This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/conservative-mp-guy-opperman-mistakes-black-man-watching-house-of-commons-drugs-policy-debate-for-footballer-mario-balotelli-9828709.html
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Conservative MP Guy Opperman mistakes black activist watching House of Commons Drugs Policy debate for footballer Mario Balotelli | |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| Quite why Mario Balotelli could possibly have fancied a trip to Westminster to "pop" in on the Drugs Policy debate at the House of Commons today remains unclear. | Quite why Mario Balotelli could possibly have fancied a trip to Westminster to "pop" in on the Drugs Policy debate at the House of Commons today remains unclear. |
| But the Liverpool striker has a history of doing the unexpected. Like randomly driving into a women’s prison to "have a look around" and burning down his own bathroom after attempting an indoor fireworks display using the wrong type of fireworks. | But the Liverpool striker has a history of doing the unexpected. Like randomly driving into a women’s prison to "have a look around" and burning down his own bathroom after attempting an indoor fireworks display using the wrong type of fireworks. |
| Which might well have added some credence to claims, originally made by Conservative MP for Hexham Guy Opperman, that he’d spotted the Italian sportsman watching the political drama unfold in the public gallery today. | Which might well have added some credence to claims, originally made by Conservative MP for Hexham Guy Opperman, that he’d spotted the Italian sportsman watching the political drama unfold in the public gallery today. |
| "Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has popped in to Commons Gallery to watch the Drug Policy debate -wearing sharp suit, pink shirt and a poppy," Opperman tweeted, spawning a series of confused tweets from journalists squinting to work out whether they were in fact in the presence of the Italian international – or whether the politician had embarrassingly mistaken him for a random black guest. | "Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has popped in to Commons Gallery to watch the Drug Policy debate -wearing sharp suit, pink shirt and a poppy," Opperman tweeted, spawning a series of confused tweets from journalists squinting to work out whether they were in fact in the presence of the Italian international – or whether the politician had embarrassingly mistaken him for a random black guest. |
| Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has popped in to Commons Gallery to watch the Drug Policy debate -wearing sharp suit, pink shirt a poppy | Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has popped in to Commons Gallery to watch the Drug Policy debate -wearing sharp suit, pink shirt a poppy |
| Man who looks very much like Mario Balotelli in Commons public Gallery for the drugs debate....could it be him?! | Man who looks very much like Mario Balotelli in Commons public Gallery for the drugs debate....could it be him?! |
| Mario Balotelli sitting in on the commons drug policy debate? Surely not... | Mario Balotelli sitting in on the commons drug policy debate? Surely not... |
| Not too sure on this one... perhaps a Mario Balotelli lookalike on the loose. Although would you really put it past him? | Not too sure on this one... perhaps a Mario Balotelli lookalike on the loose. Although would you really put it past him? |
| Turns out, the latter was correct. As Balotelli was about 220 miles away in a different city. | Turns out, the latter was correct. As Balotelli was about 220 miles away in a different city. |
| "Mario Balotelli was and still is at Melwood Training Ground," Liverpool Football club confirmed. | "Mario Balotelli was and still is at Melwood Training Ground," Liverpool Football club confirmed. |
| PROOF: Here is Mario Balotelli training with Liverpool but an hour or so ago pic.twitter.com/cXMXTbZCY6 | PROOF: Here is Mario Balotelli training with Liverpool but an hour or so ago pic.twitter.com/cXMXTbZCY6 |
| "I get that all the time," the doppleganger said. | |
| British MP mistakenly thinks 55-year-old dancer is Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli http://t.co/PcOgDFQp1M pic.twitter.com/z3o2WY1HmZ | British MP mistakenly thinks 55-year-old dancer is Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli http://t.co/PcOgDFQp1M pic.twitter.com/z3o2WY1HmZ |
| At the moment, he's campaigning against the use of police stop and search methods in relation to drugs possession. | |
| "I was sitting down watching the debate and I was approached by a number of MPs asking me if I was Balloteli," Hinds told The Telegraph outside the Commons yesterday. | |
| "I had to disappoint them and say no - but he is a great man and I am only privileged to associated with man like that. | |
| "I was in the debate because I am the chairman of Haringey stop and search monitoring group, we definitely know that drug play a big part in stop and search. | |
| "In my community, which is one of the poorest boroughs in the country we know that two thirds of the stop and search is around drugs." |