Was your Reform candidate a fake?

[noblegiraffe]

We know that the election was called unexpectedly and that small parties had to rush around last minute to find people to stand in all the constituencies. We know that Reform had problems with (lack of) vetting and some of theirs had to be dropped mid-campaign due to being problematic.

I saw a couple of amusing videos on twitter about someone worried that their Glaswegian Reform candidate Helen Burns didn't actually exist
https://x.com/kbfilms92/status/1808772750938448124?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g
https://x.com/kbfilms92/status/1808857245456773492?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

This morning I see that the North Northumberland Reform candidate Katherine Hales was suspiciously absent from all proceedings.

https://x.com/josiahmortimer/status/1809583328049168541?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

Clifford Ronald Thomas Bond in York Central also had no photos and the same generic leaflet as Helen Burns.

Helen Burns got 1655 votes, Katherine Hales got 7688 votes, Cliff Bond got 4721 votes. These start stacking up when you are talking about vote share and they're not the only missing candidates.

Did your Reform candidate appear to be a real person standing for election? Are there rules requiring people standing for election to actually do anything apart from be a name on paper? It seems suspicious, particularly if that party is now banging on about their vote share, if it came via dodgy means.

Helen Burns is a lot harder! From the nomination papers she’s resident in NW Leicestershire, which is a long way from Glasgow.

Do you have a link to the nomination paper ?

I assume she is the same Helen Burns who nominated the Reform candidate in NW Leicestershire.

Just checked mine and he is called John Thomas- seriously!
He seams real and lots of people voted for him.

Ours was real. He did a Q&A in a local church, which I attended.

It’s here:

www.glasgow.gov.uk/media/12222/Glasgow-North/pdf/NORTH_-_SOPN_and_NOP.pdf?m=1717783288533

Fantastic spot!

Helen L Burns

www.nwleics.gov.uk/files/documents/notice_of_persons_nominated_general_election_2024_north_west_leicestershire/General%20election%202024%20-%20North%20West%20Leicestershire%20-%20Statement%20of%20Persons%20Nominated%20and%20Notice%20of%20Poll.pdf

I wonder if he's a bit of a d*ck?

Interesting that Helen had a local agent rather than representing herself
I do think some questions to monitoring officers could be useful
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/media/12229/NORTH-Notice-of-Election-Agents/pdf/NORTH_-_Notice_of_Election_Agents.pdf?m=1717927092043

So he lives in Guernsey?!

Our candidate was on the platform for the results. Were other candidates in the result photographs?

It seems like a lot of them were absent. For example Mark Matlock tweeted

https://x.com/vote4MarkReform/status/1808934589144183185

Unfortunately I will not be attending the count tonight as I have pneumonia. The hospital I visited was closed before it’s closing time. I said to the nurse on a buzzer I am struggling to breath and she said call a number. Vote reform this is madness

Obviously didn’t do any local canvassing, as he was the hospital he visited was in Gloucestershire , so he wasn’t in the area he was supposed to be representing .

I don’t think so - just registered a business there.

He changed his address to one in Tetbury and the business to one in Stroud (an accountants address).

Noble, You've made Twitter!

https://x.com/JohnWest_JAWS/status/1809942400430686287

I'm glad more people are questioning it. If they've done nothing wrong then they have nothing to hide. There's also a large reddit thread about it.

It's all very odd.

www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1dwoz1b/why_is_no_one_talking_about_reforms_ai_generated/

It says his country of residence is Guernsey, though? Most odd.

Felix Orrell, Reform candidate for Ealing & Acton but resident in Hammersmith & Fulham, nominated Louise Petano-Heathcote, Henley & Thame resident, for the Hammersmith & Fulham seat.

https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/19830/statement_of_persons_nominated_and_notice_of_poll_-_ealing_central_and_acton_constituency_4_july_2024.pdf

https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-06/Statement-of-Persons-Nominated-Hammersmith-and-Chiswick-final-web.pdf

I get the feeling that Reform has been pulling some sleight of hand with their candidates.

Why didn’t Felix stand in his own constituency? Why nominate someone from Henley?

So, Jordan Bardella basically. Makes sense.

Can they claim expenses for a 2nd home in their constituency? (If they got in?)

I'd also say it'd be so they don't get targeted if they get outed as racist etc.

Our local candidate appears to be real, but doesn't seem to have any social media presence outside of his reform account. I was very disappointed with how well he did in this area. But not surprised.
He also says he's a local business owner but I can't seem to find anything about that.

Considering the number of votes Reform took from the Tories, I'm wondering if they will start investigating this as well.

You’re right - the business was set up from a Tetbury address in July 2020 and then he changed it to Alderney in the November. No updates between that and the company being dissolved in 2022.

He has given the South Cotswold constituency as his current home address in his nomination record, so has to be resident there?

Ours exists, and is reasonably local. Just doesn't belong to the present century. Or to the real world:

Reform candidate says women shouldn’t behave like men: ‘Promiscuity isn’t attractive’ (msn.com)

That Reddit thread makes an interesting suggestion

"I believe you can stand under any moniker you wish as long as not offensive but must register under your real name.
So it will most probably be a real person using an alias solely for this election so no dirt can be dug on them prior to the vote."

I guess if you can run for election as Count Binface, you can run for election as Helen Burns?

If that's true then anyone on the mailing list can lend their address and name for the election, but choose some random name to stand under and no one need ever know?