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Two Reform councillors were photographed posing with a sign saying “I Would Rather Vote For Jimmy Savile Than Labour” during campaigning for the Makerfield by-election.
The Wigan councillors were pictured whilst campaigning for Reform’s Rob Kenyon in the seat which Labour’s Andy Burnham is hoping to win on Thursday.
Cllr Gemma Painter, the original poster, appears to have since deleted her Facebook profile, after the post was spotted by activists at Reform UK Exposed.
A second Reform councillor, Lilian Rogers, was also pictured with the banner. Both councillors were elected alongside Rob Kenyon in May’s local elections for Wigan Council.
After the banner was criticised online, Reform-friendly accounts circulated claims that it was AI-generated, posting what they said was the ‘original’ and blaming what they call a “far-left” account for “causing trouble with disinformation”. Reform chairman Lee Anderson MP posted the same claim, and supposed original image, on X.
That version of the image, denying the original mentioned the late paedophile Savile, appeared to show the banner saying “I’m voting Rob Kenyon.”
However, the Reform logo in that picture has a logo appearing to be written in Russian text, Cyrillic – strongly suggesting it had itself been crudely AI-manipulated. Moreover, Kenyon’s face is different to those on the other banners, unlike the Savile version.
UPDATE 17th June: Lee Anderson’s tweet mocking those who pointed out the original ‘Savile’ banner was real has been deleted, after users pointed out his own ‘undoctored’ version itself bore the hallmarks of an AI edit.
Multiple pictures have been shared of the Savile image from different accounts, showing Reform activists posing with it outside residents’ houses. Another, also depicting the Savile version, was photographed attached to the back of a local supporter’s car and being driven around Makerfield.
The sign’s apparent creator, who could not be reached for comment, claims Reform activists saw the sign online and wanted to take a photo with it. Reform councillor Gemma Painter then shared a photo with the sign on Tuesday (15th June), which was met with anger from some residents. Her account was subsequently disabled.
Nigel Farage appears to have visited the sign-holding resident during the campaign, as the same house and activist appears shaking hands with him, though with no banner visible.
A Pattern of AI Images
The Reform Party itself has recently come under fire for using the image of Andy Burnham in a series of AI-generated attack ads used in the runup to the Makerfield election, picturing people arriving into the UK in small boats holding up signs saying “Vote Andy”.
The ads, which use the well-known image of the Greater Manchester Mayor designed by local illustrator Stanley Chow, were circulated on social media, and prompted Chow to take legal action against Reform over the unauthorised use of his image design.
This forced the party to take them down again, with lawyers for Chow arguing that the unauthorised use of his image was “edited without permission” to promote an “anti-immigration” message. Reform refused to accept liability for promoting the fake pictures.
Reform’s Deputy Leader, Richard Tice, also drew scrutiny in April this year, for posting a photo showing an apparent campaign door-knocking event featuring a diverse group of people seemingly campaigning for the party. He had posted the image stating “That is what resilience looks like… this is what belief looks like”.
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However, the image contained a number of bizarre irregularities, including garbled language on the signage, which should have read “Get Starmer Out”, but appeared to read more like “Get Stuppence Out”, as well as featuring sausage-like fingers and melted faces on the activists.
The image caused social media users on X who saw it to accuse Tice of sharing “pure AI slop”. Reform disputed that the photos of the campaigners were fake, with a spokesperson for the party claiming: “The photograph is real, however the version Richard Tice posted was slightly edited using AI, mainly to increase the brightness.”
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‘AI Inception’
Makerfield campaigner Joshua Hindle, of Wigan for Pro