Daily Mail asks 'Who will speak for England?' Twitter responds with brilliant memes
When the Daily Mail cleared its front page on Thursday (3 February) for an EU referendum special in which it asked ‘Who Will Speak for England?’, it probably never envisaged the stream of creative satire that social media would adopt in answering the question.
Using the hashtag #WhoWillSpeakForEngland, Twitter users have juxtaposed the Mail’s question with a range of suggestions including the Chuckle Brothers, David Brent and Pat Sharp. Some of the most notable are below.
#WhoWillSpeakForTheDailyMail #Aha #WhoWillSpeakForEngland pic.twitter.com/hc9jaZ8qLA
— Martin P (@MartinWrites) February 4, 2016
#WhoWillSpeakForEngland please be the!!!! pic.twitter.com/4Pvn4Hr5nU
— Arron Crascall (@arron_crascall) February 4, 2016
Surely it can only be #WhoWillSpeakForEngland pic.twitter.com/lBcEBDnoAA — Daniel Sartori (@danielsartori76) February 4, 2016
#WhoWillSpeakForEngland? Well if you can't get the right guy, there's always this Guy... #GuyGoma pic.twitter.com/AT1tEqWJ7W — Joshua King (@JoshKing_PJ) February 4, 2016
#whowillspeakforengland Don't ever f***ing call me English again pic.twitter.com/gJ5LJnYDHs — Philip Boyce (@PLBoyce92) February 3, 2016
England needs a hero#WhoWillSpeakForEngland #SendForPatSharp pic.twitter.com/dkOI9td3an — Chris McAlinden (@chrismca88) February 3, 2016
pic.twitter.com/CCGuWCpkw1 — Paul Frame (@PaulFrame85) February 3, 2016
Spokesdog. Hehehe https://t.co/CHHSdR0UyP There should be more spokesdogs in the world. #WhoWillSpeakForEngland pic.twitter.com/6KwRplVNMB — Sarah Beattie-Smith (@SBeattieSmith) February 4, 2016
#WhoWillSpeakForEngland pic.twitter.com/5XzOcoF6ZR
— elliott (@_e_l_l_i_o_t_t_) February 4, 2016
#WhoWillSpeakForEngland pic.twitter.com/5Qq22dlBve — We are staying up (@PeterDUFC14) February 4, 2016
#WhoWillSpeakForEngland pic.twitter.com/MhOX9NEdpZ
— Andrew Bloch (@AndrewBloch) February 4, 2016
The Daily Mail's headline was a nod to the Tory anti-appeaser Leo Amery’s 1939 parliamentary remarks during an anxious debate on whether to intervene on behalf of Poland which had been invaded by the Nazis the previous day. Tory PM Neville Chamberlain had just made an ambivalent statement to the House, proposing no immediate action. As Labour's deputy leader, Arthur Greenwood, rose to reply for the Opposition, Amery famously bellowed across the floor: “Speak for England, Arthur!”
The Mail has been adamant in its denial that it was not eluding to any parallels between the EU and Nazi Germany, rather it was emphasising the significance of what it described as “a crossroads in our island history”.