Though the man in the video resembles Sunak, there is no evidence that it is him. The video appears to have been posted first by Wayne Lineker, a club owner in Ibiza, Spain, though the exact date it was taken is unknown, as well as the identity of the individual in the video.
On Aug. 7, 2023, a viral tweet claimed to show U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dancing shirtless at a party in Ibiza, Spain. In the video, a man who looks remarkably similar in appearance to Sunak is in sunglasses and black swim trunks, and is dancing while holding an orange cup.
Twitter user Tam Khan wrote, "Get back to 10 Downing Street Rishi and start doing your job. Ridiculous. The country is in turmoil and you're raving."
Get back to 10 Downing Street Rishi and start doing your job. Ridiculous.
The country is in turmoil and you're raving. pic.twitter.com/9sk9z2DrFm
— Tam Khan (@Tam_Khan) August 7, 2023
However, we found no evidence to prove that Sunak is the man in the video, even though we could not confirm the identity of the dancing individual, or the exact date this video was taken.
Using Google's reverse-image search tool we learned that the video had been making the rounds over the last few years. In January 2022, The Daily Mail covered the party-goer's similarity to Sunak with the headline, "'Raving Rishi living his best life when Boris gets fired': Video of Chancellor's doppelgänger throwing shapes in Wayne Lineker's Ibiza club sets social media on fire." The article identified an Ibiza club owner as the source of the video.
Lineker, mentioned above, owns the O Beach Ibiza club in Ibiza, Spain, and has posted the same video of the man dancing over the last several years, making it difficult to determine the exact date it was taken. In July 2022, he tagged Sunak in the post, writing "@rishisunakmp trying to win the ibiza crowd over today campaigning for votes."
The same video made an appearance on Lineker's Instagram account in January 2022, which is when it captured much of the internet's attention, as well as in The Daily Mail. He wrote in the caption: "This is crazy right now. It's literally going mad. People booking ibiza flights, already getting full after today's announcements in ibiza (see previous post) Hotel websites crashing. I'm nervous what's gonna happen on the morning of the 31st jan when bed bookings open and events are announced for @obeachibiza I told you "this will be the summer of our lives" #norestrictions #nomasks #justparty #backtolife #ibiza2022 dancing."
Lineker also shared the same video on July 12, 2019, without tagging Sunak. He wrote, "Life's good right now!!"
The video in question was taken in 2019 or sooner, with the subject still unidentified by Lineker.
If we were to assume that the video originated in July 2019, then where was Sunak at that time? He was not yet prime minister, or even chancellor of the exchequer. From 2018 to 2019, Sunak was parliamentary under secretary of state (minister for local government), and from 2019 to 2020 he was chief secretary to the treasury.
On July 15, 2019, Sunak's official Facebook page shared a photograph of him posing with a woman and a young girl at an event.
On July 10, 2019, Sunak's Facebook page shared a photograph of him alongside a group of students. The caption read: "It was lovely to welcome the Year 6 pupils from Romanby Primary School to Westminster for their tour and afterwards an interesting Q&A session."
It is highly unlikely that in the days between these two photographs the politician found time to rush off to Ibiza, party for a few nights and then get back to his job. Sunak has also stated he is a teetotaler, making it unlikely that he was jetting off to drink at a club.
France 24 noted that Sunak has a visible mole on his left cheek, something that was missing on the facial features of the man in the video.
The prime minister's office told us via email that it was not Sunak dancing in the video. We have reached out to Lineker, and will update this post if we get more information.
Given that there is no evidence connecting Sunak to the unknown guy dancing in Ibiza, the prime minister's office denied that it was him, and there are significant differences in their physical appearances, we rated this claim as "False."