This week the main political news in Labour has revolved around a hat. Rather than the Brexit transition period or Russian aggression, the issue that has kept the Corbynistas busy is whether or not Jeremy Corbyn’s hat was photoshopped on Newsnight. This was the claim made by Owen Jones on the show – when he accused the BBC of photoshopping a hat to make him look like a ‘Soviet stooge’. Since then the claim has gone viral – with Guido reporting a social media reach of over 2 million – despite repeated denials by the BBC. It’s also handily worked as a dead hat strategy – successfully distracting from Corbyn’s misjudged comments on Russia.
However, it seems that Owen Jones’ claim really was fake news. Channel 4’s Fact Check has looked into the story. They conclude that rather than BBC lies, the hat really wasn’t photoshopped. While the picture was reddened, it was the same background which was used for a segment on Gavin Williamson – the Defence Secretary.
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