UK
Tory MPs targeted in ‘offensive’ Barbie bus stop poster campaign

Noah Vickers
Mon, 24 July 2023

The ‘offensive’ poster campaign cast Tory MPs as characters in the new Barbie film (composite/ @lgsmigrants)

Transport bosses have ordered the removal of a set of “offensive” Barbie-themed posters from several London bus stops - which cast Tory MPs as characters in the film.

The images are thought to have been placed behind the glass advertising panels on the sides of the bus stops by anti-Government protesters.

A Transport for London (TfL) spokeswoman said: “These offensive adverts are not authorised by TfL or our advertising partner JCDecaux.

“We have instructed our contractors to remove any of these posters found on our network immediately.”

The organisation said it would investigate how the posters’ creators were able to open the glass panels without breaking them, as no damage was caused to the bus stops.

The posters show Suella Braverman (Home Secretary), Rishi Sunak (Prime Minister), Jacob Rees-Mogg (MP for North East Somerset), Robert Jenrick (Immigration Minister), Lee Anderson (Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party) and Priti Patel (MP for Witham).

The images use derogatory language and insults towards the MPs, with a particular focus on the party’s approach to immigration policy.

Pictures of the posters were uploaded to Twitter by the campaign group Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants.

The group, who posted the Twitter thread on the same day that Barbie was released in cinemas, wrote: “This week not only marks the cinematic event of the summer, but the Illegal Immigration Bill also passed a few days ago and it looks as though someone has been doing some alternative promo.”

They added: “This government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers is an outrage that violates human rights and fails to protect those fleeing from persecution and conflict. It will make life even more dangerous for people on the move.”

The Government has said the Illegal Migration Bill is intended “to make it unambiguously clear that, if you enter the UK illegally, you should not be able to remain here. Instead, you will be detained and promptly removed either to your home country or to a safe country where any asylum claim will be considered”.

It has said that UK asylum system is “broken” and costs the UK some £3 billion a year.

“We cannot continue, year on year, with this inexorable rise in the number of illegal arrivals adding unacceptable pressures on our health, housing, educational and welfare services,” the Home Office has said.

It is not known how many of the posters were printed and posted across the capital. One of the images featuring Ms Braverman was spotted at the southbound Priory Park bus stop, on Lee Road in Blackheath. Another was reported in Bethnal Green.