[andrewstuart]

This is an example of the dead cat strategy, named by an Australian political strategist “throwing a dead cat in the table”.

It’s a distraction so shocking that it can’t fail to divert media attention.

It’s a favorite technique of Boris Johnson who is even mentioned in the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_strategy

The imperial measurement thing is a dead cat Boris threw on the table during his political descent.

When you see it for what it is, you can take joy in imagining the meeting in which the politicians tried to think up the best dead cats to throw on the table and settled on this.

“Yes, Prime Minister”

[heynowheynow]

There is an entire category of fallacies of distraction. People, especially those of the political persuasion, use them when they don't have valid or just arguments to support their position.

Personally, I prefer goat brains, monkey testicles, and the shrunken heads of vanquished enemies.

[zoltrain]

100% this, all smoke and mirrors. But you can’t argue with it’s effectiveness.

[andrewstuart]

Once you know it’s an explicit strategy, you can watch for it and call it out when you see they’ve chucked a dead cat.

[heynowheynow]

It's pining for the fjords or maybe it's just stunned.