US Politics
Reform mayoral candidate replicates Donald Trump’s controversial Greenland penguin image
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Reform UK’s candidate for the London mayoral election has been criticised for her “baffling” recreation of Donald Trump’s AI-generated image of him walking with a penguin in Greenland.
Last week, the White House posted a controversial image showing the US president walking through snow with a penguin holding a US flag.
The image, which also featured a Greenland flag flying in the distance, was posted by the White House on X alongside the caption “Embrace the penguin”.
The post sparked further concerns about Mr Trump’s ambitions in the Nato territory, and now appears to have inspired Reform UK’s candidate for the London mayoralty, Laila Cunningham.
On Sunday, Ms Cunningham appeared to replicate the image, replacing Mr Trump with her own silhouette and inserting a Union Jack flag and Tower Bridge in the background.
The Reform councillor for Westminster captioned the post: “Choose a new path for London. Before it’s too late.”
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The post came just days after figures across the political spectrum, and British veterans, condemned Mr Trump for falsely claiming Nato allies stayed away from the front lines during the war in Afghanistan.
President Trump later climbed down over his slurs, which followed a campaign of antagonism of Nato over his ambitions to own Greenland.
Although Trump agreed to a “framework of a future deal” in Greenland last week, the AI-generated image suggested he still remained interested in the Danish territory.
Ms Cunningham’s post garnered further criticism, with some dubbing it “Absolutely tone-deaf”.
Journalist and author Oliver Kamm wrote: “I may be wrong but I suspect the instinctive obeisance given by Reform UK to a thuggish, seditious, repressive, violent, imperialist, kleptocratic, corrupt, xenophobic & ferociously misogynistic US administration will not prove an electoral advantage.”
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Others questioned what the meaning of the apocalyptic style London could be.
One person wrote: “What on Earth is the message in this daft imagery copied from @WhiteHouse? Does she think net zero will make London like Antarctica? Is this her vision for an expanded Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park? Does she want to liberate penguins from London zoo?”
“’Vote for the candidate that’ll turn London into a frozen hellscape – persuasive,” another said.
Others raised concerns over the timing of the post: “Here’s Reform posting and embarrassing pile of AI s**** mimicking the man who insulted UK veterans this week. They’re somewhere between a bad joke and outright traitors.”
Ms Cunningham was unveiled as the party’s candidate for the 2028 election in a press conference with party leader Nigel Farage earlier this month.
After becoming a Conservative Westminster City councillor in 2022, the mother-of-seven defected to Reform in June last year, saying she wanted to fight for “lower taxes, controlled borders, and putting Britain first”.
