The Conservatives have spelled “Britain” wrong in one of their handouts in an embarrassing blunder at their party conference in Manchester.
Party officials handed out chocolate bars with the quote, “When Labour negotiates, Britian loses”, emblazoned across it – a quote attributed to Kemi Badenoch.
The quote has been repeatedly used by the Tory leader in response to Labour negotiations, including the deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, as well as in response to trade deals negotiated with the US, India and the European Union.
A Tory source said the spelling mistake was a “printing error”.
Amid devastating approval ratings and questions over Mrs Badenoch’s leadership, this year’s conference is notably much quieter than last.
The corporate presence is significantly slimmed down, while attendance at the main stage for major speeches given by the shadow cabinet is generally sparse.
Protesters, including anti-Brexit demonstrator Steve Bray, have stayed away, in what is thought to be a sign of the fading relevance of the Tories under Ms Badenoch.
Many stalls, which would previously have been a key source of money for the party being taken up by businesses, are left empty with Conservative branding in place instead.
It came as a new poll conducted by YouGov for Sky News found that half of all Conservative members think Mrs Badenoch should not lead the party into the next election.
The poll of 652 Conservative members, taken between 26 September and 2 October, found 46 per cent think the current Tory leader should stay in place when the country next goes to the polls, while 50 per cent say she should not.
Meanwhile, a seat-by-seat YouGov poll published earlier this month showed that the Tories would face a disaster scenario if an election were held today, being left with just 45 MPs – putting them behind Reform UK, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, which the poll put at 78 MPs.
Responding to the spelling error, a Labour source said: “Yet another Tory Flake. They can’t proofread five words on a bar of chocolate.
“This conference really isn’t proving to be the Boost Kemi needs”.
