Kemi Badenoch has hit out at ‘self-proclaimed fact-checkers’, warning the electorate to be mindful of such social media accounts in the run-up to the next general election.
The business secretary, who is widely tipped to take over from Rishi Sunak as the next Tory leader, took to X (formerly Twitter) to post grievances about phoney truth seekers out to pour cold water on good news about the economy.
A new booklet produced by the Department for Business and Trade has sought to publicise Britain’s “Brexit successes” in a bid to put arguments from naysayers to bed.
But a number of people on social media have disputed the claims contained in the document, which seem to be out of step with almost everything we are hearing about the economic impact of the UK’s exit from the EU.
Badenoch has responded to the “self-proclaimed fact-checkers”, saying it is vital we separate “fact from fiction” in the run-up to the next election.
Yet people have been quick to point out that her party literally did precisely that when they rebranded their own account to appear as though it was a fact-checking service at the last election.
The move was criticised by independent fact-checking charity Full Fact at the time, which tweeted:
“It is inappropriate and misleading for the Conservative press office to rename their twitter account ‘factcheckUK’ during this debate. Please do not mistake it for an independent fact-checking service such as @FullFact, @FactCheck or @FactCheckNI”
Royle Family star Ralf Little also piled on by rebranding his own account and starting a hilarious pile-on!
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