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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Jacob Jarvis

Conservatives bring factcheckUK back to Twitter as they boast Boris Johnson has 'won' General Election

The Conservatives' press office brought back its controversial factcheckUK branding in a tweet bragging that they were the "winners" of the election.

As Boris Johnson looked set for a landslide majority, the CCHQ Press account shared a post stating: "FACT: @BorisJohnson and @Conservatives the winners of #GeneralElection19."

It was alongside a GIF with the purple tick branding the party had used earlier in the campaign, when it rebranded the account as a fact-checking service.

They did so in the first televised leadership debate and were heavily criticised for the move - which was branded as misleading.

Twitter itself warned the party not to try such shenanigans again.

The Electoral Commission responded to the row by reminding all parties that voters are “entitled to transparency and integrity from campaigners in the lead up to an election”.

While independent fact-checking charity Full Fact called it “an attempt to mislead”.

The Tories are on track for their biggest victory since Margaret Thatcher was leader.

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