'I can't wait to get back to the pub': Rishi Sunak puzzles Twitter with photo giving thumbs-up outside hardware store

Surreal post mocked, but not everyone's laughing: 'My dad will never go to a pub again because of multiple government failures,' writes one person, 'this self congratulatory tone is sickening'

Rishi Sunak celebrates pubs reopening with a picture of a hardware store (Rishi Sunak / Twitter)

It was a bizarre Tweet which had many respondents asking if Rishi Sunak needed a trip to Barnard Castle to check his eyesight.

The chancellor has been widely mocked after a social media post saying he couldn’t wait to get back to the pub following the coronavirus lockdown – “and I don’t even drink,” he added.

The sticking point? An accompanying picture appeared to show him giving a cheery thumbs up to hardware shop.

“I don’t drink either,” replied one user. “But I know my pub from my kitchen appliance store.”

“Rishi, old sausage,” said another, “you seem to be giving a thumbs up to a window full of kettles. Are you on drugs?”

The post came on Tuesday afternoon shortly after Boris Johnson had announced bars would be allowed to reopen form Saturday 4 July.

But, with the UK's death toll from coronavirus now fast approaching 45,000 – the third worst in the world in absolute terms – and without any discernible strategy for managing the disease as the country comes out of lockdown, not everyone was entirely amused by the surreal tweet.

“My dad will never go to a pub again because of multiple government failures,” wrote one user whose 60-year-old father died after being diagnosed with Covid-19 in April. “This self congratulatory tone is sickening.”