Fact check: Photograph shows Boris Johnson and ex-wife at university

A photo that has been widely shared on social media claimed to show former prime minister Boris Johnson with disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

A caption hardcoded onto the photo reads: “Mossad agent Robert Maxwell’s daughter Ghislaine and one of her lovers. Boris something or other.”

Evaluation

The image shows Mr Johnson with his ex-wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1986, a year before the couple married.

The facts

The image was taken in 1986 by photographer Dafydd Jones. According to the caption on the photographer’s website it shows Mr Johnson at the Sultan’s Ball at Oxford Town Hall on March 10 of that year.

The caption says that the woman with Mr Johnson is Allegra Mostyn-Owen. Mr Johnson and Ms Mostyn-Owen married a little over a year later.

A photograph Mr Jones took 18 months earlier of Maxwell shows she is not the woman pictured with Mr Johnson.

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Ghislaine Maxwell photograph (archived)