Thousands share edited image of Rishi Sunak on social media

Thousands of people shared an edited picture of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on social media during the first week of the general election campaign. 

The image shows him standing in front of a logo for the UK supermarket chain Morrisons, but he and another person appear to be blocking certain letters so it spells ‘moron’ behind him. 

The image appears to have first been posted on a discussion forum where other edited photos of the Prime Minister have also been shared. While the picture was seemingly intended to be a joke, it has been shared without this context alongside captions indicating people believe it’s genuine.

One post with more than 1,200 shares features the image alongside a genuine photo of Mr Sunak beneath an ‘exit’ sign, saying: “Have Rishi Sunak’s comms team resigned?” Another post sharing the image on Facebook says: “Sunak in a Morrison's store. Will he last the full 6 weeks?”

But the image is a composite of two photos of Mr Sunak at a food industry summit—neither of which show the logo spelling ‘moron’.

The photo of Mr Sunak in the edited picture has been taken from a real photo of him holding a loaf of bread, while the people around him have been taken from a similar photo at the same event. These photos have been cut together, and edited to make it look like certain letters of the logo were blocked.

The photos were taken at a Farm to Fork summit in Downing Street on 14 May 2024, before the July general election was announced. 

We’ve previously written about another edited picture supposedly showing Mr Sunak serving a badly-poured pint, as well as a genuine photo of him with a group of teenagers that many falsely claimed had been Photoshopped.  

You can follow all our political coverage during the general election campaign on our live blog. 

Image courtesy of Lauren Hurley