Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly has defended a Tory campaign video that critics claim has been “doctored”.
The film depicts Labour’s Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, struggling to answer a question on television about his party’s position on leaving the European Union despite him answering it “perfectly adequately”, according to the BBC’s Nick Robinson.
In the minute-long video posted on the party’s Twitter account, Sir Keir is questioned on ITV’s Good Morning Britain by Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid over Labour’s Brexit policy.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson on mission to save Tory seats from SNP rout
The video ends with Sir Keir staring at the camera after being asked by Mr Morgan: “Why would the EU give you a good deal if they know you are going to actively campaign against it?”
However, in the original interview on Tuesday, Sir Keir actually replied to the host: “Well, Piers, I have been talking to the EU, to political leaders across the EU27 countries for three years, and I know very well what the parameters are of any deal that they would do with a Labour government.
Responding to the allegations of doctoring the video, Mr Cleverly told the BBC that Tory social media feeds had posted the interview in full and then followed it up with a “lighthearted satirical” video on Labour’s Brexit position.
“What we also did, and this is not unique to us, is we did a lighthearted satirical video, obviously so with a comedy soundtrack, highlighting the Labour Party’s chaotic position on Brexit,” he said.
READ MORE: Rosemary Goring: The troubling flaws behind Jo Swinson's confident performance
Asked whether his party had “posted a lie” online, he replied: “I disagree with your assessment of it.”
WATCH: Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit Minister can't or won't answer a simple question about Labour's position on Brexit. pic.twitter.com/wsxMlUuq9N
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) November 5, 2019
The edited video has been shared by a number of Conservative parliamentary candidates, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Piers Morgan was among those to criticise the edit.
He tweeted: “Correct, he did [answer the question], albeit not very convincingly – but the way it has been edited is misleading and unfair to Keir Starmer.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel