Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is recovering this morning after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Metro in a special festive EAFC showdown.
Despite being on home turf – the Lib Dem HQ in Westminster – and getting a hand from three young carers who are among the most talented virtual footballers in the country, he failed to cut the mustard.
And now Westminster’s top stuntman is preparing for further bad news, as his Christmas single looks increasingly unlikely to hit the coveted number one spot.
However, every stream and download of Love is Enough continues to make a difference to carers’ charities, no matter where it ends up on the chart.
Yesterday’s clash doubled as a cheeky bit of promotion for the song and an opportunity for Davey to train up after challenging Sir Keir Starmer to go 1v1 with him on EA Sports FC24, previously known as Fifa.
Going by yesterday’s results, he may have a lot of work to do.
Metro’s Craig Munro and Izzie Jones (though let’s face it, just Izzie) won the first and third matches, playing as Heart of Midlothian and Tottenham Hotspur against Davey’s Notts County and Mansfield Town.
The Lib Dem leader and his young carer teammates easily won the second, playing as Liverpool against Metro’s Leyton Orient, but it wasn’t enough.
In the meantime, there was also plenty of chat about the role of young carers and how their lives can be made easier.
Davey opened up about spending Christmas Day – which also happens to be his birthday – caring for his mother when he was a child, and also faced questions from his young guests between games.
To cap off a strange day out of the newsroom, he then handed his knighthood over to Craig and Izzie as a reward for their victory.
If Davey does manage to pull off the unexpected and reach the Christmas number one spot, the Lib Dems have promised to release a long-hidden video of former leader Sir Nick Clegg singing a Carly Rae Jepsen track.
More Trending
And if Love is Enough gets downloaded 10,000 times, the current leader has said he will do a skydive.
For the moment, it appears that the most likely politics-linked track to reach the top spot is a protest song against the cuts to winter fuel payments.
Bookies believe Freezing This Christmas by Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers is second only to the Wham! classic Last Christmas in the race.
The winner will be announced on BBC Radio One this evening.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: TikTok videos about Russian men’s chivalry hide domestic abuse problem
MORE: People are panicking about catching chlamydia from gym equipment
MORE: Kim Kardashian is now officially ‘irrelevant’ after brutal campaign from trolls online
