Boris Johnson has risked being left red-faced after his message of congratulations to US president-elect Joe Biden was found to have retained traces of Donald Trump’s name.
On Saturday, the prime minister offered his congratulations to Mr Biden and his vice-presidential running mate Kamala Harris after they were declared the winners of the US election.
In a graphic attached to his Twitter post, Mr Johnson said in a statement: “Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as President of the United States and to Kamala Harris on her historic achievement.
“The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security.”
However, it has since been spotted that altering the brightness and contrast of the graphic reveals the outline of what appears to be a previous statement.
Above the word “Biden” the word “Trump” can be seen, while the outlines of other words can also be found.
A government spokesperson said: “As you’d expect, two statements were prepared in advance for the outcome of this closely-contested election.
“A technical error meant that parts of the alternative message were embedded in the background of the graphic.”
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford posted on Twitter: “Incompetence has become the watchword for this Tory government.
“This just serves as yet another reminder of @BorisJohnson’s close relationship with Trump, which has done so much damage.”
Mr Trump has still yet to concede defeat in the US presidential election and has repeatedly claimed to have “won” the election.
He has also made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the election process.
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