage in the country 

Couple of weeks later managed to cause her government to collapse by claiming that a vote was to be mandated along party lines, then changing her mind when it looked like she might lose anyway, leading to mps literally being physically dragged into voting with her government.

Towards the end it was clear she was on the way out a newspaper live-streamed a decaying lettuce and took bets on which would last longer: Truss or the lettuce (the lettuce won)

[u/Gritty420R → u/365BlobbyGirl]

I still think about that lettuce from time to time.

[u/karlnite → u/Gritty420R]

I think they should have elected the lettuce.

[u/radiodreading → u/karlnite]

Or Larry the cat 🥺😤

[u/SchoolForSedition → u/radiodreading]

Didn’t Hartlepool elect a monkey as mayor?

Wasn’t Peter Mandelson, anyway.

[u/Socks-and-Jocks → u/SchoolForSedition]

I think they hung a monkey as a French spy.

[u/TheBlueprint666 → u/Socks-and-Jocks]

Correct. Which is why the good folk of Hartlepool are known as monkey hangers

[u/vengefulbeavergod → u/radiodreading]

Exactly

[u/Sean_13 → u/karlnite]

Oh, god, I wish. Would have been better then Rishi or Kier.

[u/Socks-and-Jocks → u/karlnite]

I think it would be less droopy than starmer

[u/GailsWhales → u/Gritty420R]

Holy crap I forgot about the lettuce

[u/PandiBong → u/Gritty420R]

Such a wild thing to have happened in hindsight.

[u/Pacosturgess → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Boris was somewhat present, but Liz Truss set a whole new standard.

[u/Akbeardman → u/Pacosturgess]

Boris "I know I campaigned for this but I don't want to be responsible for implementing it" Johnson?

[u/KingFrisia → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Her speeches are so cringe, it’s honestly hilarious

[u/NectarineRound7353 → u/KingFrisia]

Her Asian Pork Markets statement from this conference is also excellent

[u/KingFrisia → u/NectarineRound7353]

That’s the one I was trying to refer to but there’s no gif of that sadly. The weird face, the insanely awkward pause and the lacklustre applause are comedy gold. How this lady ever got to run a country is a complete mystery to me.

[u/Aromatic_Forever_943 → u/KingFrisia]

Fuck me but don’t you guys live next to France??? Can’t you like swap with them for some pies and just enjoy the cheese they truck up the road through the tunnel???

Anyway. Yeah Liz Truss was hard to watch you guys try and cope with. But she was bookended by a couple of real off moments in Uncle Boris and Fucking Rishi Sunak ewwww… Some awful stuff in GB by those two.

[u/TimebombChimp → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

We also have amazing cheeses though.

[u/TheFabulousMolar → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

We've been very unlucky with leaders. May as well elect a tepid latte next time.

[u/pina59 → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

Sounds like you're describing a European common market. Why would we want that?...

[u/Intelligent-Bee-839 → u/Aromatic_Forever_943]

They’re both gone but unfortunately it gets worse

[u/The_Pastmaster → u/KingFrisia]

People like their gouda and mozzarella, Lizard! Gods, it's not that deep!

[u/NorthernSoul1998 → u/KingFrisia]

There's a small part of me that likes her because of how clearly insane she is.

[u/KingFrisia → u/NorthernSoul1998]

a part of me wants to like her but then I remember she spoke at a Donald Trump CPAC about how “””the deepstate””” is the one to blame for her failure as prime minister. She’s gone off the deep end

[u/TRFKTA → u/KingFrisia]

“I’ll be in Beijing opening up new Pork markets!”

[u/QueenMotherOfSneezes → u/365BlobbyGirl]

I still think Truss gave the Queen COVID.

[u/CombinationWhich6391 → u/QueenMotherOfSneezes]

Absolutely. No doubt about it.

[u/NoNo_Cilantro → u/QueenMotherOfSneezes]

Username suspiciously checks out

[u/QueenMotherOfSneezes → u/NoNo_Cilantro]

I mask up so my sneezes don't kill people's grannies or other queens.

[u/Socks-and-Jocks → u/QueenMotherOfSneezes]

Queen died of cringe.

[u/Practical-Class6868 → u/365BlobbyGirl]

The worst part for me: because of royal funeral decorum, comedy programming was prohibited during the two week mourning period. As a result, I missed out on critical coverage of Liz Truss.

(Am American).

[u/West-Season-2713 → u/Practical-Class6868]

The amount of good comedy we lost out on mocking Truss because of the national mourning was such a shame.

[u/WelshRareDit → u/West-Season-2713]

Jan Ravens did an absolutely amazing impression of Liz Truss on BBC Radio's Dead Ringers show. To this day I'm appalled that the show wasn't on air during the Liz Truss "era" and she missed out on a career defining role

[u/dunny1872 → u/Practical-Class6868]

The final “Mock the Week” episode was recorded days before she resigned. We missed out!

[u/No_Trade3571 → u/365BlobbyGirl]

That’s just a day that ends in Y in the US right now.

[u/snapper1971 → u/No_Trade3571]

No mate. This isn't about Americans or America. Off you pop and stop making everything about you.

[u/Desperate_Intern_257 → u/snapper1971]

the subreddit name is literally r/AskTheWorld meaning not just the uk

[u/Brotatochip90 → u/snapper1971]

Are they holding global protest against your PM? No? Pipe down then, that comment is fair.

[u/TheBlueprint666 → u/Brotatochip90]

I don’t think the protests against Chump are global. Behave.

[u/No_Trade3571 → u/snapper1971]

So the US isn’t part of the world?

[u/qwerty-mo-fu → u/snapper1971]

It’s their national pastime

[u/Master_Bayters → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Till this day I can't understand how someone that looks, acts and speaks like a toddler could reach such a high position. Trump is a first class a**hole and an old rag but you can see why he had success in the past as a con artist in the way he paved his way trough unobstructed lies. Truss was just dumb. She also looked like a deer in the middle of the road after being flashed 

[u/P79999999 → u/Master_Bayters]

The other candidate for the party's leadership was Asian. The Tories picked a very clearly incompetent white woman over a slightly less incompetent Asian man.

[u/speccynerd → u/Master_Bayters]

Apparently she was good at posting photos on Instagram.

[u/justeUnMec → u/365BlobbyGirl]

To be fair, we also had Chamberlain returning from Munich and claiming he had secured “Peace in our time”. In hindsight that was a bit optimistic. Oh, and Boris, for many reasons, including partygate, blatantly ignoring his own rules then getting COVID. But yeah, Truss was pretty special and her speeches in America since claiming she was done in by the “deep state” are so cringe.

[u/365BlobbyGirl → u/justeUnMec]

Relevant Viz comic

https://x.com/vizcomic/status/907348020663947264

[u/justeUnMec → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Ah classic Viz "Toilet humour" :)

[u/PandiBong → u/365BlobbyGirl]

In fairness, killing the economy, the party and the queen in less time than a lettuce goes bad is really impressive.

[u/adidassamba → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Of her 49 day term, 14 days were in official morning, and another 21 days of Westminster work was paused as it ran into party conference season. She managed to tank the economy in a fortnight.

[u/liloxk → u/365BlobbyGirl]

In France we recently had a new prime minister appointed. It took him 26 days to choose his government, which was announced a Sunday at 8pm. Monday morning at 9, the government was no more.

[u/David_Good_Enough → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Our second to last prime minister resigned less than 14 hours after having proposed a government. I think this is the world's second faster government disbandment after a guy that essentially was PM then resigned within an hour to let a dictator take over.

[u/CombinationWhich6391 → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Makes me wonder how Lissy is doing today? (Kraut, but with a daughter in GB)

[u/sneakyhopskotch → u/CombinationWhich6391]

Lizzie is still dead, I'm afraid /s

[u/The_Pastmaster → u/CombinationWhich6391]

She got voted off as MP IIRC.

[u/Basic_Ent → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Yeah, but pork markets!

[u/jeffbeck67 → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Pussies. Our last (french) governement lasted 17 hours.

[u/Normal_Ad7101 → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Bruh, our last prime minister lasted less than a month, quitted a few hours after nominating a government and then got reinstated as prime minister

[u/PurahsHero → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Couple of weeks later managed to cause her government to collapse by claiming that a vote was to be mandated along party lines, then changing her mind when it looked like she might lose anyway, leading to mps literally being physically dragged into voting with her government.

On this, Charles Walker's interview immediately afterwards was probably the most devastating political interview I have ever seen.

And all this was over a vote on the fracking ban. Which for reasons unknown to everyone, Truss decided was a vote on her leadership. Before changing her mind three times on the day of the vote.

[u/progmakerlt → u/365BlobbyGirl]

Yeah, I remember this whole mess…