It’s been a busy week for Britain’s politicians – watching the tennis and cricket in the sunshine. But mixing politics with sport isn’t always a winner. Channel 4 News takes to the pitch.

Viewers of Sunday’s Wimbledon final – at least one in four of you – could hardly avoid the sight of besuited politicians falling over each other to be seen fist pumping and cheering Andy Murray towards sporting greatness.

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, even broke All England Club rules by unfurling an oversized Scottish flag to toast Murray’s victory.

Break point: David Cameron and Alex Salmond unite to support Andy Murray on Centre Court

David Cameron has quite a habit of rolling up his shirt sleeves and joining Joe Public to support Britain’s sports stars, as he did during the swimming heroics of Ellie Simmonds during the London 2012 Paralympics.

Splashing in: David Cameron cheers on Ellie Simmonds at the Paralympics

The PM occasionally does it in more elite company too.

Spot the only happy world leader in the picture below as Cameron risks the future of the eurozone by cheering on Chelsea unabashed in their penalty shoot-out victory over Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final. German leader Angela Merkel watches steely-eyed to Cameron’s left. Obama provides a buffer zone but he doesn’t really care. He’d rather be shooting hoops. Or at least playing ping pong.

My team always wins: Cameron salutes Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final

Potus pong: Obama and Cameron play table tennis during a school visit in London in 2011

So it came as no surprise when the prime minister and his rival Ed Miliband both released video clips to wish England’s cricketers good luck for the Ashes series which began on Wednesday.

“It is now time for the big one – the Ashes. Nothing captures the public imagination quite like a test match against Australia.

Best of luck from everyone at Downing Street to Alastair Cook and the boys. David Cameron

“Best of luck from everyone at Downing Street to Alastair Cook and the boys.”

The Labour leader recalled watching Geoff Boycott as a seven-year-old and wished England “a great summer”.

Jumping on the bandwagon of national pride is, of course, an old political trick.

It’s just a shame, for them not us, that sporting stunts don’t always score the political points as planned.

From ill-timed headers to booze-fuelled trips up Downing Street, Channel 4 News runs through the top 10 clashes between sport and politics.

1. Ashes on the lash

Tony Blair thought inviting the triumphant England squad to Number 10 would be a great idea a mere 24 hours after Andrew Flintoff and gang won the Ashes in 2005. He ended up looking like an awkward dad at a teenage party as a dishevelled “Freddie” Flintoff and teammate Kevin Pietersen turned up two wickets short of sobriety. Pietersen later confessed he could not even remember shaking the prime minister’s hand.

2. Kiss off Kevin!



Encouraged by press photographers, England superstars Emlyn Hughes and Kevin Keegan took it upon themselves to plant kisses on Margaret Thatcher’s cheeks in 1980 as the PM took part in an ill-advised Number 10 photocall shortly before the European Championships. She did not look impressed and it turned out to be the kiss of death – England woefully underperformed and, worse, England fans caused serious trouble on the terraces where Italian police sprayed them with tear gas. Thatcher’s own demise, in the political arena, was triggered by a sporting reference – in his resignation speech, Geoffrey Howe complained that she was akin to a captain who sent her players into action with broken bats.

3. Header ache

Kevin Keegan stars again, this time with Tony Blair in a dazzling display of ball control back when Blair was Britain’s young, fresh PM. The pair exchange headers for a while but their skill and precision is undermined somewhat by… their hair. Blair’s begins wildly flapping and Keegan’s, well, it’s Kevin Keegan’s hair.

4. Olympic clanger

Then culture minister Jeremy Hunt suffered an embarrassing malfunction during a photo opportunity at the start of London 2012. During a bell-ringing ceremony across the Olympic city, his instrument became unhinged and flew off causing an ‘elf and safety near-miss and a photo he really didn’t want – but we all loved. Ding ding.

5. Nick tries



Not to be outdone by David Cameron’s sporting prowess, Nick Clegg began chucking around a rugby ball during a meeting with the Mexican Olympic committee in Mexico City in 2011. No-one quite knows why.

6. Major effort

John Major’s love of cricket is more famous than his career as British prime minister. Launching his “Back to Basics” campaign he famously pined for a Britain of “long shadows on county cricket grounds, warm beer and invincible green suburbs”. He was lambasted for his out-dated view of the nation. But he continued to hang about in cricket whites talking about maiden overs nevertheless.

7. Harold’s mis-kick



Harold Wilson – inevitably – met the victorious England World Cup team in 1966 and, a forerunner to Blair, the then PM enjoyed showing he was more than a man in a suit… by showing he was a man in a suit who could fling himself after a ball now and again. Not so wisely he said England would only win the World Cup under a Labour government. What he really meant was England will only win the World Cup once. Ever.

8. Merkel’s Ozil ogle

When not drinking oversized tankards of beer or saving Europe, Angela likes to hang around men’s changing rooms. Here you can see the German leader congratulating a half-naked Mesut Ozil after a Euro 2012 qualifying match between Germany and Turkey in Berlin. Wunderbar!

9. Brown pong

Obama, Cameron, Boris… they’re all at it. Table tennis seems to be the sport of choice for men in suits trying to show their human side. Unfortunately it didn’t go so well for Gordon Brown at this photo shoot in 2009. Andy Burnham’s face says it all.

10. Boris basket

He brought the world whiff-whaff (ping-pong in posh) and even managed to make hanging from a zip-wire an acceptable form of political PR. In fact Boris Johnson’s relationship with sport is quite the reverse of our previous contenders. The more ludicrous the stunt, the more popular he gets. It’s enough to make Tory backbenchers consider a serious change of strategy at half time. We leave you with Boris scoring a basket without looking. Are you watching, Dave?