Reform UK candidate who stood in London was not ‘AI-generated’

Claims that a Reform UK candidate may not be a real person, which have spread widely on social media in recent days, have been debunked.

The candidate in question, Mark Matlock, stood for the party in the 4 July general election in the south London constituency of Clapham and Brixton Hill.

One such post shared on social media almost 6,000 times suggested that an image of Mr Matlock used on a campaign leaflet “looks AI-generated”, while a TikTok video with over 200,000 views also questioned whether he was a real candidate, claiming that he had not appeared at any constituency hustings, and that none of the other candidates in the constituency had met him (though the poster appears to acknowledge at the end of the video he was in fact real).

However, Mr Matlock’s identity has since been confirmed by the Guardian newspaper, and he also appeared on GB News yesterday to discuss the claims. The Metropolitan Police also reportedly told Sky News it had “confirmed the candidate’s identity”.

Mr Matlock told the Guardian that the image on the campaign leaflet had been “altered to change my tie and suit”, and that he had undertaken a leaflet drop in the constituency, but had not attended the election count as he had pneumonia (having previously explained this in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on the night of the count).

Mr Matlock has also addressed the claims about his identity on his X account—which was created during the election campaign.

Reform UK has denied claims that it fielded fake candidates, saying: “All our candidates are categorically real. Given the rush, a few are just paper candidates and didn’t campaign. Some people began as paper candidates but then did campaign, and one of these – James McMurdock in South Basildon and East Thurrock – ended up winning his seat.”