Al Murray was left blaming “metric scales” last night after he was told he was too fat for a parachute jump that had been planned as part of his campaign to defeat Nigel Farage in May’s general election.
The comedian, in his guise as the Pub Landlord, had hoped to drop out of a plane over Kent where he is taking on the Ukip leader for the South Thanet seat. Amid a gathered crowd of journalists who had come to watch the spectacle at Headcorn Aerodrome, near Ashford, Mr Murray found that he was heavier than 14st 7lb limit allowed for parachuting.
The comedian had been due to make the 12,000ft jump — or, in metric terms, 3,658m — after saying he was “shocked” at claims he had been parachuted into the constituency seat under his party the Free United Kingdom Party (Fukp). Yet after being told he weighed too much for such a jump, Mr Murray, who lampoons the stereotypical Little Englander with his comedy persona, blamed the metric scales. He also tried to put a positive spin on the abandoned attempt by saying that it proved he was now a political heavyweight.
“It seems that I am too heavy to jump. It’s a double whammy. Not only am I another tragic victim of this country’s obesity epidemic, but also I have been held back by health and safety gone mad. Gone are the days when a British citizen could throw themselves out of a plane regardless of the risk,” he said. “I was weighed on metric scales, scales that prove conclusively the dead hand of Brussels on the British way of life.”
The South Thanet seat was won by the Tories from Labour in 2010. Recent polls show Mr Farage is on course to win, despite Ukip only gaining 5.5 per cent of the vote five years ago.
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Mr Murray, 46, has released a number of policies on FUKP’s website, including bricking up the Channel tunnel, selling beer for 1p a pint and revaluing the pound at £1.10, so it will be worth 10p more. The comedian, a great-great-great grandson of William Makepeace Thackeray, read history at Oxford and began his career touring with the likes of Harry Hill and Frank Skinner before crafting his own show.
In Wendover, Mr Farage expressed doubts about his rival. He said: “He’s not even standing as himself, he’s standing as his alter ego. It is a bit of a laugh and I have no doubt that in terms of promotion for his tour around the UK he will make a lot of money off the back of it. I don’t really think the joke is going to last that long.”