General election news - live: Tories plunged into spate of fresh fake news scandals, as BBC admits 'mistake' over edited Boris Johnson footage

Boris Johnson has been accused of “deceit” after his promise of 50,000 more nurses for the NHS turned out to include almost 19,000 existing nurses the government simply wants to retain.

It comes as the BBC admitted it made a “mistake” by editing out the audience launching at Mr Johnson in a BBC Question Time clip. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, said it was “unbelievable” that the Tories re-named its official press office account “factcheckuk” during the recent TV debate.

A Tory candidate in Nottinghamshire, meanwhile, was caught getting one of his friends to pose as a fake swing voter, raising further questions about the party’s use of disinformation.