Theresa May tweets picture of Bath on anniversary of Salisbury Novichok attack
Theresa May mistakenly tweeted a picture of Bath with a message marking the one year anniversary of the Novichok incident in Salisbury today.
Read more: Military to dismantle Salisbury home of poisoned Russian spy
The Prime Minister’s tweet used a picture of Bath’s St John Roman Catholic Church, confusing it with Salisbury Cathedral’s 123-metre long spire.
“I hope that moving forward Salisbury will once again be known for being a beautiful, welcoming English city and not for the events of 4 March 2018,” she said.
https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/1102509516351029248
But the PM suffered more than a few pointed replies in response to her mix up, with Jane Adams saying: “Well, it does say moving forward. It appears to be moving forward in a northwesterly direction for approximately 39 miles.”
Guardian media editor Jim Waterson added: “At least the Russian poisoning suspects could recognise the correct church spire.”
Marc Morris responded with a picture of Minas Tirith, a city of Gondor in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films.
Me too. It's such an amazing place. pic.twitter.com/W5247dL2oj
— Marc Morris (@Longshanks1307) March 4, 2019
The Russian suspects accused by the UK, EU and US intelligence agencies of being behind the Novichok poisoning of former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal claimed they were visiting Salisbury for its “famous” cathedral.
The tweet was later deleted and replaced with an identical message accompanied by a picture of 10 Downing Street.
Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent at after it was sprayed on the front door handle last March.
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The two survived, however, and their home was finally declared safe over the weekend.
MI5, MI6 and GCHQ investigated "frantic comings and goings" at the Russian embassy in the days surrounding the poisoning, Press Association reported today, citing an anonymous source.