Boris Johnson photoshopped Grant Shapps' tweet with a failed British rocket

The image tweeted by the Business Secretary appears to show him enjoying a solitary visit to Spaceport in Cornwall. In fact, he was accompanying Boris Johnson on the trip - and the former Prime Minister was originally in the center of the photo

The Business Secretary tweeted the image - and has since deleted it

Boris Johnson was photographed from a photo tweeted by top Tory Grant Shapps posing with a failed British rocket.

The Business Secretary tweeted the image on Sunday, showing him laughing during a visit by the Virgin Orbit spacecraft to Cornwall earlier this year.

But the image appears to show him enjoying a solitary visit to Spaceport in Cornwall.

He was actually accompanying Boris Johnson on the trip - and the former Prime Minister was originally in the center of the photo.

The tweet was deleted from Mr. Shapps' account this morning, but not before observant readers spotted the digital manipulation.

An identical photo was published on the Flickr account of issue 10, dated June 9, 2021.

Front: Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps touring the rocket (

Picture:

Twitter)

It shows the then Conservative leader, frowning and raising his arm, wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words: 'Prime Minister'.

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Shapps side by side in Cornwall during a visit to LauncherOne.

Rishi Sunak's official spokesperson denied that the former prime minister's airbrushing constituted "Stalinist revisionism".