What was claimed
An image shows the new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer wearing a pink hijab.
Our verdict
The image isn’t real. It was posted by a satirical website in October 2023 and has since been shared out of context.
Image of Sir Keir Starmer in pink hijab is not genuine
9 July 2024
An image appearing to show the new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, wearing a pink hijab and dress is not genuine and has been shared out of context.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, sharing the image, has had 2.5 million views at the time of writing, and been retweeted 2,700 times. It is captioned: “U.K.‘s new Prime Minister and WEF Member Keir Starmer. Lol.”
The post has also been shared a number of times on Facebook with similar captions. Some users speculated it was generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Photoshopped but others seemed to think it might be real, asking “Wtf is this? Are u serious!?” and another says “So one of two things habbening here. He trying to please the trans community while trying to please the Muslim community [sic].”
Using Google Lens, Full Fact found the image used in an October 2023 article on the satirical website The Upper Lip, with the headline “Starmer Tries New Tactic To Appease Anti-Israel Activists in Party”.
The article appears to be mocking the divisions within the Labour party regarding Mr Starmer’s statements in the wake of the 7 October Hamas attacks against Israel.
The Upper Lip describes itself as “a satirical news site based in the UK with an aim to lighten public discourse”. Although we don’t know for certain that this website created the image, it seems likely it was created as a joke.
There is no evidence that the image is real. It may have been generated using AI as there are some discrepancies with hands shown in the image, which can be a telltale sign. The lady on the left appears to have two unusually long fingers. Mr Starmer’s right hand also appears to only have four fingers and his knuckle looks irregular.
False headlines or pictures from satirical works can be screenshotted and shared without context, potentially leading some people to believe the claims they are seeing in isolation are true.
It can be difficult to tell immediately whether or not a claim online is trustworthy, especially when information can so easily be taken out of context. For tips on how to verify content, visit our fact checking toolkit, which includes guides on spotting misleading and AI-generated images.
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 satire because the image is not real and was likely originally created as a joke.