'Technical error' sees Boris Johnson send Joe Biden congratulations message containing words meant for Donald Trump

Boris Johnson sent a message to Joe Biden which contained words meant for Donald Trump. Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

A mystery "technical error" has resulted in Boris Johnson sending President-elect Joe Biden a congratulatory message containing parts of an alternative message which was originally intended to congratulate Donald Trump, if he'd won the US election.

In the prime minister's tweet congratulating Mr Biden on his US election victory, social media users spotted the word “Trump” showing faintly in the background of the message.

This led to online speculation that Number 10 had originally prepared a message to herald a Donald Trump win, only to replace it with one acknowledging the Democratic candidate’s success after US media outlets called the race for the former vice president on Saturday afternoon.

Responding, the prime minister's official spokesman 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 Prime Minister posted: “Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as president of the United States and to Kamala Harris on her historic achievement.

“This 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, when the contrast of the picture is altered, traces of a different message referring to Mr Trump can be seen.

The situation was highlighted by the Guido Fawkes website which also noted faint words stating “the future” and “second term” buried in the tweet.

Mr Trump, seen as an international ally of Mr Johnson, has so far refused to concede defeat in the election.

Mr Biden has insisted that maintaining peace in Northern Ireland is paramount to any post-Brexit UK-US trade deal.

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