Johnson is ‘spaced out’ of Shapps’s Virgin Orbit photo
BORIS JOHNSON was airbrushed out of a photograph with space chiefs in a doctored image tweeted by a minister.
Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary, shared an image to his official account ahead of Monday’s historic satellite launch which showed him speaking to two other people in front of a Virgin rocket.
People were quick to point out that Mr Johnson was also present in the original picture, which was shared by Virgin Orbit’s own account last year.
It depicted the former prime minister, who was still in office at the time, mid-conversation with personnel.
An identical photo remains on the official Number 10 Flickr account and is dated June 9 2021, the day of his visit to Spaceport Cornwall.
In Mr Shapps’s subsequently deleted tweet, there was a large space between Mr Shapps and two of the people standing
‘Grant wasn’t aware anyone had edited the picture. He wouldn’t endorse anyone rewriting history’
in front of the Virgin rocket.
A source close to Mr Shapps said yesterday afternoon: “Grant wasn’t aware anyone had edited the picture.
“He removed it as soon as it was pointed out.
“Obviously he wouldn’t endorse anyone rewriting history by removing the former prime minister from a picture.”
The message was posted in advance of Monday night’s mission, which ended in failure, and read: “The UK Govt is delighted to be backing the first ever satellite launch from European soil.
“Lift-off scheduled Monday at Spaceport Cornwall, Newquay.”
Mr Shapps, who was a staunch backer of Rishi Sunak’s Tory leadership campaign, refused to resign as transport secretary in the final days of Mr Johnson’s administration as dozens of his ministerial colleagues quit.
The Virgin mission, which marked Britain’s first satellite launch, ended in failure on Monday night when the Launcherone rocket failed to reach the correct orbit.
Virgin Orbit announced just before midnight that there had been an anomaly meaning the rocket, which contained nine satellites, was heading back down to Earth and was expected to burn up on re-entry.