Tory chief whip reposts AI video created by far-right figure jailed for hate crimes | Conservatives
Conservative party chief whip condemned for publicity Images created by artificial intelligence It was created by a notorious far-right figure who was imprisoned for hate crimes against the Jewish people.
Rebecca Harris has republished the Crewkerne Gazette’s latest sketch depicting Kemi Badenoch and her shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy as characters from gangster film Scarface.
The online satire account had gained a large online following before its creator was revealed last month to be activist Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who has previously described himself as a “nationalist, fascist, theorist and supporter of white rights”.
It can now also be revealed that Bonehill-Paine claims to be a fully paid-up member of the Conservative party, despite a history of far-right activism and convictions ranging from assault on a Jewish Labor MP to racially aggravated harassment.
“Push him to his limits,” Timothy’s AI-generated avatar says in the latest skit on the account, which was created after the MP was accused of Islamophobia for claiming an Islamic prayer event in Trafalgar Square was scary and un-British.
Harris, the Castle Point MP, was appointed chief whip of the Conservative Party by Badenoch in 2024, a role that puts her in charge of party discipline.
Asked about content sharing, a Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Crewkerne Gazette is seen as a fun, satirical X account that produces entertaining, topical videos that are broadcast on all of Britain’s main TV channels, including the BBC, and available on most newspaper websites.”
The party has been approached for comment on Bonehill-Paine’s claim that she is now a member of the party.
The introduction of the clip by Harris was criticized by Cardiff West Labor MP Alex Barros-Curtis, who previously said Bonehill-Paine was using “artificial intelligence” to defend Nigel Farage and fuel fears about immigration.
“This shows a genuine lack of judgment from Kemi Badenoch’s close ally, in a week when senior figures in the Conservative Party have peddled vile insults against Muslims,” Barros-Curtis said.
“It highlights the staggering depths to which the Conservatives have sunk. They have learned nothing from their election defeat. They simply cannot be trusted to unite communities in this country.”
The Crewkerne Gazette account has previously created AI videos depicting politicians such as Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham singing popular songs by artists such as Amy Winehouse, Barry Manilow and Elton John with altered, politically themed lyrics.
Bonehill-Paine, who has previous convictions for assaulting a police officer and robbing a police station, was convicted in 2014 of making malicious communications through an anti-Islamic hoax that led to death threats against the owners of a Leicester pub.
He was sentenced to more than three years in prison in 2015 for sharing “vile” anti-Semitic material online ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally.
In 2016 he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment of the then Labor MP Luciana Berger, who was Jewish, which included posting messages on her blog calling Berger a “rodent”, an “evil money grabber”. Founder and leader of the National British ResistanceA far-right group.
Bonehill-Paine told the Guardian her background was “no secret” and that she had interacted with the Crewkerne Gazette, which she said produced topical satirical content featuring politicians from different parties. He said: “I bitterly regret my past and the damage I have done to the Jewish community.
“I am in fact a salaried member of the Conservative Party and my rehabilitation has been successfully facilitated under a Conservative government and I am grateful for that,” he said.
When asked whether he had disclosed his previous convictions and far-right political associations, he said: “There is nowhere to declare my previous convictions and former political associations, I am not a candidate and I am not running for election. In this case, of course, an examination will be carried out and a declaration of conviction will be made.”
