A Northern Irish former MEP and current UK peer has been mocked after pointing out that the Spanish footballers in the Euro match against Italy didn't sing their national anthem - despite the fact that the anthem has no lyrics.
John Taylor, a Northern Irish peer who has the title of Lord Kilclooney, made the comment on Twitter on Tuesday evening, as the Euro semi-final played out in London.
In a tweet, he compared Italian players singing their national anthem, to the Spanish team, who remained silent.
Lord Kilclooney wrote: "Amazing that every member of the Italian team sang its National Anthem whereas every single member of the Spanish team remained totally silent. Not one sang the Spanish Anthem!"
It was quickly pointed out to the 83-year old politician that the anthem in question, La Marcha Real, has no lyrics.
Gary Linekar was among those responding to the post, quote tweeting it with the caption: "Good heavens" followed by laughing emojis.
Another user responded to Taylor's tweet, writing: "Astounding ignorance from Lord John. Amazing that you would say this without any knowledge or even a 30 second check - especially since you later say you thought might be the answer. If you really had them [sic] you’d have checked. Disingenuous and unthinking."
Yet another wrote: "In reply to this tweet, on two levels, there are no words."
Taylor later responded to a correction of his mistake, replying to a user saying: "I guessed that was the explanation. Never met a Spanish person before who was ‘tongue tied!’"
This isn't the first time John Taylor has been the focus of attention on Twitter for his tweets.
In 2018, the unionist peer was criticised for repeatedly making comments about former Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's Indian heritage.
In May 2018, Lord Taylor referred to Varadkar as a "typical Indian", in response to a BBC article about Leo Varadker’s perceived manners.
