Conservatives score 'own goal' with World Cup tweet backing England
The Tories haven't had much World Cup luck, with the tweet posted as Theresa May was ambushed with a Belgian shirt in Brussels.
Thursday 28 June 2018 21:28, UK
A Conservative tweet backing England ahead of their World Cup game against Belgium has been mocked for including a picture of Labour supporter Raheem Sterling.
The post cheered on Gareth Southgate's side at the FIFA World Cup, reading: "Come on you #ThreeLions. Let's make it three wins out of three!"
It featured accompanying images of England winger Jesse Lingard and midfielder Raheem Sterling in blue.
But Sterling is a Labour supporter who backed the party's shadow women and equalities minister Dawn Butler when she stood for parliament in 2015.
Ms Butler was MP for Brent South from 2005 until 2010, but narrowly lost out to the Liberal Democrats when the constituency changed to Brent Central.
Sterling was part of her re-election effort when she stood again in 2015.
He said in a video: "Hi, I'm Raheem Sterling and I would just like to say a big thank you to Dawn for helping me and my family when we lived in Brent.
"She's been a massive help to us when I was growing up, and hopefully we can see her as an MP again."
A Labour source told Sky News the Conservative tweet was "another own goal by Theresa May's Tories".
Momentum, the Jeremy Corbyn-supporting campaign, also posted on Twitter: "You do realise Raheem Sterling is a Labour supporter, right?"
It comes after Prime Minister Theresa May was ambushed by the Belgian prime minister Charles Michel as she arrived in Brussels for a summit with other EU leaders on Thursday afternoon.
He handed her a Belgian football shirt bearing forward Eden Hazard's name, ahead of England's final group stage game versus Mr Michel's country at the FIFA World Cup.