Did anyone else spot this about Reform?

Nigel was in Clacton yesterday.,

Our Reform candidate was a real person. Lives locally. He cane second with a large number of votes.

‘came’ not ‘cane’.

The one standing here was real enough. He didn't have much to say for himself so was probably just an 'also-ran'.

Mine was a real candidate and came third just a few votes below the Conservatives.

nanna8

I really wish the constant attacks on Farage would cease because now I am beginning to like him and think he has influence after all. He seems to be the whipping boy for everyone. His party only has 5 MPs so why the fuss ?

Yes, I agree. It’s getting very repetitive and boring now.

Our Reform candidate got so few votes, he could have been a broom and no one would have noticed. The Labour candidate did not do much better. Our constituency is one of the many thaat form a bright orange Lib Dem stripe across the country.

For the first time since I first got the vote in 1964, I have voted for and am represented by an MP of a party I support.

My Reform candidate was real and I voted for him he lives just a couple of miles away, the Labour candidate lived in London about 190 miles away.
Although Conservatives got in here with a very reduced majority.

Rockyroad

nanna8

I really wish the constant attacks on Farage would cease because now I am beginning to like him and think he has influence after all. He seems to be the whipping boy for everyone. His party only has 5 MPs so why the fuss ?

Yes, I agree. It’s getting very repetitive and boring now.

Name a political party where the leader isn’t the whipping boy? That’s how it works. Perhaps there should be a Gransnet truce to lay off all leaders?

Looks like this is a non story.

I didn't realise it was an anti-Farage thread.

For me it was a shock to see that some candidates may not be genuine people.
Even Count Bin Face and the Monster Raving Loony Party had real people.
🤷‍♂️

Whether it’s a non-story remains to be seen. Tice was on TV this morning saying they’d provided proof that all candidates were real, the Guardian’s chief political editor has said that that is not the case for three of them.

I don’t see this at anti-Farage. If there is a loophole in the system which allows unverified candidates to stand for any party, it needs closing. And if any constituency was decided as a result of votes going to a fake candidate, that result would be void, and there’d have to a by-election. And, of course, it would potentially be a criminal offence, as the Electoral Commission confirmed last night.

Don't forget that one reason Rishi Sunak called this election with 4 weeks notice was to neutralise the threat from Reform, hoping they would not be able to gather their troops in time. So then Farage parachuted himself in and they managed to gather as many candidates as possible within 4 weeks. It's not surprising they were struggling within that time frame. I very much doubt any candidates are fake but it won't stop people stating this as fact.

As Reform is a limited company I look forward to Farages declaration of interests MP have to make about their income from all sources.

44 days is not 4 weeks Chestnut it's just over 6.

...still a "snap" election though.

Parliament has to be dissolved for 25 working days before an election so logically that means a minimum of 5 weeks.

vegansrock

As Reform is a limited company I look forward to Farages declaration of interests MP have to make about their income from all sources.

And if they'd got enough seats for public funding... ?

Wasn't just candidates who were fake/dead..on their leaflet here there were two old people one who died aged 102 4 years ago and the one who brought it to light an old lady who had an accident that was in the newspapers...of course people recognised her and knew she had died .
Of course they learned from the big boys ..abour did just this in the first referendum in Scotland in 1979...they used dead people as NO voters ,otherwise Yes would have won.
Before anyone calls me a LIAR again...check it out..its true! People on the voters roll who had recently died were deemed to be NO voters .That unionist politics for you.

NotSpaghetti

44 days is not 4 weeks Chestnut it's just over 6.

...still a "snap" election though.

Parliament has to be dissolved for 25 working days before an election so logically that means a minimum of 5 weeks.

Sorry, my mistake. It's still a very short time frame to prepare. I do have sympathy for any party trying to break through and establish itself. The Greens have been around 34 years and are still climbing that hill. For a new party finding suitable candidates and people to organise everything, plus funding must be a huge challenge.

Crossstitchfan

I was about to say the same thing! I wonder if it’s just ‘fashionable’ to dislike Farage. I sense a witch-hunt sometimes.
I saw him on ‘I’m a Celeb’ and have to admit that I really liked him. He was fair, considerate and charming. That can’t be said about many politicians I am familiar with.
What is up with people that they have to latch on to people and run them down all the time?

Boris is charming, that's partly what got him voted in too, I don't vote for people on that basis, I look at what they're interested in or previous voting record if they've stood before.
I loathe Farage and his pals & hope they get less media attention now they've so outnumbered

paddyann54

Wasn't just candidates who were fake/dead..on their leaflet here there were two old people one who died aged 102 4 years ago and the one who brought it to light an old lady who had an accident that was in the newspapers...of course people recognised her and knew she had died .
Of course they learned from the big boys ..abour did just this in the first referendum in Scotland in 1979...they used dead people as NO voters ,otherwise Yes would have won.
Before anyone calls me a LIAR again...check it out..its true! People on the voters roll who had recently died were deemed to be NO voters .That unionist politics for you.

My memory is failing me paddyann (I may have been busy with family matters, moving at that time too).
Was that referendum about independence or about a Scottish Assembly?

Wasn't there a minimum percentage requirement? Although Yes won, the majority was insufficient to reach the criteria?

If only that had been introduced for the 2026 EU vote!

Ps I can't find anything about dead voters.

However if Reform was using AI generated candidates, that is distinctly weird. Would anyone notice if they won but never turned up in Parliament?

The picture on the right is the real Mark Matlock, who was a Reform candidate. The picture on the left is the AI generated image, which appeared on the campaign literature.

This is the actual photo which simply had the wrong coloured tie.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reform-uk-ai-candidate-mark-matlock-b2576101.html

But it doesn't look much like the real Mark Matlock.

growstuff

The picture on the right is the real Mark Matlock, who was a Reform candidate. The picture on the left is the AI generated image, which appeared on the campaign literature.

I think I need one of those 😁

Well he says he's real anyway (on a phone call).