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| - An image circulating on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) claims to show a screenshot of an opinion article that Sir Keir Starmer has written, apparently for the Guardian’s website.
The supposed headline reads: “Eddie Izzard is a true working class woman who represents the real values of the Labour Party”, and is accompanied by Mr Starmer’s name and a photograph of him. The subheading reads “Brighton’s loss is a gain for another constituency somewhere”, with an apparent date of Sunday 17 December 2023.
The image appears to be designed to resemble the website of the Guardian newspaper; it uses very similar typography, and mimics the colours and layout of the newspaper’s website.
A spokesperson for the Guardian confirmed that this has “never been an article or headline published by the Guardian” and said “it seems this is a fake image shared on social media”.
There are also some clear signs within the image that it isn’t from the real website of the Guardian. For example, the branding in the top right corner visible in some of the posts reads “The Grauniad”, rather than ‘The Guardian’. The ‘Grauniad’ is a deliberate misspelling sometimes used as a nickname for the Guardian.
The actual Guardian website currently shows “newspaper of the year” in yellow font under the branding in the top right.
Additionally, the subheadings listed under the ‘Opinion’ section of the website in the image do not match those of the Guardian’s website. The image shows the subheadings of “Columnists, Gender, Cartoons, Race, Letters, Politics”, whereas the real site’s Opinion section features the subheadings “The Guardian View, Columnists, Cartoons, Opinion videos, Letters”.
These fake subheadings appear to match those often used in images shared by this X account, titled ‘The Grauniad Official Parody’, though we haven’t seen the fake op-ed about Eddie Izzard attributed to Mr Starmer shared by this account.
As of 11 January 2024, the most recent article that appeared on Mr Starmer’s author profile on the Guardian’s site was an article yesterday on Labour’s plans for child health. Before that, the most recent article by Mr Starmer dates from July 2023. No piece about Eddie Izzard appears.
However, the fake image of the article is seemingly being shared as though it is genuine. It has appeared on X and Facebook as just the article headline and Mr Starmer’s byline and photo, without the additional clues that the website isn’t genuine.
The image has been shared on Facebook alongside captions such as “the Labour Party is insane!...And a Labour Government…would project their insanity on to the British Nation!” and “Still doesn’t know what a woman is”.
False or misleading claims about politicians have the potential to affect people’s opinions of individuals, parties or how they choose to vote. We often see these types of claims spread widely online.
Image courtesy of Burst.
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