Australian PM admits his department doctored a family portrait (badly) to scrub out his old trainers

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

It was supposed to be the perfect political portrait – the smiling family man prime minister with his beaming wife and kids.

But the image on Scott Morrison’s website had a rather obvious flaw – the leader of Australia had two left feet and a pair of Photoshopped shoes.

The failed picture-doctoring attempt has gone viral on social media and has been dubbed #shoegate. The original photo has now been restored.

Luke (@lukerhn) #auspol story of 2019: our latest PM (ScoMo) had nice white shoes photoshopped onto his feet for his official https://t.co/eXNtcX7xTa site?! Yup. Regular bloke. Our tax dollars hard at work. #shoegate pic.twitter.com/kA0gG0yy9L

A spokesman for Morrison said the prime minister did not request or authorise the Photoshopping.

“The photo was doctored by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet without the knowledge of, or authorisation by, the PM or the PM’s office,” he said.

Morrison tweeted a picture of his K Swiss trainers on Wednesday morning.

“Message to my department (PM&C): I didn’t ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet!”

Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) Message to my Department (PM&C): I didn’t ask for the shoeshine, but if you must Photoshop, please focus on the hair (lack thereof), not the feet! 😀

Here they are in all their glory - my footwear of choice whenever I can get out of a suit. pic.twitter.com/hKKUstnArq

Social media users have had fun with the idea.

REAL ANDREW LANDERYOU HOURS (@LanderyouAndrew) RT schnozzman: Yo did I do this right?#Shoegate pic.twitter.com/555hbcaIfb

Luke (@lukerhn) ScoMo’s media team be like... pic.twitter.com/LVVk1NF2WY

Some people want even more Photoshopping.

“Please tell me people are currently working on Photoshopping alternative shoes right now? Flippers, clogs, Doc Martins??? # Shoegate” Simon Mitchell wrote.

In September last year, Morrison’s office deleted a video from his social media accounts after discovering the accompanying hip-hop song contained explicit and derogatory lyrics.

The 11-second clip from question time showed MPs raising their hands, set to the 1999 track Be Faithful by American rapper Fatman Scoop.