Forum Topic

Phantom Election Candidates

When reading about the doubt over whether the local or other Reform candidates actually existed the question struck me, why is a requirement to show photo ID to vote but not to stand as a candidate?

Anita Blake ● 229d27 Comments

Slick political operator? Possibly.  But definitely a grifter.

Stewart Jones ● 224d

It tells you what a slick political operator Farage is, gaming the system for his own questionable ends, showing how you can mop up several million votes from nothing and be regarded as an established political party overnight, with 'balanced' TV coverage and subsidised drinks and meals in the Houses of Parliament!  It does seem odd that you now need photo ID to vote but not to stand as a candidate. I read some Reform representative saying that they were thinking of it as some kind of PR arrangement, and that if they won any more seats they'd select who'd be the MP afterwards from their pool of people.

Peter Evans ● 225d

Denis, I think hate makes a person miserable and that jealousy makes aperson wicked, and the strange thing is they inflict it on themselves.  However any tongue in cheek banter I think is good and can be amusingit's easy to spot the difference.  As for politics it is becoming a joke in its own right.

Janice Evans ● 226d

😊

Janice Evans ● 226d

So, is it being claimed that this private limited company managed to secure 14% of the vote (roughly 4 million votes) by mainly putting up phantom candidates? If so, what does it tell you?

Steve Taylor ● 226d

Thanks Janice, I think I know what you mean.You never show malice to anyone or anything, a rare facet.

Denis Ian Fox ● 226d

To Denis, forgot the replies post anywhere.

Janice Evans ● 226d

Best to wait for the outcome.

Janice Evans ● 226d

Terrible when a candidate's indisposition affects their entire organisation's ability to produce even a couple of paragraphs of biography. 🐟🐠🐟🐠

N V Brooks ● 226d

You and others are speculating on the validity of Felix Orrell, but I remember hearing on Headliners (GBN late at night) that when his profile was under review he was indisposed with pneumonia, and therefore unavailable to give his personal profile.Until this is disproved I cannot see reason for doubting his authenticity.

Denis Ian Fox ● 226d

Reform, lest we forget, is not a political party. It is a private limited company  owned mostly by Farage and Tice. There is no constitution or accountability to the people who have given their money to Reform. It is Farage’s toy. He will play with his toy however he wants. You can all play with his toy if you want and he lets you pay. Fortunately, he can’t make people with his toy.

Stewart Jones ● 227d

No photo and no biography though and what presence there was, was all very recent. Perhaps he worked at 'Universal Exports' alongside James "Mr Fisher" Bond.

N V Brooks ● 227d

I understood that the vetting company used by Reform don't do the vetting themselves - they provide a system that enables their clients to do vetting.This is apparent from their website https://vetting.com/en-gb/faqQ: Are you an outsourced background screening company?A: No, we provide you with the ability to complete your own background screening in house – cutting out the middle man and speeding up your processes.So it appears that Reform paid vetting.com, this provided Reform staff with access to the vetting.com system but Reform thought that vetting.com were actually going to do the vetting.  They didn't realise that Reform staff needed to do the vetting themselves using the vetting.com system.

Michael Robinson ● 227d

Felix Orrell, their named candidate in Ealing Central and Acton did have a very faint online footprint so he may well be a real person. His complete absence from the campaign is perplexing.It seems likely now that the 'vetting company' employed by Reform was basically a seat filler bringing in people willing to be put down as candidates for the payment of 'expenses' with no obligation to actually do anything. I'm not sure this is illegal but it doesn't speak of respect for the democratic system.

Mark Evans ● 227d

Try finding any photos or background information on the candidate for Ealing Acton. There's nothing in the Reform website

N V Brooks ● 228d

Everything seems fishy to me these days.

Janice Evans ● 228d

The fact is that Reform have had the opportunity to close this down by giving access to their candidates and it hasn't. This issue has been rumbling on since the weekend so it seems likely they are not going to do this. Therefore we are all entitled to speculate and the press will go through the company's candidate list one by one. This is a local forum and there is still no absolute confirmation that the person who stood in a local constituency exists. There is no accusation here but even you must admit, the inability to answer the question 'Is your candidate a real person?' immediately and categorically is extremely fishy.

Francis Rowe ● 228d

I'm sure they do or will why speculate, you need a political forum for that sort of accusation.

Janice Evans ● 228d

Can you explain exactly what you are sick of? Surely we can all agree, electoral fraud is a very serious matter and, if anybody is found guilty of it, they should be prosecuted? This could all be easily resolved if Reform UK responded to media queries and gave immediate access to any candidate for whom there was doubt of their existence. You must be wondering why they don't do that?

Francis Rowe ● 228d

I defended Claire as well, because it's unnecessary.

Janice Evans ● 228d

I'm saying we are sick of it.

Janice Evans ● 228d

Janice, are you suggesting there should be immunity from charges of electoral fraud for MPs?

Francis Rowe ● 228d

Oh dear - we've gone from defending Rishi and BoJo to the odious Nigel.

Vanessa Smith ● 228d

Not back to the blaming game again.

Janice Evans ● 228d

The scenario you posit could not have happened because ID for voting was not in place before Johnson was elected. It was introduce by... checks notes ... a Prime Minister called Johnson who presumably was a different person as nobody could be that inept. Image the damage that could have been cause if someone like that was put in charge.As to the phantom candidates, one by one they appear to be turning out to be real people but there is a lingering hope that one is a fake and Farridge gets locked up because it was his company that was responsible for the fraud.

Francis Rowe ● 228d

Ha ha.  But he might have remembered his ID by accident!

Philippa Bond ● 229d

Just think, we might never have had Boris as our PM! :)

Andrew Jones ● 229d