The Conservatives were embroiled in a ‘fake news’ row after using doctored footage of Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer in a campaign video.
The clip showed the shadow Brexit secretary appearing silent when Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan asked a question about Labour’s policy on leaving the EU.
But the heavily-edited footage was criticised for wrongly giving the impression that Starmer did not answer questions straightaway and was unable to answer, when the full clip shows that was not the case.
Brexit is set to be a key issue in the campaign, with Labour pledging to negotiate a new deal which will be put to the public in a new referendum and the Conservatives vowing to leave with the deal Boris Johnson has agreed.
Morgan was among those who criticised the video as “misleading and unfair”.
Campaiging journalist Peter Stefanovic also tweeted, saying: “In a doctored video, tweeted on the Tories’ official twitter account, the party inserted several seconds of Sir Keir’s face in silence after a question during a TV news interview. This is the level of the Conservative party’s desperation.”
A Labour source told HuffPost UK: “I agree with Piers Morgan. The Tories’ campaign video is misleading. Another Tory lie.”
Full Fact, a neutral organisation which tests politicians’ claims, also criticised the video.
Defending itself, the party’s official Twitter account posted the clip and later posted the footage, claiming it was a “car crash interview” - again, leaving out the key part of the footage.