Reform-linked thinktank hires YouTube star in policy and PR push

Sky News

2 days ago

A YouTube star has been hired by a thinktank supportive of Reform UK as it looks to strengthen Nigel Farage's policy agenda, Sky News can reveal.
Archie Manners, a comedian and magician who has performed high-profile pranks on celebrities and Just Stop Oil activists, has been hired by Resolute 1850, which is planning to change its name to The Centre for a Better Britain.
It is understood the 32-year-old, whose YouTube channel with fellow influencer Josh Pieters amassed more than one million subscribers, has been hired full-time and will provide social media and communications advice.
The hiring of Mr Manners, who worked for Mr Farage during the general election campaign, indicates Reform is hoping to expand its already significant reach with young men.
While most of Reform's supporters are still older white men, post-election analysis by YouGov found Reform was the third most popular choice for men aged 18-24, alongside the Green Party.
Reform has also been quick to engage with social media platforms, including TikTok, which are popular with Gen Z.
The party now boasts nearly 400,000 followers - more than any other major political party - while Mr Farage's own personal TikTok now has over a million followers.
While independent of Reform, Resolute 1850 has strong links to the party through leading figures, including Jonathan Brown - the thinktank's chief executive and former Reform chief operations officer - who will also seek to raise funds through UK, and possibly, US donors.
In its first guise as Resolute 1850 - which the Financial Times reported is a reference to the HMS Resolute Royal Navy ship whose timbers were used to make the US president's desk in the Oval Office - the thinktank said its mission was to "foster stronger transatlantic relationships and more effective governance".
Mr Brown told Sky News that Resolute 1850, which is due to launch formally by the autumn, was changing its name to the Centre for a Better Britain because "we wanted to be clear on what it did on the tin".
"What we hope to do is set a policy agenda for the centre right which acknowledges the dire financial state the country is in and the errors that have been made around net zero and pretty much every policy the Labour Party and the Conservative Party are pushing forward, and actually have a desire for a radical break with the consensus of the last 20 years," he added.
"Our desire is to build up a proper policy base and not be fixated on culture war issues - but to actually look at proper economic fiscal policy, foreign affairs and defence.
"There's been a lot of enthusiasm around it."
Mr Brown sought to downplay comparisons between his outfit and equivalent US thinktanks that are independent but supportive of US President Donald Trump, saying the UK had its "own challenges and political climate".
He said calling Resolute 1850 a British version of MAGA (Make America Great Again) was "easy" but that he "disagreed" with the comparison.
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"The idea that we are some sort of UK branch of a US organisation is not true," he said. "We are independent."
Mr Brown added that Resolute 1850 currently had no US donors and that most of its fundraising - understood to be in the region of £1m - had been secured domestically, but that he was open to donations from across the Atlantic.
Rumours of US donations to Reform began circulating last year when it was reported that Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and X, who has just left his role at the White House, was considering offering $100m (about £80m) to the party.
However, the donation has not materialised and the relationship between Mr Farage and Mr Musk appears to have fractured after the tech tycoon called for Rupert Lowe, the ousted Reform MP, to replace Mr Farage as leader.
The impending launch of the Centre for a Better Britain comes as Mr Farage looks to build his policy platform following his success at the May local elections, where Reform won control of 10 councils and picked up more than 670 councillors.
At a speech on Tuesday, the Reform leader vowed to reverse cuts to winter fuel payments and scrap the two-child benefit cap while also outlining his ambition to increase the personal allowance from the current £12,750 to £20,000 year - something the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggest could cost between £50bn to £80bn a year.
Mr Farage has argued such policies can be paid for through scrapping net zero commitments and by ending the use of asylum hotels - but Sir Keir Starmer said they would be "Liz Truss all over again".
"He set out economic plans which contain billions upon billions of completely unfunded spending," the prime minister said last Thursday.
"Precisely the sort of irresponsible splurge that sent your mortgage costs, your bills and the cost of living through the roof."