The Telegraph did not publish headline about Starmer and 'detainment camps'

What is the claim?

Social media users are sharing a screenshot of a purported news report by The Telegraph headlined "Keir Starmer considering building 'emergency detainment camps' on the Falkland Islands," dated 7 August 2024, and credited to senior news reporter, Fiona Parker. A subheading reads, "The camps would be used to detain prisoners from the ongoing riots as the British prison system is already at capacity."

 Screenshot of social media users posting the screenshot of the purported Telegraph report. (Source: Facebook/X/Modified by Logically Facts)

One Facebook user shared the viral image and wrote, "He didn't want refugees to go to Rwanda but he wants patiots to be sent to the Falkland Islands [sic]." An archived version can be seen here. 

A social media user on X (formerly Twitter) also shared the image, amassing over 211,000 views and more than 4,700 likes at the time of writing this article. Another user on Facebook also posted the image and railed at Starmer for his purported plan. Archived versions of this and other such posts can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.

However, the image is doctored and Fiona Parker wrote no such article for The Telegraph or any other media outlet.

What are the facts?

The viral image attributes the news report to a journalist, Fiona Parker. Following up on this, we found Parker works at The Telegraph as a senior news reporter. Next, we searched Parker's author profile at the paper as well as her Muck Rack profile and found no such report penned by her. 

Similarly, no report with the headline seen in the viral photo was published on August 7, 2024, or earlier, on the website of The Telegraph.

Instead, we found that on August 7, 2024, at 11:21 am, the exact timestamp and dateline seen in the viral image, The Telegraph had in fact published an article attributed to Parker titled, "Wife of Tory councillor arrested for inciting racial hatred." The report in question detailed the case of a Tory councillor's spouse, who was detained after allegedly calling for hotels accommodating migrants to be set on fire.

 Original August 7, 2024 report penned by Fiona Parker.(Source: The Telegraph/Modified by Logically Facts) 

 Our findings indicated that this piece was altered and used to create the image now viral on social media.

We found no reports by any other media outlet about any such plan being considered by the Starmer-led United Kingdom government.

Clarification from The Telegraph, journalist

On 8 August, The Telegraph issued a clarification on its official X account (archived here), writing, "No such article has ever been published by the Telegraph."

 Clarification from The Telegraph. (Source: Screenshot/X/The Telegraph)

The Telegraph published a report on the same day, "The fake Telegraph article that was shared by Elon Musk – and went viral." This report, written by the paper's senior feature writer Ed Cumming, reiterated that the story was "utterly false," and explained the timeline of the fake image going viral after it was reportedly shared by GB News presenter Darren Grimes and X owner Elon Musk. Cumming wrote, "Prime Minister Keir Starmer has considered no such thing in response to the unrest that has swept Britain's streets over the past week and a half. Nor has anyone at the Telegraph written anything of the kind."

Several other news outlets, including the BBC, also reported that the viral image gained significant attention after it was shared by Musk and Ashlea Simon, a co-leader of the far-right political group Britain First. 

The BBC report also carried a statement from a Telegraph Media Group spokesperson, who stated "This is a fabricated headline for an article that does not exist. We notified relevant platforms and requested that the post be taken down."

A report by The Telegraph was published on August 9, 2024, written by Parker herself, headlined, "How I found myself at the heart of a fake news storm". The piece detailed how she was alerted to the fake image, with Parker writing, "I alerted the Telegraph news desk and legal team as I rushed to the airport. 'Fake article photoshopped with my byline on Twitter,' my email's subject heading read."

Riots in the United Kingdom

• Riots have broken out across the U.K. after the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, England, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga event on July 29, 2024. 

• Eight more children and two adults were also left injured in the knife attack. A then-17-year-old was arrested and later charged with murder. 

• Following the incident in Southport, protests erupted across England, Belfast, and Northern Ireland with reports of attacks targeting mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers by far-right groups. The violence was fuelled by misinformation, the far-right and anti-immigration sentiment. 

• According to the BBC, anti-immigration and anti-racism protestors engaged in confrontations outside the city hall in South Belfast.

• According to a report issued by the National Police Chiefs' Council on August 9, 2024, at least 741 individuals were arrested and 302 charges were brought in relation to the widespread riots.

• Logically Facts has also delved into the extent of the violence, the misinformation surrounding the riots, and how U.K. authorities have responded. Our piece can be read here.

The verdict

The viral image has been doctored. The Telegraph did not report that the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is building an "emergency detainment camp" to house protestors from the ongoing riots in the country. Therefore, we have marked this claim as fake.