Former UK home secretary, James Cleverly, has long been known to be a Warhammer 40k fan, but now it’s more than idle rumor, as the politician has revealed his involvement in the hobby via Twitter.
In a Tweet posted to X on July 11, Cleverly shared a picture of two Space Marines he’d painted up, an Ultramarine and a Dark Angel. The accompanying caption was: “There have been some rumors about me floating around Westminster for some time. There is no point in trying to hide this any longer. It’s true.” This revelation must surely take some kind of record as the world’s least dodgy political scandal in years.
Cleverly’s hobby has been an open secret for ages, as a couple of years ago Twitter users rediscovered an old tweet in which the MP shared a painting tutorial he’d enjoyed. Keen-eyed British politics-watchers also spotted a box of Sisters of Battle models on a shelf behind him during an interview. The politician appears to be interested in miniature wargames outside of Warhammer too, as in 2020 he revealed: “my drug of choice is Malifaux”.
Since 2015, James Cleverly has been the MP (Member of Parliament) for Braintree. He kept his seat in parliament at the recent election, even though his party had the worst result since the Conservatives began almost 200 years ago, securing just 121 out of 650 seats. He’s been replaced as Home Secretary by Labour’s Yvette Cooper.
While no other MPs have revealed any information about their tabletop habits, this little bit of news makes us want to write an article matching Warhammer 40k factions to UK parties. It’s low-hanging fruit though, we admit: it’s just too easy to make a joke about the UK being a grimdark dystopia to rival any wretched Hiveworld. Just like those smog-filled urban planets, our recent weather’s been completely shit.
For more great content, check out our guides to Warhammer 40k Chaos factions and the forces of the Imperium of Man.
Source: Wargamer
