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BBC apologises for using wrong Remembrance Sunday clip

BBC/Getty PM Boris Johnson, pictured in 2016 and again on Sunday, at separate Remembrance Day servicesBBC/Getty
PM Boris Johnson, pictured in 2016 and again on Sunday, at separate Remembrance Day services

The BBC has apologised for mistakenly running an out-of-date clip of Boris Johnson laying a wreath.

It said a production error led to BBC Breakfast showing images purporting to be the prime minister attending a Remembrance Day service on Sunday, when in fact the clip was from 2016.

"This was a production mistake and we apologise for the error," the corporation said in a statement.

Some members of the public questioned the BBC's impartiality on social media.

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The clip showed a younger Johnson when he was Foreign Secretary, as well as former Prime Minister David Cameron and ex-Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.

One Twitter user responded: "That begs the question, why was the production team looking into archive rather than the footage released yesterday? Was it a damage limitation expertise? Shame on you BBC, I have always defended you, loved you, am so disappointed."

But BBC Breakfast editor Richard Frediani explained that the 2016 footage from the archive had been restored in the system early yesterday morning in order to preview the Remembrance Sunday service.

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LBC and former BBC presenter Shelagh Fogarty also leapt to the BBC's defence, replying that there was nothing sinister about the mistake, which she suggested can happen in the cut and thrust of a busy news programme.

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On Sunday, some online newspapers pointed out that Johnson placed the wreath with the note facing the wrong way up at the Cenotaph, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also came under criticism from some who felt he did not bow deeply enough.

A spokesman for the British Legion told the BBC: "As far as we're concerned, there is no right or wrong way to lay a wreath."

Some Twitter users have asked BBC Breakfast for an on-air apology on Tuesday's programme.

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