Politics

The Mail tried to turn the spotlight from Partygate to Keir Starmer with a photo from 2015 – and Nadine Dorries shared it

Oonagh Keating. Updated May 3rd, 2022

While stories leak about Boris Johnson’s excuse for attending an ABBA-themed party allegedly organised by Carrie Johnson at Downing Street – because he was conducting an interview there, in case you were wondering – Conservatives and their pet press have been trying to turn the spotlight on Keir Starmer.

Their chosen weapon is an incident during lockdown, ahead of the Hartlepool by-election, in which the Labour leader was filmed having a beer with staff in a Durham constituency office, which had been dismissed by local police as not requiring further investigation.

On Sunday, the Mail published yet another story on what they’ve dubbed ‘beergate’, insisting that there’s no way the Labour campaigners present would have continued working after eating at 10 pm, as claimed, and that Keir Starmer should provide proof.

They illustrated the story with an image of Starmer eating a meal at a table, and although it was identified as a stock photo inside the article, it appeared in the thumbnail as though it were an image of the incident.

The Secretary of State for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, Nadine Dorries, shared the post , with her own take on it.

Just one of the problems with the post, and Ms Dorries sharing it, is that the featured image was taken from a 2015 Guardian article and shows Keir Starmer eating alongside the late Frank Dobson, who died in 2019.

Simon Harris pointed out the irony …

Other tweeters had a few thoughts of their own.

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