Let’s talk about Reform

Follow the Money

Reform UK claims to represent ordinary people against the elites. But look who’s actually running the show. It’s millionaires all the way down.

Farage himself? Former City commodities trader. He pulls in over a million quid yearly from GB News alone. His deputy Richard Tice? Multimillionaire property developer. MPs Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock? Both from banking backgrounds.

The money backing them is serious wealth. Businessman Terence Mordaunt. Multimillionaire Jeremy Hosking, who gave £2.2 million to the Brexit Party. Tech investor Christopher Harborne reportedly handed over £13.7 million.

All this cash serves a purpose. They flood the media with their message. They create an illusion of widespread support.

Gaming the Media System

Here’s where Reform UK copies Trump’s playbook perfectly. Trump’s Truth Social only gets 5.4 million website visits. X gets over a billion.

Doesn’t matter though. His messages get amplified through influencer networks. These reach tens of millions on mainstream platforms. Farage does the same through GB News. Fun fact: it’s owned by Trump supporter John Malone.

Trump worked out something clever. Use social media to bypass traditional media entirely. Chat directly with your base.

His administration even brought right-wing media producers to the White House. They praised them for spreading conspiracies and made-up stuff.

Reform UK follows this exact playbook. They use GB News and social media relentlessly. They create an echo chamber. Their views seem mainstream when they’re actually fringe.

Creating the Illusion They’re Everywhere

The modern right-wing strategy is brilliantly simple. It’s all about “owning the libs”. But winding up lefties isn’t just entertainment for them. It’s literally how they spread their message.

Reform UK has mastered this strategy. Farage makes provocative statements about immigration or multiculturalism. The outrage generates maximum visibility. All those angry responses and fact-checks? They’re actually amplifying his original message.

This creates an illusion. Reform looks like a massive political force. In reality, their support is pretty limited.

The Small Boats Obsession

Farage hammers one issue relentlessly. Small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel. He calls it “something approaching an invasion” on LBC.

This single issue dominates Reform’s entire message. It creates a false impression. Makes immigration seem like every British person’s top worry.

But here’s the actual data. 60 percent of Reform voters call immigration the most important issue. For Tory voters? Only 16 percent. Labour voters? Just 2 percent.

See what’s happening? A minority viewpoint gets artificially amplified. Strategic media manipulation makes it look universal.

Real Public Opinion vs. Made-Up Perception

Despite Reform’s media dominance, the facts tell a different story. The 2024 British Social Attitudes survey reveals something interesting. Attitudes to immigration are “becoming more positive”.

Get these numbers. 59 percent believe immigration positively impacts the economy. That’s up from just 30 percent in 2014. 58 percent say immigration enriches our cultural life.

Here’s another eye-opener. A YouGov survey from August 2024 asked about right-wing extremists. 72 percent rated them as a “threat”. Almost half called them “a big threat”. Only 5 percent said “no threat”.

That’s a massive disconnect. What’s pumped out in media versus what people actually think? Completely different stories.

The Election Numbers Don’t Lie

Reform got 4.12 million votes in 2024. That’s 14 percent – not nothing. But let’s examine where those votes came from.

Two-thirds of Reform voters had voted Conservative in 2019. Only 7 percent came from Labour. Here’s the real kicker though.

Labour got their highest vote shares in Reform’s supposedly strongest regions. 48 percent in the north-east. 42 percent in the north-west and Yorkshire-Humberside.

So much for Farage winning over Labour’s working-class heartlands.

The Trump Playbook: It’s Gone Global

Trump has a brilliant strategy. He says contradictory things about the same issue. His supporters pick whichever version they prefer. Meanwhile, he creates this constant information barrage. It drives all the news stories.

Farage does exactly the same thing. He denies being racist. Yet he constantly pushes racist talking points. He maintains just enough plausible deniability. But his agenda remains crystal clear.

Playing the Victim

Right-wing voices constantly claim social media bias. They insist platforms target conservatives unfairly. Here’s the thing though. There’s never been proper evidence for this.

Both Trump and Farage use this persecution complex brilliantly. It rallies their supporters. It justifies creating their own media bubbles. Nobody challenges their views in these spaces.

Why This Normalisation Thing is Properly Dangerous

Mainstream commentators often fail to call out extreme policies. That’s when far-right politics starts looking normal. Media outlets avoid calling Reform UK “far-right”. They’re scared of lawsuits. They platform extremist views for “balance”.

This creates a dangerous illusion. Extreme positions appear to be normal political opinions.

Look at Reform UK’s actual proposals. Emergency suspension of human rights laws. Abandoning international obligations. Scrapping the Refugee Convention. Ditching the European Court of Human Rights.

Farage literally says he’ll negotiate with the Taliban!

Yet through media manipulation, these mental positions seem reasonable.

Spotting the Manipulation

First step in fighting back? Understand what they’re up to. Extremist groups have a whole playbook. Memes, viral videos, dodgy “scientific” studies about race.

They tailor content to different grievances. Anti-LGBT stuff here. White identity messages there. Whatever sticks.

Once you recognise these aren’t genuine grassroots movements? You’re halfway there. They’re coordinated strategies, not organic support.

What the Traditional Media Should Be Doing

Trump’s tactics come from the authoritarian leader’s handbook. Chip away at free speech. Undermine independent media. Consolidate power.

Media watchdogs show how this works. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán built entire media empires. They just parrot the party line. British media needs to resist this pressure. Stop making extremist positions look normal. Stop giving them coverage for “balance”.

The Bottom Line

Reform UK’s success isn’t because everyone’s gone right-wing. They’ve worked out how to game the media system. That’s the real trick.

With loads of money, deliberate provocation, and non-stop amplification? A minority position looks like the silent majority.

Reform threatens to drag politics rightward. They normalise reactionary opinions and prejudice. They create room for fascists to operate. The real danger isn’t just winning seats. It’s how their presence shifts all political conversation rightward.

Other parties adopt harsh positions just to keep up. Immigration becomes the only issue. Social progress gets abandoned.

Understanding these tactics is crucial for protecting democracy. The money that enables it. The psychological tricks they use. We need to see through it all.

That flood of right-wing sentiment in the media? It’s not real public opinion. It’s a carefully orchestrated illusion. They want you to think extreme policies are popular.

So what can we do? First, recognise manipulation when we see it. Stop sharing extremist content, even to criticise it. Support genuine grassroots movements instead.

The ones that actually reflect majority values. Tolerance, diversity, and human rights.

Once we understand the mechanism, we can dismantle it. We can restore political discussions that reflect reality. Not what millionaires want us to believe.