Could it be true?
Keir Starmer has found himself in a grey zone between misinformation and misstep. On Tuesday, a clip of the Labour leader giving an interview to The Sun went viral. In the interview, Starmer warned that “people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed because they’re not being processed.” He also said that “people coming from countries like Bangladesh are not being removed”. In the full interview, Starmer makes clear that he’s talking about those who don’t have a legal right to come to the UK. But an edited clip gaining traction among Whatsapp groups and among Bangladeshi voters makes it sound as if Starmer is suggesting repatriation of British Bangladeshis. At the end of the clip, a message reads: “Don’t vote for Labour on 4 July. Vote for Independent candidates.” Starmer has called the video “misinformation” but that hasn’t stopped it “causing major problems,” Labour insiders told PoliticsHome. Perhaps Starmer should have foreseen what is becoming a self-evident truth: that the most damaging type of misinformation this election cycle isn’t deepfaked or AI-generated, but real information taken out of context.
