Did anyone else spot this about Reform?

Apparently Farage didn’t turn up as his first day as an MP -

Of course he didn’t.

So those people who voted for a non existent person - what happens?

There must be something in law to take Reform to court surely?

I don't remember my local candidate
- but now I will look him up.

I think it might have been down to a lack of funds that all the leaflets simply mentioned the name of the local candidate - hence I googled the name out of curiosity.

When all the election leaflets came through the door I noticed that Reform one was the only one with no details at all about the candidate, just his name. It did make me wonder what they didn't want us to know.

I looked up our local candidate and he was real - not that I had any intention of voting for him.

I wonder what would have happened if an AI "fake" had actually won?

Our local candidate (for whom I unashamedly voted) is definitely a real person. I looked him up online.

Yes, I saw it on Twitter/X

Yes.
Shocking.
I found it in another news outlet too but heard nothing about it on the radio (for example)

This is the other article I found.
www.thenational.scot/news/24438729.reform-uk-accused-using-ai-generated-candidates-election/

It does really sound as if boundaries were crossed in the rush to get the numbers there.

It was Byline Tomes who first raised this, and shame on the Guardian for not crediting them.

bylinetimes.com/2024/07/03/reform-uks-invisible-candidates-who-are-they-hiding/

But it would be a serious electoral offence if true about even one of their candidates.

Apparently the candidate for Bristol South is real - they live in Gibraltar 😂