Jayden Palmer is a 19-year-old Reform member and content creator who wants to run for election himself (PoliticsHome)
7 min read12 September
Reform UK used this year’s party conference to deepen its relationship with a new generation of political influencers, quietly inviting a hand-picked group of content creators to produce videos from a dedicated creator studio on the conference floor.
The studio, located in the middle of the main hall, included bright lights, Reform-branded backdrops, plants, furniture, and charging points designed to make filming quick and easy.
Rather than opening the space to everyone, Reform approached a select group of creators ahead of last week’s conference in Birmingham and invited them to use the studio to produce content throughout the event.
Bruce Hamill, who has more than 750,000 followers across multiple social media platforms, was among them.
While campaigning during the recent Makerfield by-election, Hamill filmed videos alongside Reform MP Sarah Pochin. Soon afterwards, party officials got in touch.
“People from the head office contacted me about doing this creator space because they said, ‘Look, we know what you do. We know you’re very anti-government. We know you’re anti-establishment, and you lean with us, and you’re a member. If we create a content creator space, would you be happy to come?'”
PoliticsHome only saw a handful of creators using the space during the conference. Hamill said that the party has gone “a little bit more out of their way to create this, but this was more of a logistical thing to see how this would work going into next year”.
Hamill was allowed to exclusively interview Reform leader Nigel Farage at this year’s conference.
The party is so keen to build links with online influencers that it is considering introducing dedicated content creator conference passes next year, PoliticsHome understands.
The move reflects the party’s growing focus on online political influencers as it seeks to cement its advantage on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, where younger voters increasingly consume political content.
Some creators who attended the conference complained to PoliticsHome about patchy WiFi and suboptimal lighting in the dedicated creators’ studio, but their overall verdict was positive: that the party understands the growing influence of independent political creators.
Jayden Palmer, a 19-year-old Reform member who recently debated Young Bob, representing Restore Britain, has built an audience of around 20,000 followers on Instagram and 15,000 on TikTok in little over a year. He was busy in the creators’ studio throughout last week’s conference.
He described social media as a “key pillar to the political world” with so many young people consuming news via social media. He described Reform as “first innovators” in this space and said they were “really focused” on engaging young people.
Farage’s party was an early adopter of short-form video platforms including TikTok. Other parties have also since invested heavily in social media, with Labour expanding its No 10 New Media Unit during its time in government, hiring specialist videographers and working with content creators across Whitehall departments. Andy Burnham’s social media output has been praised as an impressive element of his communications strategy since he entered Downing Street in July.
The content creators at Reform conference told PoliticsHome that they are not advised by the party on what to post, instead finding that they can reach large audiences independently of the party or mainstream media channels.
The party confirmed to PoliticsHome that it was not paying creators to produce content.
Hamill told PoliticsHome he has spent the past two years building credibility with audiences online, a period that has coincided with Reform’s rise in the opinion polls since the 2024 general election. Having previously worked in construction and vocational education, he shifted to focusing on his content creation work full-time last year.
His profile among Reform members is evident: As Hamill spoke to PoliticsHome in Birmingham, multiple members interrupted the interview to ask for selfies, praise his videos and encourage him to enter frontline politics.
“We need more MPs like you!” one member told him.
Hamill admitted he is seriously considering it.
“I’ve got to a point where I’m now like, well, maybe I need to start doing something about it as well. Put my head further above the parapet and actually stand and try and make a difference. So that’s something that’s definitely in the works.”
Palmer, who narrowly missed out on being elected as a Reform councillor earlier this year, said he would eventually like to run for Parliament.
“Right now I’m focused on helping the youth movement and getting as many young people involved in right-wing politics in general. I think I can offer real value,” the teenager said.
Despite their political ambitions, both Hamill and Palmer said they will challenge the party when necessary.
“I have criticised them in the past when they’ve recruited certain people,” Hamill said.
“I even brought a petition up against them, trying to get more democracy in the membership.”
Asked about the undercover Channel 4 documentary that appeared to show Reform advisers discussing ways of getting overseas money into British politics while circumventing electoral rules, Palmer said it was a “massive story” and needed to be investigated by the party.
“We need to really prioritise being a professional party,” he said.
Lee Harris wasn’t among those invited to use Reform’s content creation studio at party conference, but with more than 200,000 followers across different platforms, he is an influential profile on the British right wing. The Reform member and political commentator still appears regularly on mainstream broadcasters such as the BBC. However, he believes independent platforms increasingly offer greater reach and influence.
He sees his purpose as trying to unite the right and put an end to hostilities between Reform and Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain.
“I hate the right-on-right attacks,” he said.
“So when I’m on independent media or when I’m on mainstream media, I always try to bridge a gap between the two. Because at the moment, I think it’s fair to say there is a bit of a fractured right wing. I don’t think Restore would do enough to win any seats personally, but I think they can do enough to do some potential damage [to Reform].”
Harris has more than 180,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, but he no longer sees the platform as a primary focus.
“Since January this year, they changed the algorithm,” he said.
“Just to give you an idea, my reach dropped by about 70 or 80 per cent.”
His focus is now on video content on YouTube and Facebook, from which he then cross-posts to X.
While Harris said he would remain on X because politicians and some journalists still use it to break news, he believes “X isn’t going anywhere, but it’s just not people’s focus anymore”.
Hamill agreed that “reach on X is terrible”, and Palmer said that he largely avoids the platform, in part because of the amount of racist abuse he receives when he posts there.
“With this rise of [Rupert] Lowe, Restore Britain, and ethno nationalism, people are saying I’m not British because I’m brown,” he said.
“They want a pure white country. Really hateful stuff has taken over.”
He accused X owner Elon Musk of tailoring the algorithm to promote Restore Britain.
“That has created a false environment and actually has gone against the original founding of what X was created for,” he continued.
“If it stays that way, I think it will eventually die.”
Hamill said his mission is to make Westminster politics more accessible, having started out by sharing videos on breaking down energy policies for consumers.
“Being working class myself, coming through construction, working through education as well. I just saw that there was a bit of a gap in breaking down what they’re saying in Parliament, articles, bills, legislation, policy.”
He said people increasingly turn to independent creators because they trust them to explain complicated issues in a way they can understand.
Despite his criticism of parts of the mainstream media, Hamill added: “I’ve got a lot of respect for particularly investigative journalists who go undercover.”
However, asked about Channel 4’s recent undercover reporting involving Reform figures, he said that while party figures “shouldn’t be getting caught out with things like that”, the investigation was, in his view, “spin around Reform”.