A BBC subtitle gaffe showed Michael Gove ruling out Batman as the UK’s prime minister during his speech against Jeremy Corbyn
A subtitle error during the BBC broadcast of the vote of no confidence debate displayed Gove saying “Batman should never be prime minister”.
The environment secretary actually said: “This country should never allow that man to be prime minister.” However, the automated subtitles mistook “that man” for Batman.
Gove was referring to Corbyn in his closing speech on the vote of no confidence motion in the Tory government.
Gove attacked the Labour leader’s values during his impassioned speech saying Corbyn “was the worst possible person to lead the Labour party”. Theresa May’s government narrowly defeated a no-confidence vote by just 19 votes on Wednesday night.
"If he cannot protect his own Members of Parliament, how can he possibly protect this country?"@MichaelGove goes in on @JeremyCorbyn for not standing up for his own female MPs and being weak on national security. pic.twitter.com/Q0VwsdKFXp
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) January 16, 2019
Journalist Nina Massey caught the error and shared a screenshot of the mistake online, captioning the photo: “Excellent subtitle error as Michael Gove winds down no confidence debate”
Social media was abuzz over the blunder, with many believing Batman would make an excellent leader.
Excellent subtitle error as Michael Gove winds down no confidence debate. #batman #jeremycorbyn #NoConfidenceMotion 🦇 pic.twitter.com/WCj25DV583
— Nina Massey (@ninamasseyPA) January 16, 2019
https://twitter.com/LukeTOBrien/status/1085649517859336192
https://twitter.com/Asim_R11/status/1085625964292390912
https://twitter.com/trescassmirk/status/1085617826340188162
One individual suggested Batman as prime minister finally answers Donald Tusk’s question about how to resolve the Brexit political mess.
https://twitter.com/HindChristopher/status/1085616703495532544
Another user implied Gove revealed Corbyn’s true identity.
He's given Jeremy's secret away.
— Enormous Larks (@Blarrknulp) January 16, 2019
Light-hearted jokes aside, social media seemed generally supportive of the DC Comics favourite leading the country — a clear indication British citizens are becoming fed up with the current state of politics.
May nearly survived the confidence vote, a day after suffering a humiliating defeat in Parliament when MPs overwhelmingly rejected her proposed Brexit deal by 230 votes.
The prime minister invited leaders from both parties to talks on Brexit Plan B, asserting the UK will leave. “We will also continue to work to deliver on the solemn promise we made to the people of this country to deliver on the result of the referendum and leave the European Union,” May said.
