Pranksters target Liz Truss’s Wikipedia and swap her photo for Celebrity Big Brother star Lauren Harries, ‘Big Mo’ and cleaning TV star Kim Woodburn (before the page is locked due to ‘vandalism’)
- Liz Truss’ official Wikipedia page today protected against malicious pranksters
- Rogue editors swapped out an official portrait for bizarre photographs of celebs
- Among those included were cleaner Kim Woodburn and EastEnders stars
Liz Truss’s Wikipedia page was locked due to ‘vandalism’ today after rogue editors swapped out her photographs for random celebrities on the day she was crowned Britain’s next Prime Minister.
Pranksters ignored the website’s terms of use as they targeted the official profile of the new Tory Leader before the page was eventually ‘locked’ to prevent further malicious edits.
Ms Truss’s official Wikipedia page today showed a picture of professional cleaner, Kim Woodburn, 80, who co-presented the Channel 4 hit How Clean Is Your House? with Aggie MacKenzie.
Other bizarre entries to the page included tweaking the images to show fictional EastEnders characters and Celebrity Big Brother star Lauren Harries. In all, her profile was revised more than 75 times on Monday morning alone.
Wikipedia later announced at around 12.15pm that the PM-in-waiting’s profile was granted enhanced protections until September 7 in a bid to stamp out ‘vandalism’.
According to Wikipedia’s official rules, edits will now only be made on Ms Truss’s page if a user has been registered for longer than 30 days and has made more than 500 tweaks to existing articles.
Liz Truss, who was today announced as the new Tory Leader, received a warm reception as she said she was ‘honoured’ to be entrusted with the job
Ms Truss’s official Wikipedia page instead showed a picture of professional cleaner, Kim Woodburn, who co-presented the Channel 4 hit How Clean Is Your House?
Other bizarre entries to the page included tweaking the images to show former EastEnders characters ‘Big Mo’ (left) and Sonia Fowler (right)
A picture showing Celebrity Big Brother star Lauren Harries was also displaying on Liz Truss’ official page thanks to Wikipedia pranksters
It comes after comedian Joe Lycett sparked the fury of critics after he mockingly applauded Ms Truss and described himself as ‘incredibly right-wing’.
Ms Truss, 47, used the opportunity on Laura Kuenssberg’s first flagship Sunday political show to promise ‘immediate’ action to help Britons with energy costs if she was confirmed as Tory leader.
But her interview was followed by sarcastic applause from Lycett who then claimed to be ‘very right wing’ despite his frequent criticism of the Tory party and the Government.
A senior Tory party source said: ‘That’s supposed to be a serious political programme. I think it made Laura Kuenssberg look stupid … I think it is absurd.
‘How could that possibly be the right thing for the BBC to do. If I was the BBC I would issue an apology and say we got it wrong, we made a mistake and we will go back to being a serious political programme.’
And following the announcement that Liz Truss will be the next Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, Lycett tweeted: ‘Yes @trussliz absolutely smashed it babe!!!’
Ms Truss takes the helm of a country in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis after seeing off the former chancellor’s challenge with support from 81,326 party members, compared to Mr Sunak’s 60,399.
The final margin of victory was smaller than polls had predicted – and lower than that secured by Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron.
The new Conservative Leader vowed to be ‘bold’ in cutting taxes and reviving the economy after defeating Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest today.
She said it was an ‘honour’ to be the new leader of the ‘greatest political party on Earth’. ‘I know that our beliefs resonate with the British people,’ she said.
‘I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative… I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy.’
In a nod to the looming prospect of a general election, she added: ‘We will deliver a great victory for the Conservative Party in 2024.’
Pranksters targeted the official profile of the new Tory Leader before the page was ‘locked’ to prevent further malicious edits
Ms Truss also paid tribute to her ‘friend’ Boris Johnson, who will formally hand over power to her tomorrow, saying he ‘got Brexit done, crushed Jeremy Corbyn, rolled out the vaccine, and stood up to Vladimir Putin’.
Tweeting his congratulations, Mr Johnson said Ms Truss ‘has the right plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, unite our party and continue the great work of uniting and levelling up our country’.
There appeared to be little warmth between the candidates in the hall, as they sat one seat apart waiting for the outcome.
But Mr Sunak – who is not expected to be offered a big job in the new government – called for unity.
‘It’s right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times,’ he said.
In contrast to Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt in 2019, the two candidates were sat apart in the QEII centre in Westminster ahead of this afternoon’s announcement.
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