Boris Johnson erased from Grant Shapps spaceport picture

Business Secretary Grant Shapps has denied doctoring a picture on his Twitter feed to remove former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Shapps posted a picture of a ministerial visit to Spaceport Cornwall, as he hailed the first rocket launch from UK soil.

But social media users spotted that Mr Johnson, who also went on the trip in 2021, had disappeared from the picture.

Mr Shapps says he was not aware it had been edited and has now deleted it.

An identical photo remains on the Number 10 Flickr account, dated 9 June 2021.

It shows Mr Johnson and Mr Shapps side-by-side in Cornwall during a visit to LauncherOne.

The then-Conservative leader is wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words: “Prime Minister”.

A source close to Mr Shapps said: “Grant wasn’t aware anyone had edited the picture.

“He removed it as soon as it was pointed out. Obviously he wouldn’t endorse anyone rewriting history by removing the former PM from a picture.

“He was proud to serve in Boris Johnson’s government.”

The first ever satellite mission launched from UK soil ended in failure on Monday, after the rocket suffered an “anomaly”.

A jumbo jet operated by the American Virgin Orbit company carried a rocket out of Newquay, Cornwall, to release it over the Atlantic Ocean. The rocket ignited and appeared to be ascending correctly, before the mission failed.

The satellites it was carrying could not be released and were lost.

Labour’s public health minister Andrew Gwynne took a swipe at Mr Shapps in a Commons debate on the government’s planned strikes legislation.

“Perhaps he should spend less time on photoshop and more time on the day job sitting down and negotiating,” he told MPs.