An old video of UK PM Boris Johnson reappears with COVID-19 spin
A video of the United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson greeting journalists with tea after recovering from COVID-19 has become viral over social media.
The caption with the video said,”Some reporters visited the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson who had recovered from his illness. His home is like the old abandoned military hut with very old red brick walls. The road is narrow and there is no tile, just like ordinary people living in a small lane. The living room was too small, so he had to hold the tea tray and entertain the reporters outdoors.All the tea cups are of different kind. He met them with disheveled hair, casual clothes but with a confident smile of a Prime Minister.”
This video along with the caption posted on Facebook by a profile named Noor Elahi garnered around 2.8K views.
Several other Facebook posts can be seen on the similar narrative.
A Twitter handle named S.S Singh posted the video with a caption stating,” This was am told was recently taken . PM Boris Johnson is seen interacting with few reporters in open place the maintain social distance. Look at simplicity, casual cloths, different cups , serving tea. Down to earth.”
Another Twitter handle named ProfSK tweeted the video with a caption,”Just for a comparison point of view. This is Boris Johnson, the UK PM. The epitome of honesty and simplicity with no pretensions. The incident relates to him serving tea to the reporters who just dropped in to a formal well being visit after he recovered from #COVID19 illness.”
There has also been several Whatsapp forwards with the video and similar caption.
Truth
This claim is false. The video is from 2018 and is not related to COVID-19 or Boris Johnson recovering from the virus. Though he did serve journalists cup of tea, it was when they visited his house in Oxfordshire when he was a Member of Parliament and not the Prime Minister. The journalists visited to get his comments after he was criticized about commenting on Muslim women wearing burqas.
‘The Telegraph’ published the original video on August 13, 2018 on YouTube title, “Boris offers reporters tea as he stays quiet over burqa row”. The description with the video stated, “Boris Johnson refuses to make any comment about the row over comments he made about the burqa in his Telegraph column last week, as he offers tea to reporters waiting outside his home.”
