Image showing Labour Party leader Keir Starmer with Jimmy Savile is digitally altered

What is the claim?

An image of Labour Party leader Keir Starmer sitting next to sex offender Jimmy Savile is being shared widely online (archive here). Users claim that Starmer was photographed with Savile and "wants this photo permanently removed from the internet."

Screenshots of the viral image shared online. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the image is fake. The original image shows Keir Starmer sitting next to former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, not Jimmy Savile, and has been digitally altered.

Here are the facts

Examining the image, it is clear that the head of an individual in the background has been unnaturally elongated, suggesting that the image has been digitally altered. This also appears to be a recent photo of Starmer, while Jimmy Saville died in 2011.

Discrepancies in the viral image. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

Through a reverse image search, we found the original image on the X (formerly Twitter) account of Rachel Reeves, MP for Leeds West, posted on December 5, 2022. She captioned the image: “Watching the match in Leeds⁩ with ⁦@lisanandy⁩ ⁦@TracyBrabin⁩ ⁦@Keir_Starmer⁩ & ⁦@GordonBrown⁩ Go England!!” The background and attire of Keir Starmer and Gordon Brown and the people in the room match the viral image.

The same image was published in the Scottish Daily Express on December 5, 2022, with the image credit given to Reeves.

The Herald and the Scottish Daily Express report that Brown was watching the match between England and Senegal during 2022 FIFA World Cup on December 4, 2022.

Who is Jimmy Savile?

Jimmy Savile was a British DJ and TV host accused of multiple instances of sexual abuse since the 1960s. In 2009, Surrey police investigated one of the reports of indecent assault at Duncroft School that took place in 1970. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dismissed the cases that same year, stating insufficient evidence to convict.

Following an inquiry that turned up 214 criminal offenses from 1955 to 2009, Scotland Yard classified Savile as a "prolific, predatory" sex offender in 2013.

Keir Starmer, who was then leading the CPS and was director of public prosecutions (DPP), has been accused of being involved in dropping the case against Savile. However, there is no concrete evidence to prove Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile in 2009. 

A Guardian report from December 2023 states that Starmer was not made aware that the case against Saville had been dropped in 2009. According to the Guardian, Starmer "reviewed the case in 2012 and came very close to rubber-stamping the original decision not to prosecute, before deciding at the last minute to commission his chief legal adviser, Alison Levitt, to conduct a formal inquiry."

The verdict

The image of Keir Starmer and Gordon Brown watching a football match in 2022 has been photoshopped to claim that Keir Starmer was photographed with Jimmy Savile. Therefore, we mark this claim as fake.

(Update: This fact-check was updated on 14 June, 2024, to correct a typographical error.)