MP apologises for 'simple honest mistake' after photoshopped picture posted online

Yahoo

8 hours ago

A Greater Manchester MP has apologised for a 'simple mistake' after a photoshopped picture was posted to his Facebook page.
Independent MP for Gorton and Denton Andrew Gwynne took to his Facebook page yesterday (June 28) to post about Tameside Armed Forces Day, which took place in Denton on Saturday.
"Armed forces day in Denton is in full swing," he wrote in the post. "There's lots of fun and entertainment throughout the day up to 4pm in Victoria Park."
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This was accompanied by a series of photos of the event - one of which appeared to show Mr Gwynne there in person.
But eagle-eyed commentators noticed that the photo had been edited. A snap of Mr Gwynne at Levenshulme Market the day before appeared to have been superimposed onto another photo of the event in Denton.
In messages seen by the M.E.N, critics claim that this amounted to the MP 'pretending' to have attended - but Mr Gwynne insists that it was 'a simple mistake'.
"As soon as I saw it had been posted I removed it," he said in a statement.
"I had forwarded 15 images taken by my son to my office who do my social media posts.
"I had intended doing a covering photo apologising for not being in attendance and this [photo] is the early saved part of that from Canva [the photo editing app] which must have saved to my camera roll and I forwarded it with the rest.
He called it 'a bit embarrassing,' but added: "It was a simple honest mistake."
Mr Gwynne has been an MP in Denton since 2005. He was suspended from the Labour party in February this year for comments he had posted in a Whatsapp group used by Manchester Labour politicians.
At the time, he wrote on X: "I deeply regret my badly misjudged comments and apologise for any offense I've caused.
"I entirely understand the decisions the PM and the party have taken and, while very sad to have been suspended, will support them in any way I can."