People are brutally mocking the government for a tweet about 'innovative British jams'
Karen Booth/Flickr
The British government is being widely mocked on Monday morning after a pretty strange tweet about jam.
The official Twitter account of the Department for International Trade - the government department headed up by arch Brexiteer Liam Fox and created in July to deal with negotiating Britain's trading relationship with the rest of the world after Brexit - tweeted at 9:30 a.m BST (4:30 a.m. ET) to say:
France needs high quality, innovative British jams & marmalades #EXportingisGREAT #ExportOpps https://t.co/TsnsjUCVxX
- Dept. for Int. Trade (@tradegovuk) 3 October 2016
The tweet was one of a series aimed at connecting UK businesses with importers looking for British products, and included a link to a government website called "Exporting is Great," which aims to partner British exporters with companies overseas who are interested in their products.
The site included a brief description of a proposed deal between a French fine food company and a British jam manufacturer, which read:
"A fine food Representative / Agent, with good connections to gourmet distribution and fine food retailers on a national level, is looking for British food & drink brands which offer innovative & high quality jams / marmalades
"UK companies should be aware that the quantities involved will be small at the very beginning. However, it is an excellent opportunity for brand names and products to be introduced into the French market and to build lasting and growing demand."
As well as the jam tweet, the Department for International Trade also tweeted offering businesses the chance to export "seaweed powder for livestock & fertilizer" to Japan.
As is the preserve of Twitter, users quickly seized on the tweet to mock it mercilessly, questioning - among other things - exactly what constitutes an "innovative" jam.
I really want to know what this innovative jam does. Will it give me superpowers? https://t.co/aw84C2K7ZY
- Ian Rennie (@theangelremiel) October 3, 2016
Others pointed out that French jam is already pretty good:
Quick, someone send them some Bonne Maman, the UK's second biggest jam brand! Oh wait... #goodgrief https://t.co/BrTPX4ECfw
- Emilie O'Herne (@eoherne) 3 October 2016
Including Labour MP Stella Creasy:
Well bonne chance with that @tradegovuk...or should I say bonne maman .... brexit literally putting us in a Jam then... #Article50 https://t.co/U29ZXFUu48
- stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) 3 October 2016
Others resorted to puns:
You can mock Liam Fox's tweet about exporting #innovativejam all you like, but we all know that international trade's his preserve. (Sorry.)
- Tom King (@tallgeekychap) October 3, 2016
Given that over the coming years the Department for International Trade will be tasked with creating trade deals with the biggest economies across the world, the fact that it seems to be concentrating on connecting British jam makers, might be a little troubling to some voters.
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