Fact check: Newspaper front page is manipulated version of two-year-old issue

A widely shared online post included an image purporting to be a recent front page from a British newspaper.

The front page of The i Paper showed an image of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer next to a headline reading “He lied and lied and lied”. The page included the date Wednesday October 15 2025.

Evaluation

The image is a fake which puts Sir Keir’s face onto a newspaper which was originally published in 2023 when the headline referred to claims about former prime minister Boris Johnson, rather than Sir Keir.

The facts

The front page shared on social media is dated Wednesday October 15 2025. However, the first page of the paper on that day looked very different with the main story about the UK state pension, rather than the prime minister.

The version shared on social media is an edited version of The i Paper from June 16 2023, which featured Boris Johnson’s face next to the same headline: “He lied and lied and lied”. This referred to a Privileges Committee investigation into whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament about the partygate allegations during the pandemic.

The fake front page shared on social media contains clear signals that it might  be manipulated. Apart from the edited reference about Sir Keir, the page also includes a teaser for an article with “tributes to Glenda Jackson” – the former actor and MP died in 2023 – as well as an obituary for “Gordon McQueen, 1952-2023”.

Other signs that this might not be a real front page include pointers to opinion pieces titled “beware the martyrdom of Saint Boris” and “Bereaved seek an apology from Johnson”.

The i Paper has also changed both its price and its masthead design since 2023 and these are not reflected in the version which claims to be from 2025.

Links

Post on X (archived)

Tomorrow’s Papers – The i Paper, October 15 2025 (archived)

Friday’s papers: Damning Johnson report and ‘bravest of the brave’ (archived)

IMDB – Glenda Jackson (archived)