What was claimed
Angela Rayner, shown in a picture smoking and holding a pint of beer, has been appointed as health secretary.
Our verdict
False. Angela Rayner is not the health secretary. She has been made the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government. The image of Ms Rayner being shared with the claim is also fake.
False claims that Angela Rayner has been appointed health secretary, alongside an AI-generated fake image of her smoking, have been circulating on social media.
The image of Ms Rayner with a cigarette and holding a pint of beer has been shared online in recent days, alongside a caption saying: “Welcome our new health secretary”.
But this is false. The Ashton-under-Lyne Labour MP has not been made health secretary in Andy Burnham’s cabinet.
On 20 July she was appointed as secretary of state for housing, communities and local government. Yvette Cooper was made the secretary of state for health on the same day.
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The image of Ms Rayner smoking is also fake. Genuine pictures of Ms Rayner smoking and drinking do exist, but we found that this image contains an invisible SynthID watermark indicating it was “generated with OpenAI tools” such as ChatGPT, the OpenAI API or Codex.
Before sharing content like this, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy source. Our Full Fact misinformation toolkit can help you do this.
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 false because Angela Rayner is not health secretary in Andy Burnham’s cabinet, and the image of her being shared is AI-generated.
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Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.