The operator behind a popular anonymous X account that uses artificial intelligence to create satirical videos of senior UK politicians has been identified as a man with multiple convictions for inciting hatred against Jewish people, as reported by The Guardian.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 33, was named by Channel 4 News as the person running the Crewkerne Gazette account, which produces AI-generated clips showing figures like Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham appearing to sing well-known songs with lyrics altered to political themes.
Bonehill-Paine has a history of far-right activity and hate crimes. He previously described himself online as a “nationalist, fascist, theorist and supporter of white rights” and was involved in spreading fabricated stories, including one about a Leicestershire pub refusing service to armed forces personnel and another claiming a six-year-old was abducted by a grooming gang in Croydon.
In 2015, he attempted to organise a protest in Stamford Hill, north London, against what he called the “Jewification” of the area, and later promoted another in Golders Green using a cartoon image of Adolf Hitler and writing the event would be “an absolute gas”. He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for inciting racial hatred.
The following year, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment for a campaign of abuse directed at the then Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is Jewish. This included calling her “a rodent” and “evil money-grabber” on his blog and superimposing her face on an image of a rat. He received an additional two-year jail term.
Bonehill-Paine now claims to have reformed. He told The Guardian he no longer holds antisemitic views, providing proof he passed the government’s Prevent counter-extremism awareness course and has worked in counter-extremism education. On social media, he has written of having “a deep affection for Israel”.
In a YouTube video posted this week, he expressed regret for his past actions towards the Jewish community, saying he felt “very angry” at his own behaviour and had undertaken educational work with schools, universities and probation services to prevent others from following his path.
He also said he was “extremely sorry for the pain and distress” caused to Luciana Berger, though he has not contacted her directly, stating he did not wish to alarm her even a decade later.
The Crewkerne Gazette’s AI videos have been highlighted by several media outlets and politicians. The Sun featured one of its clips, The Times dubbed Bonehill-Paine the “Banksy of politics”, and GB News interviewed him under his online alias just days before his identity and past were uncovered.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg shared one of the account’s videos on X, and Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil Adam Dance praised the work on BBC Sunday Politics West as a positive example of using AI to engage people with politics. Dance later said he was unaware of who operated the account when he made those comments and that he “absolutely condemn[s] antisemitism and harassment in all its forms”.
Bonehill-Paine told Channel 4 News he plans to continue his counter-extremism work, aiming to stop others from making the same mistakes he did.
