'Dear Mr F*ckingjoking': UK PM Theresa May's mass marketing missive misses mark

Party apologises after begging letter topped by 'offensive' name

Britain's ruling Conservative Party was today forced to apologise to an elderly couple that received a letter, signed from the PM, addressed to a Mr Youmustbe F*ckingjoking.

The letter was posted on Twitter this week by Laura McCormack, who said it had been passed to her by her neighbours.

Trying to argue they can run the country when they can’t even work mailmerge. My elderly neighbours were more than a little upset to be addressed in this manner by the PM #youmustbefuckingjoking pic.twitter.com/dCHjRZFcMq

— Laura (@LauraAMcCormack) April 10, 2018

“Dear Mr Fuckingjoking,” begins the mass-produced mailer, which has ‘The Rt Hon Theresa May MP’ emblazoned across the top, alongside a picture of the leader, (poison) pen and paper in hand.

“Thanks to your support, our Conservative Government is building a Britain that is fit for the future.”

It then goes on to ask for more cash for its campaign manager fund, directing recipients to fill in its donation form, which is also headed up “Mr Youmustbe Fuckingjoking” above the address.

The recipient, Raja Habib, of Brixton, London, told The PA: “At first I thought it was a scam…I couldn’t believe my eyes.

"It was a complete shock to my system. I was embarrassed and insulted."

He added: "This is the woman we are trusting with our country, and yet her party can't even send out letters correctly."

The Tories have apologised for the offence caused, with a spokeswoman saying: "It is unacceptable that this letter was sent out and we apologise for any offence caused. We are currently investigating this matter to ensure it does not happen again."

She declined to give an explanation as to how the mistake arose, so it's unclear whether someone signed Habib's address up to a mailing list with the prank name, or if it's a mail merge gone wrong.

McCormack wrote on Twitter that the couple aren’t members of the party, but she didn’t say whether they had at any point donated to the Tories.

And of course you only have to go onto a party’s website or walk near a local campaign group to be inundated with requests for your personal information. ®