The Conservative Party has been accused of misleading voters again on social media, this time by tweeting a video of Labour candidate Jess Phillips with the wrong date on it.
The edited video, posted by the @CCHQPress Twitter account and now deleted, showed the parliamentary candidate saying: “You can never, ever deliver all of those things that you are pretending to deliver when you go to the electorate.”
@CCHQPress has dated the video November 21, 2019, giving the impression Phillips was criticising Jeremy Corbyn on the same day he launched Labour’s general election manifesto.
But the clip has been taken from an old interview, when Phillips appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on October 3 to promote her new book.
The video was reaired this morning during an interview with shadow education secretary Angela Rayner.
@CCHQPress later posted another tweet clarifying their position.
During the original interview, Phillips was questioned by Susanna Reid about keeping manifesto promises — before the general election was announced.
Phillips said: “I think there is an argument to be said that you can never, ever deliver all of those things that you are pretending to deliver when you go to the electorate.
“In reality, things change. Globally things change, situations change. Facts change.
″[We can’t deliver it] in all cases. I can’t control the trade war between America and China and I have to, each and every day, and at the moment it is on a day-by-day basis and it is not good, and I have to say: ‘What is the best thing, the best decision I can make today to make sure my constituents are better off?’”
The video also labels Phillips a “Corbyn ally” – in reality, the 37-year-old candidate for Birmingham Yardley has been a vocal critic of the Labour leader in the past, going as far as to say he wasn’t the “practical choice” for leader because people would not vote for him.
The edited video has been criticised on Twitter.
One person said: “You know she’s not just talking about Labour right, but all politicians? She’s speaking truth whereas you only pretend to use facts.”
Another added: “Edited and old. Get a grip.”
It’s not the first time the Tories have been accused of misleading the public with a video.
The same Twitter account came under fire just this week after it rebranded itself as “FactCheckUK” during Tuesday evening’s televised leaders’ debate.
The @CCHQPress page normally carries clear Tory branding and logos and is equally clearly named.
But as Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn went head-to-head on Tuesday, the account renamed itself “FactCheckUK” and minimised any references to Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).
Twitter warned that a repeat of the incident would result in “decisive corrective action”.
On November 5, they were accused of unfairly editing a video of Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer, to make him appear unable to answer a question on Brexit. However, the party stood by the edit, PA Media reports.
The Tories have also purchased the website labourmanifesto.co.uk.
The website purports to showcase Labour’s manifesto but instead actually attacks the party’s policies. It accuses the party of promising “higher taxes” with “no plan for Brexit”.
The Conservatives came under fire for rebranding as a “fact-checking service” during Tuesday night’s televised election debate.
Twitter and the Conservative Party did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the video.