Old Video of Boris Johnson Shared as Footage After COVID Recovery

Boris Johnson, in 2018, had offered tea to the reporters while avoiding questions about the then burqa row.

A viral video falsely claimed that UK PM Boris Johnson offered tea to journalists after recovering from coronavirus.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to Downing Street on 27 April, a month after being diagnosed with coronavirus. Johnson was admitted for a week in St Thomas' Hospital in central London on 5 April, including three nights in intensive care.

Now, a viral video claimed that reporters visited the UK PM after he recovered from his illness and mentioned that his house is like “an old abandoned hut” with a narrow cobbled pathway.

However, we found that the video dates back to August 2018 when Boris Johnson, who was not the prime minister of UK, had offered tea to the reporters while avoiding questions about the then burqa row.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

CLAIM

The video, which is being massively shared on Facebook and Twitter, further claims that since the living room was “too small,” he was forced to bring out a tray of tea cups for the reporters outside .

“All the cups are different. He met them with dishevelled hair and casual clothes, but with the confident smile of a prime minister,” the claim adds.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

One of the users had commented on the Facebook video with an article published in The Hill on 13 August 2018 which carried a portion of the viral video.

The article is titled as: ‘UK's Boris Johnson gives reporters tea while avoiding questions about anti-burqa comments.’

Further, we searched on YouTube using keywords, “boris johnson tea reporters” and found a video published by The Telegraph on 13 August 2018 with the caption: “Boris offers reporters tea as he stays quiet over burka row.(sic)”

The frames seen in the Telegraph video are similar to that of the viral video. It is pertinent to note that Boris Johnson became the prime minster of the United Kingdom in 2019, a year after the viral video was shot. The UK PM resides in 10, Downing Street in London.

Getty Images, too, had published the video mentioning the same details.

(Source: Getty Images/Screenshot)

Evidently, a 2018 video of Boris Johnson offering tea to reporters when he was not even the prime minister is being shared as a recent one.

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