Reform UK branch forced to apologise over AI blunder after posting fake photo of village cleanup

By KRISTINA WEMYSS, GENERAL NEWS REPORTER Published: 17:04, 8 July 2026 | Updated: 17:07, 8 July 2026 A Reform UK branch has been forced to apologise after it posted AI-generated photos of a village clean-up. Volunteers from Nigel Farage’s party met to spruce up a road in Sarre, Kent, last week. However, before and after photos posted online quickly raised suspicion, with councillors branding them ‘a lesson in how not to use AI’. The supposed results of the cleanup showed dazzlingly white fencing - which had also gained an extra slat. Meanwhile, a footpath appeared to have been given a fresh layer of Tarmac. And a car remained in exactly the same position in both photos. Local opposition councillors mocked the clumsy fake. Mike Sole, the leader of the Liberal Democrats on Canterbury City Council, said it was ‘a lesson in how not to use AI’. ‘The village gateway is now newly painted and the pavement resurfaced, yet the car, clouds and shadows are unchanged,’ he said. ‘That’s either superhuman work in the blink of an eye, or Reform are not telling the truth.’ Users online spotted signs of AI in the 'after' photo of the cleanup in Sarre, including a car in the same position and an extra slat on the gate The original Facebook post has now been edited to include a photo of the actual clean-up, carried out between Canterbury and Ramsgate as part of Clean Up Britain Day. Yesterday, Reform’s Herne Bay and Sandwich branch apologised in a post, saying: ‘The incorrect image previously posted to this Facebook page was selected and uploaded in error due to an administrative oversight. ‘This local Facebook page is managed entirely by unpaid volunteers, independent of Reform UK HQ and its official PR team. ‘While the image used was incorrect, the community clean-up work at the entrance to Sarre village did take place as described. ‘We sincerely apologise for this mistake and for any confusion or misunderstanding it may have caused.’ The branch was approached for further comment. Kent County Council - run by Reform - previously came under fire after it ripped out Victorian cast-iron lamp-posts from a street in Canterbury. The council claimed in January that it was too expensive to maintain the lamp-posts, many of which were cast in the city’s foundry.