Grant Shapps has said a picture he tweeted out which Boris Johnson was mysteriously edited out of was a “complete screw-up”.
Beady-eyed social media users noticed that the image posted from Mr Shapps’ social media account last month – ahead of a rocket launch from Spaceport Cornwall – was not the same as the original image, which included Mr Johnson.
The edited image showed Mr Shapps enjoying a solitary visit to the Spaceport.
It has now been removed from Twitter, but the original remains on the Number 10 Flickr account, dated 9 June 2021.
When asked about airbrushing former prime minister Boris Johnson out of a photo celebrating the space launch, Mr Shapps told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “It was a complete screw-up.”
Politics hub: People can ‘come to own conclusions’ over Truss claim – Shapps
“Somebody at that time, which was I think 18 months, two years ago, had screwed around with the picture.
“Actually, it was somebody with a pixel phone who did it, and it was picked out the file and sent, not deliberately.
“I love Boris Johnson and I enjoyed working with him. I have no reason to want to do that.”
A source close to the business secretary at the time maintained that he was not aware that anyone had edited the picture.
“Obviously he wouldn’t endorse anyone rewriting history by removing the former PM from a picture,” they said.
Elsewhere in the interview with Sophy Ridge, Mr Shapps said people can “come to their own conclusions” when it comes to the latest article written by former prime minister Liz Truss.
He said the latest article by Ms Truss in The Sunday Telegraph included “things that people knew all along”.
When asked about comments by Ms Truss in which she said she was brought down by the “left-wing establishment”, he continued: “She describes it in the article.
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Shapps responds to Truss article
“But what I was going to say is, and she says it herself, the most important thing that we can do for the British people is make sure that the economy is stable.”
He added: “I think anybody who has served in public office has a right to put across their arguments. That’s what we do as politicians. You say you believe and you put them across.
“As I say, people can read it and come to their own conclusions.”
He said Ms Truss had the right priorities when she was PM but failed as she did not try to deal with the “big structural issues” first.
Mr Shapps explained he agreed the UK should have a low-tax economy, as the short-lived prime minister advocated, but inflation and debt needed to be dealt with first.
He also told the programme he is “focused on Rishi Sunak” and on winning the next general election.