Harry Maguire reveals Conservative party used image without permission

Harry Maguire says he did not authorise the Conservative party to use an image of him and his wife, Fern Hawkins, in a post on social media.

Polling suggests the Conservatives will lose the next general election, which is set to take place sometime in the second half of 2024, and only a minority of their votes will come from young people.

In recent years, they have used memes on social media as a way to try and seem in touch with the younger generation. Most recently, they used a famous picture of Maguire and Hawkins at the 2018 World Cup to promote their football governance bill and incorrectly suggest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was responsible for the demise of the European Super League.

But when asked about this post while on England duty, Maguire admitted he had no knowledge of the post.

"No, I haven't seen it," he replied when quizzed on whether he had seen it.

As an extension to this question, the Manchester United defender was then asked if he had given permission for the Conservatives to use the image, to which he said: "No, they have had no permission. I didn't even know about the advert to be honest, so, I will have a look after this."

Probed further on whether he could do a better job running the country, Maguire joked: "No comment!"

Copyright law decrees only the photographer of the image needs to give permission to the use of it and not the subject, though Maguire and Hawkins can ask for the post to be taken down regardless.

The image of Maguire and Hawkins went viral after England knocked Colombia out of the 2018 World Cup via a penalty shootout in the last 16. They went on to reach the semi-finals before falling to Croatia, ultimately finishing fourth after losing to Belgium in the third-place play-off.

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