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The Conservative party’s chief whip has been condemned for promoting AI-generated footage created by a notorious far-right figure who was jailed for hate crimes against Jewish people.
Rebecca Harris reposted the latest skit by the Crewkerne Gazette, which depicts Kemi Badenoch and her shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, as characters in the gangster film Scarface.
The online satirical account had gained a large online following before its creator was revealed last month to be Joshua Bonehill-Paine, an activist who 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 to racially aggravated harassment against a Jewish Labour MP.
“Push it to the limit,” sings Timothy’s AI-generated avatar in the account’s latest skit, which was created after the MP was accused of Islamophobia for claiming that an Islamic prayer event in Trafalgar Square was intimidating and un-British.
Harris, the MP for Castle Point, was appointed in 2024 by Badenoch as the Conservative chief whip, a role that makes her responsible for party discipline.
Asked about her sharing of the content, a Conservative spokesperson said: “The Crewkerne Gazette is seen as a fun, satirical X account that makes amusing, topical videos that have been broadcast on all of Britain’s mainstream TV channels, including the BBC, and hosted on most newspaper websites.”
The party has been approached for comment about Bonehill-Paine’s claim that he is now a member of the party.
The promotion by Harris of the clip was criticised by Alex Barros-Curtis, the Labour MP for Cardiff West who has previously said that Bonehill-Paine was using “AI slop” to advocate for Nigel Farage and stoke fears about immigration.
“This shows a real lack of judgment from Kemi Badenoch’s close ally, in the week where Tory top brass has peddled vile insults towards Muslims,” said Barros-Curtis.
“It highlights the astonishing depths to which the Conservatives have sunk. They’ve learned no lessons from their election defeat. They simply can’t be trusted to unite communities across this country.”
The Crewkerne Gazette account has previously created AI videos depicting politicians such as Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham apparently singing popular songs from artists including Amy Winehouse, Barry Manilow and Elton John with altered, politically themed lyrics.
Bonehill-Paine, who has a prior conviction for assaulting a police officer and burglary of a police station, was convicted in 2014 of malicious communications over an anti-Islam hoax that led to death threats against the owners of a pub in Leicester.
He was jailed in 2015 for more than three years after posting “vile” antisemitic material online ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally.
In 2016, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment for abuse directed at the then Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is Jewish, which included posting messages to his blog calling Berger “a rodent”, “evil money-grabber” His past far-right activity include being the founder and leader of the National British Resistance, a far-right group.
Bonehill-Paine told the Guardian his past was “no secret”, and politicians of different parties engage with the Crewkerne Gazette which, he said, produced topical satirical content. He said:“I bitterly regret and am sorry for my past and the hurt I have caused the Jewish community.
“I am indeed a fully paid-up member of the Conservative party, and it was under a Conservative government that my rehabilitation was successfully facilitated, for which I remain grateful,” he said.
Asked if he had declared his previous convictions and far-right political associations, he said: “There is nowhere to declare previous convictions and former political associations, I am not a candidate nor standing for election. In which case there would of course be vetting done if so, and a declaration of convictions.”
