The Conservative Party faced criticism for their London mayoral campaign tactics, which included using misleading footage and images. An advertisement intended to criticize London Mayor Sadiq Khan for his handling of crime, featuring mayoral candidate Susan Hall, used video footage of a stampede at New York's Penn Station in 2017, falsely presenting it as an event in London. The panic in the footage was due to false reports of gunfire. Additionally, the party's election leaflets were found to feature a 'local' family that turned out to be models from a stock photo, used across multiple campaign materials. The ad and the leaflets were part of a broader strategy that has been labeled as spreading misinformation. Following backlash, the Conservative Party deleted the controversial video. London Mayor Sadiq Khan and others have condemned these actions, highlighting the dangers of misinformation in politics.
An ad for the British Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall about crime in London showed terrified commuters running. But the footage used was from Penn Station in New York of people responding to false reports of gunfire in 2017. https://t.co/NUW3b0r7t7
Depressing to see the Tories fall back on the same lying, divisive attacks against Sadiq they tried in 2016 Londoners saw through them then and they’ll see through them now https://t.co/vmWhVzewVx
This article is too polite @SadiqKhan The Tories are guilty of trying to spread fake news! This is serious. This type of misinformation and fake news is a danger to our democracy. Anyone who loves London and loves our country should be worried about the Tories. https://t.co/drxQ2pce6S
Fact-check: All the claims from the controversial Tory ad attack against Sadiq Khan https://t.co/WMPLXuKlud
Sadiq Khan accuses Tories of ‘lies’ over London mayoral ad https://t.co/s69t6MBIKT
Conservative London mayoral advert shows New York instead of London https://t.co/mHR5fh7Bp7
Sadiq Khan blasts Tory 'lies' over campaign video showing New York railway station stampede https://t.co/drQPCriyy2
The clip attacking the London Mayor had been posted on X using footage of a stampede in a New York subway station https://t.co/bmHwidBq6h
Tory mayor race ad shows New York instead of London https://t.co/LUiQur2uaf
UPDATE: An advert in support of the Conservative's London mayoral candidate that featured scenes from New York instead of the capital has been deleted. https://t.co/fg9CIewu5s
🔴The Conservative Party’s Disinformation Machine Sadiq Khan is the latest victim of a sustained campaign of misinformation and outright lies from the Conservative party, reports @AdamBienkov https://t.co/MCOray6Gvh
The good news: The Conservatives deleted their video trying to pass off New York as London. The bad news: The new version is no better. https://t.co/pvUmwGba1x
The Conservative Party's former Minister for London clearly unimpressed with the party's new 'fake news' attack ad on Sadiq Khan https://t.co/2o07Xoz8IE
Deleted: Tory attack video about crime in London using film of New York and housing in Peterborough which isn't run by Labour but does have a Tory MP. And now a Tory fake "local" family. Where else does it supposedly live? https://t.co/QZljZO46xs
A Tory election leaflet has been produced showing a local family on the cover. Except it’s the same ‘local’ family on the cover of campaign literature in seats across the country. That’s because it’s actually a stock photo posed by models. Scoop 👇 https://t.co/pXedFfdjkj
Exclusive: Tories Mocked Over Election Leaflets Featuring Fake 'Local' Family https://t.co/3DChUSvWIy
evocative video about life in London, but why has it used video footage of a stampede at New York's Penn Station in 2017 https://t.co/S2oZsvfgcW
Well this is embarrassing. Cchq uses footage (scroll to 1m07s, the rest really isn't worth your time) of a NEW YORK SUBWAY station to attack @SadiqKhan. This, days after @RishiSunak was so embarrassed by the Tory candidate he didn't even turn up to her launch. Or invite media. https://t.co/z5E0JiFVMT