Candidates’ attempts at slick, internet campaign videos during this campaign are not going well. On Friday, Rishi’s video was deemed so slick and high quality that there was no way it had been put together in the two days since his resignation. There were also allegations he’d used footage of a US Southampton roadsign instead of a British one, an awkward blunder given his green card revelations a few months ago. To be fair to him he’s now had over 8 million views on the video – twice that of a Love Island episode…

Then Penny Mordaunt came out with her production attempt, which as well as resembling a Day Today sketch suffered from the oversight of including footage of convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius and had to be re-edited after an anti-Tory Paralympian noticed footage of himself had been included, asking for it to be removed.

I officially request to be removed from this video…. Anything but blue please 😊

— Jonnie Peacock (@JonniePeacock) July 10, 2022

Sajid says he hasn’t had time to make a video, so is re-using his 2019 content. It’s a good video, though speaks to how slow he’s been getting off the blocks during this campaign. Tom Tugendhat has a video out this morning, which would be considered tonally too depressing for a funeral eulogy, and Shapps has a 19-second video out promising Tory MPs he can win them their seats.

I have a clear vision for our country and economy - and the experience and resolve to deliver it.https://t.co/koPyqw4wIG#lizforleader pic.twitter.com/V9jENJmyj6

— Liz for Leader (@trussliz) July 11, 2022

Then Truss came out with a very good video, second only to Rishi’s in quality, however is now being dogged by accusations they’ve used FCDO footage – shot by a civil servant, Robert Midgley, on taxpayer-funded cameras – for party political purposes. Now her team’s spinning that Jeremy Hunt did the same in 2019 without any blob briefings against him. A fair point, though these videos seem to be causing more trouble than they’re worth…

UPDATE: Hunt’s camp pushes back on team Truss’s spinning, telling Guido that Hunt’s 2019 footage was all bought and paid for…