Ruth Cadbury Questions Existence of Reform Candidate

David Kerr a no-show at hustings event and election night count

The Reform candidate did not appear at the Brentford & Isleworth count and declaration

July 10, 2024

Ruth Cadbury, the recently re-elected Brentford & Isleworth MP, has questioned on social media whether her Reform party opponent in the General Election actually existed.

David Elliot Kerr was listed on the ballot papers, but he did not appear to carry out any campaigning activity, no photo of him was published and he was not present at hustings events or the election night count. In the nomination papers he was listed as having an address in the constituency with no further details given.

There is a listing for a David Elliot Kerr on LinkedIn which shows him working for his family’s heating engineering company in Isleworth. We have contacted the company and Reform UK to confirm he was the party’s candidate.

Ms Cadbury, having been made aware of this information, acknowledged the possibility that her opponent was a real person but added, “I wonder about all the other Reform candidates? And even if they all actually exist, it’s a strange strategy. It’s one thing to be a paper candidate, but another thing to be completely anonymous and avoid all contact with voters & the process right up to the count.”

There have been several allegations that Reform UK fielded fake candidates based on the lack of any internet profile for them and their non-participation in the campaign. In several cases highlighted so far it has turned out that the candidate was a real person although there are reports that the nominated individual was unaware that they were standing for election. In one instance an AI generated image was used purporting to be the candidate which bore little relation to his true likeness.

Reform UK has categorically denied that it has fielded fake candidates and say that all its candidates were valid and properly nominated. The Electoral Commission would be required to investigate if there were sufficient grounds to believe that election laws were breached.