Autocue mix-up derails government minister’s speech with the words ‘c**k gobbler’
A surreal autocue mix-up left a Tory MP staring at the words “c**k gobbler” for the duration of his speech.
The mix-up happened on Monday at the Radio Academy’s Radio Festival at the British Library – where Tory minister Matt Hancock was giving a speech as minister for digital policy.
His speech followed Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, who hosted a special round of his ‘Innuendo Bingo’ segment on-stage.
But unfortunately for Mr Hancock, someone neglected to reset the autocue inbetween the items, meaning he was left staring at the last phrase from Innuendo Bingo – ‘C**k Gobbler’.
The MP quipped to the audience: “Youāre obviously getting upset because it just says, in large letters, ācock gobblerā… I had to do a whole speech without being distracted!”
Matt Hancock: Cock Gobbler. Audio here: https://t.co/L3CHbzpai6
ā Patrick Foster (@patrickfoster2) September 26, 2016
Telegraph media correspondent Patrick Foster explained: “Due to screen malfunction, Matt Hancock has just given an entire speech at the Radio Festival, staring into the words ‘c**k gobbler’.
“Matt Hancock had ‘c**k gobbler’ in front of him because previous speaker Scott Mills had been airing poultry-based innuendo.”
It’s not the first time Mr Hancock has been party to a unfortunate words mix-up.
On National Poetry Day in 2014 he apologised after accidentally retweeting a poem suggesting the opposition was “full of queers”.
The MP had accidentally retweeted the poem “The party run by young Ed/is quietly going quite dead/bereft of ideas/quite full of queers/no wonder the faithful have fled.”
