A uni student in the U.K. has gone absolutely bonkers viral for his Instagram account where he pretends to be a Member of Parliament.
Patrick O’Donnell, 18, who is objectively not an MP,, has an Instagram account called @PatricktheMP where he pretends to be represent Clapham, which hasn’t existed as a constituency since 1974.
“Great afternoon leafleting in Heslington & Fulford today, petitioning against the closure of York Barracks which would result in the loss of 1,600 jobs,” said the uni student who is not an MP just two days ago. “This is also the first AND LAST time I walk around Yorkshire villages for three and a half hours.”
He’s been running this gag for months and months, which is longer than most of us have ever done anything.
Here he is in August, thanking the 15,000 policemen and women keeping the people safe over a public holiday.
And here he is June, asking people to go out and vote.
And here is in April, launching his campaign. Which, uh, never existed.
But things don’t always go to plan. Here is he is in June, issuing an apology to everyone who voted for him (nobody) after he turned up to ‘work’ with a monster hangover.
His number of Instagram followers exploded after a tweet about his hobby went viral, jumping from just under 200 to nearly 6,000 in the space of three days.
https://twitter.com/3nymph/status/918571004619878406
Even *actual* MPs are getting in on the joke.
https://twitter.com/OnnMel/status/918807994485395458
Patrick told UniLad that he got the idea during the UK’s 2017 general election, which saw Jeremy Corbyn come within an inch of toppling Theresa May.
He’s represent Labor, of course. Or he would, if he represented anything.
While I absolutely respect his commitment to the joke, it’s curious now to see if fame will change him. Will he launch real campaigns? Start selling SkinnyMe Tea? Actually decide to run for parliament? Hopefully, none of the above, but do remember this is the same county that brought us Lord Buckethead. Anything’s possible.
PM Theresa May & Lord Buckethead pic.twitter.com/qvDX1dN3My
— DeWinner 2024 (@Red_State_Rebel) July 15, 2017
