Fake Hawthorne profile now apparently removed - but be careful, there'll be others

The fake profile we warned of this morning in the name of Geoffrey Hawthorne now appears to have

Hawthorne - the profile is gone, but there
is a lesson in it for us all

been removed from Facebook following wide circulation of our blog posting - many thanks to all for spreading the word.

You can be sure however that those who are involved with UKIP and have a significant number of political friends on Facebook who they have never met in real life are likely to have one if not more already buried away. If the Hawthorne attempt had not made some fairly basic errors, it would have been much harder to spot. Even my own Facebook profile - Dave Briggs - has been accepted unquestioningly by almost 400 people, and while I know a handful in real life, I have only just joined Facebook. Hopefully, myself and my blog here have proved their worth and our commitment to the UKIP cause, but to those of you I don't know - particularly those who are standing as UKIP candidates at local, national or European level - even I could have trawled your profiles and screenshotted the odd questionable remark or internet 'meme'.

There seems to have been a spate of fake profiles lately, and this seems to be the new angle of attack both for the Tories who - financed by Ashcroft's millions - compiled a dossier just ahead of the local elections in May, and for Hope not Hate who are likely to step up their attacks on UKIP in order to justify their continued existence now that the far-right are largely defeated. They need a new enemy, and quickly, or they will fade into irrelevance.

I know many of you have separate profiles for personal and political use. Alternatively, you can set up a page to keep people informed of your political activities, while keeping the poor taste jokes, rude pictures and personal banter private on your own profiles. The key is to adjust your privacy settings to be sure that you only let people see what you want them to see. That uproariously funny joke that you shared with your friends after a few drinks last night won't seem quite so funny on the front page of the Daily Mirror accompanied by a serious political commentary attacking you personally as a racist/fascist/homophobe/misogynist. If you accept all requests without question, you must not think that your profile is private. It is not.

I don't mean to preach. You are all adults, and must decide for yourself. Remember though that in the less than 24 hour existence of the Hawthorne profile, it had amassed 142 mutual friends with me out of my total of abour 380, and most of you are UKIPpers. There is a lesson here for us all!

Warning: Fake Geoffrey Hawthorne profile likely to be Hope not Hate seeking to trawl UKIP profiles

Many UKIP members appear to have received a friend request from a veritable old gentleman by the name of Geoffrey Hawthorne overnight - I see he now has 142 mutual friends with me.

Geoffrey Hawthorne
(aged 12)

Mr Hawthorne was apparently born on the 26th August 1925, and claims to have served with the RAF during the War. He includes a number of pictures of himself in RAF uniform, including this picture of himself (right) which is labelled 'Geoffrey Hawthorne circa 1937'. This is remarkable indeed for a man who was born in 1925, as he was apparently a fully qualified RAF pilot at the age of 12.

Then there is the picture (below) of himself sat on the wing of an RAF Hurricane fighter in 1945. The picture is signed by 'George Westlake' and marked '213 Squadron'. Hawthorne claims it features himself with George Westlake, Jono Hordicke, Bernie Wiggleston, Staneley (sic) Matthews and Harold Shipman Snr(!)

Not Geoffrey Hawthorne, but definitely Gp Cpt George
Westlake DSO DFC and friends

As UKIP Derby spokesman David Gale quickly spotted, the picture actually features Joe Lynch, George Westlake, Hank Hancock, Peter Crowther and Freddie Wilson (RCAF), and is currently for sale on EBay

Finally, Mr Hawthorne lists his RAF rank as 'Captain'. The rank of captain does not exist in the RAF.

It would appear that this is a fake profile, designed to allow whoever is behind it to trawl the profiles of UKIP members as happened in the local elections. It is a great shame that those responsible choose to create a fictional war hero for their Walter Mitty attempt, and drag into it the names of genuine war heroes such as the late Group Captain George Westlake DSO DFC. I would recommend that you delete this contact if you have not already done so as it is likely to be a Hope not Hate creation.