Tories branded hypocrites over £100m project to fight disinformation overseas

The Tories have been accused of hipocrisy after running a 'fake news' election campaign at home while funding plans to fight disinformation in other countries.

The Conservative Government this year made a £100 million commitment to “counter disinformation” in elections and democracy.

Yet the party themselves have been accused of using disinformation tactics during the election campaign.

During a live TV debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Mr Johnson, the Tory press office altered its Twitter account to pose as an independent fact checking service.

Their name changed to ‘factcheckUK’ for the duration of the ITV debate and the Conservative Party logo was removed from the page.

Twitter warned that any further attempts to "mislead people" during the UK election will result in action.

On the first day of the campaign, Tory press officers pushed out a fake news video of an interview with Labour's Sir Keir Starmer, doctored to appear he was unclear on the party's Brexit policy.

The UK claims to be a "global leader" in countering disinformation (AFP/Getty Images)

In July the government announced an £18 million package of support to counter disinformation and fake news across Eastern Europe.

It's part of a £100 million, five year "commitment to counter disinformation."

Launching the Eastern Europe package in June, the Foreign Office said: "Building on the experience of the Salisbury incident, the UK has become a global leader in countering disinformation, and recently launched a new training offer for government and public sector officials on spotting and dealing with disinformation, which has also had interest from international governments."

Lib Dem Chuka Umunna said: “This is staggering hypocrisy and shows how far the Tories have lurched to the extremes.

“They are now the party of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, willing to deliberately mislead voters and undermine our country’s values just to gain a few votes.

“It is appalling that under the Tories, the UK has gone from being a global leader in tackling disinformation to having a government that is a master at creating it. They are dragging our democracy through the dirt."