Controversy has surrounded Boris Johnson's tweet congratulating Joe Biden on his US election victory after sharp eyed social media users spotted the word "Trump" showing faintly in the background of the message.
This led to online speculation that Number 10 had originally prepared a message to herald a Donald Trump win, only to replace it with one acknowledging the Democratic candidate's success after US media outlets called the race for the former vice president on Saturday afternoon.
However it is understood that a technical error caused the situation.
The Prime Minister posted: "Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as president of the United States and to Kamala Harris on her historic achievement.
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"This US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security".
However, above the message appeared to be traces of a different message referring to Mr Trump.
The situation was highlighted by the Guido Fawkes website, which also noted faint words stating "the future" and "second term" buried in the tweet.
Unlike previous elections, no winner was declared on November 3 or even the following day due to the sheer number of mail-in ballots, which take longer to count.
Most major new networks did not call the election for Mr Biden until Saturday — four days after polls closed — when he won the state of Pennsylvania, giving him enough electoral votes to be considered the winner.
Mr Trump, seen as an international ally of Mr Johnson, has so far refused to concede defeat in the election.
Mr Biden has insisted that maintaining peace in Northern Ireland is paramount to any post-Brexit UK-US trade deal.
He and Mr Johnson have never met, but their diplomatic relationship could take some work.
Last year Mr Biden described the Prime Minister as a "physical and emotional clone" of Mr Trump.
Things got more awkward on Monday when John Kilclooney, a member of the House of Lords, referred to Ms Harris as "the Indian" to international outrage.
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