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Lindsay Lohan accepts MP's offer to turn on Kettering Christmas lights after 'offensive tweet'

Post-Brexit British politics is rapidly becoming stranger than fiction

Heather Saul
Friday 01 July 2016 16:34 BST
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Lindsay Lohan asked to switch on Kettering Christmas lights in parliament

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Lindsay Lohan has accepted an MP’s offer to switch on the Christmas lights in Kettering after being criticised for asking where the town was during the EU referendum.

At a time when British politics is in chaos and the shock of the Brexit vote continues to reverberate across the UK, the actress and impassioned Remain supporter found herself embroiled in a bizarre discussion in Parliament.

Lohan questioned areas in the UK for voting for Brexit in a flurry of tweets as results were announced. In one, she asked: “Sorry, Kettering where are you?”

Addressing the tweets, which have since been deleted, the Conservative MP Philip Hollobone claimed the actress had directed a “fierce and offensive” tweet at Kettering.

He asked if Lohan would accept his offer to switch on the Christmas lights to “redeem her political reputation” and raise money for charitable causes.

“On referendum night a week ago, the pro-Remain American actress, Lindsay Lohan, in a series of bizarre tweets, slagged off areas of this country that voted to leave the European Union,” he told MPs.

“At one point she directed a fierce and offensive tweet at Kettering, claiming that she had never heard of it and implying that no one knew where it was.

“Apart from the fact that it might be the most average town in the country, everyone knows where Kettering is.

“Would my right honourable friend support my invitation to Lindsay Lohan to come and switch on the Christmas lights in Kettering this Christmas?”

The Leader of the House Chris Grayling suggested Lohan “hasn’t necessarily fulfilled her childhood potential” but said the reason for this was now clear.

“Had she visited Kettering, she might have seen her career turn around. I think the invitation is one she should accept."

Lohan deleted all of her tweets and made no further comment on the result of the referendum, but on Thursday accepted Mr Hollobone’s offer.

Meanwhile, everyone else tried to process this latest development in an extraordinary week for British politics.

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