Video of Rishi Sunak 'endorsing' Labour in upcoming U.K. general election is a tongue-in-cheek parody

Context

Labour and the Conservatives in the U.K. have been engaged in cheeky back-and-forth on their social media accounts ahead of the upcoming general elections, with unintentionally misleading results. On June 2, 2024, the Labour Party posted a video on their X (formerly known as Twitter) account that makes Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak look like he is promoting Labour. 

In the video, Sunak stands in front of a flip chart. He says, "Today, I'm going to be doing an explainer on Labour's policy for our country's future." He then flips the page on the chart to reveal a page titled "Keir Starmer's first steps for change." The page lists six policy proposals from the Labour Party's manifesto, including "Deliver economic stability" and "Cut NHS waiting times." 

"Thanks for the plug, Rishi," says the caption on the video. 

Some users appeared to take the video at face value. However, it is an edited parody of a satirical campaign video that the Conservative Party posted earlier. In the original version, Sunak does not endorse Labour. 

What we found

A reverse image search shows that on June 2, 2024, the Conservative Party posted the original version of the video to their TikTok account, and Sunak posted it on his X account. Sunak flips the chart in the original version to reveal a blank page.

The original video is captioned, "NEW: Labour's plan explained #generalelection #ukpolitics #labour #uk". It is a satirical video from the Conservative Party implying that Labour has no real policy proposals.

The edited version was posted later by the Labour Party as a rebuttal to the video. 

Screenshot of the edited version on the left and the original version on the right. In the edited version, a double outline around Sunak is visible. (Source: TikTok/Modified by Logically Facts)

In the edited version, Sunak appears to have a double outline. This indicates masking, an editing technique in which one part of a video is isolated and manipulated without affecting the rest. The double lines can appear because the edges of the isolated area are not feathered to blend them into the rest of the video. 

The Labour Party post does not constitute misinformation as it is a parody video that does not intend to deceive. However, it can become misinformation when parody is stripped of its context and presented as fact. 

The verdict

The Labour Party posted a video ahead of the upcoming U.K. general election that appears to show Rishi Sunak endorsing the party. However, the video is an edited parody of a real satirical video the Conservative Party posted. In the original version, Sunak does not endorse Labour and implies they have no policy proposals. We have, therefore, rated this claim as fake.