Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood's promotion video lauding the Taliban is so bad it would shock Malcolm Tucker into civility – Scotsman comment

‘It feels different now that the Taliban have returned to power,’ says Tobias Ellwood MP

Of all the many spectacular cock-ups made by the bumbling politicians in the satirical comedy The Thick of It, it must surely take pride of place. Except a promotional video for the Taliban – the Taliban!!! – by Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defence Select Committee, for now at least, is actually real.

“This is a very different country. It feels different now that the Taliban have returned to power,” he says, as what PR people regard as inspirational music plays. “It may be hard to believe but security has vastly improved, corruption is down and the opium trade has all but disappeared.”

Oh well then, fantastic, the Taliban sound like a great bunch… apart from, er, all those other things they do, such as the “arbitrary detentions, torture, and summary executions” detailed in the most recent Human Rights Watch report. One can only imagine The Thick of It’s antihero, Malcolm Tucker, taking the call. “You’ve done what? You’ve accidentally made a promo video for the Taliban...” It’s so bad, it might actually shock him into not swearing for once.