The BBC did use old footage of Boris Johnson laying a Remembrance Wreath

11 November 2019

What was claimed

The BBC used old footage of Boris Johnson laying a Remembrance wreath.

Our verdict

Correct, in 2019 it twice used footage from the 2016 Remembrance Sunday service.

A post claiming that BBC Breakfast used old footage of Boris Johnson at a Remembrance Sunday service has been shared thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter.

This is true, the BBC twice used footage from the 2016 service instead of 2019 during the morning broadcast on the 11 November 2019, when discussing the election policies related to the armed forces which Labour and the Conservatives announced that day.

Mr Johnson, who in 2016 was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, laid a green wreath on behalf of overseas territories. This year as Prime Minister, he laid a wreath of red poppies.

In later news bulletins throughout the morning, the BBC used footage from the 2019 service.

The BBC said the use of 2016 footage was a production error and the organisation apologised.

This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as true because the BBC did use old footage.

We can’t sugar coat how difficult this year has been for good information.

News this year has fractured communities, and caused confusion and panic for many of us. No one can control what will happen next. But you can support a debate based on fair, accurate and transparent information.

As independent, impartial fact checkers, we rely on individuals like you to ensure the most dangerously false inaccuracies can be called out and challenged.

Could you chip in to support an accurate and fair debate today?

The BBC did use old footage of Boris Johnson laying a Remembrance Wreath

What was claimed

Our verdict

We can’t sugar coat how difficult this year has been for good information.

Related fact checks

Full Fact fights bad information