Accompanied by Exeter University’s professional security personnel as the cries of the protest could be heard in the distance, I jumped into a taxi to interview Jack Anderton, the media top dog responsible for running Nigel Farage’s TikTok, after attending his self-funded ‘A New Dawn’ national university tour on behalf of Exeposé.
Born in Liverpool, the 25-year-old was a Politics undergraduate of King’s College London before he got his media gig with the Reform UK leader. Looking back, he described his academic stint at King’s as “a waste of time”. Yet he differs from typical right-wingers who tell 16-year-olds to learn a trade or to get an apprenticeship. He stated that even though university degrees are nothing more than qualifications, the people who don’t have a degree will not be staffing the future government.
Anderton’s interest in politics started before reading the likes of Marx and Mill in university. When he was around 13 on X (formerly known as Twitter), he was made aware of the grooming gangs across Britain. Witnessing how “nobody was willing to stand up for the girls that have been raped” and that “politicians were actively ignoring the incidents” was a key experience which frustrated him greatly. Two other political events, the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and Brexit caused a similar lingering anger in him. He stated that “[the] attempts made to overturn both decisions … solidified that we have a corrupt and incompetent political class.”
He furthered his point that the collective anger from Trump and Brexit never disappeared but instead grew through Reform UK. “People want radical reform, they don’t care how to get it, they are desperate.”
“People want radical reform, they don’t care how to get it, they are desperate.”
Jack Anderton
Economically, Anderton thinks that the UK has not recovered from the financial crash of 2008. The stagnant wages since then contributed to his idea that the country is “actively in decline” and “heading [towards] disaster”. He gave the examples that jobs for young people are shrinking, rent is at the highest level, and people in the country are poorer now than ever before.
Anderton’s stance on international students is that they are welcome to come to study, but the problem is that they stay on and compete for the same jobs as the other British graduates do. “We should be putting British youth first,” he said.
As Anderton continued to speak, the chants and heckles from the protesters could be heard loudly and clearly. The protesters seemingly banged on the glass windows at Streatham Court as they called him a racist and a fascist.
The protesters seemingly banged on the glass windows at Streatham Court as they called him a racist and a fascist.
“Are you a racist?” I asked, “No!” Anderton replied with a chuckle.
Some of the other issues Anderton identified to be causing Britain’s decline include crime, energy costs, immigration, and the NHS. His view is that crime is “out of control”. Regarding the NHS, he found it ridiculous that most young people have not used the NHS but will be funding it when they get their first graduate job. For him, the top issue is immigration. Before getting hired by Farage, Anderton and his friends made a video series demonstrating the “fundamental unfairness” that a significant proportion of the occupants of social housing are foreign-born. The videos received millions of views, got the attention of former Conservative Minister Michael Gove, and led to a government consultation.
Anderton was not surprised about Green Party leader Zack Polanski’s success. Although he thinks that Polanski offers “a misguided path”, he admitted that both Nigel Farage and Zack Polanski do well in identifying the key issues surrounding the nation and that the system is broken.
By this time, the protesters outside could be heard screaming along with singing the anti-fascist protest song, ‘Bella Ciao’. Anderton pointed at them and teased, “Look, these people don’t have arguments. They don’t have answers.”
Anderton got his TikTok job with Farage like most of us did – by sending in a job application which was posted online. After showing Farage his previous online content and a chat in a pub at Knightsbridge, he was in.
On working with Nigel Farage, Anderton only had nice things to say, even if Farage has a “strange sleeping pattern” which means that he sometimes calls at 5 am. He regards Farage as “a genuine man”. Through Farage’s long political career, Anderton learnt patience, a virtue “most politicians don’t have”. He described Farage as “the only politician [who] can turn the country around” and revealed that “Nigel has 15-year-plans that he won’t tell people about.” He gave the example that Farage had a “laser focus” on Brexit and ultimately got what he wanted.
… Farage had a “laser focus” on Brexit and ultimately got what he wanted.
Currently at 1.4m followers, Nigel Farage’s TikTok comes out on top among his political contemporaries. Aside from the editing software CapCut, Anderton attributed most of that success to Farage. He told the audience that his strategy was to “Let Nigel be Nigel” and to produce lots of content. He revealed that 50 per cent of Farage’s followers are in between the ages of 13-18, giving Reform UK the confidence to win if the voting age ever gets lowered. When the account first started, Farage would come into the office every day to record three to four videos a day. “Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch are now catching up to what we were doing two to three years ago,” Anderton boasted.
Observing that the number of male attendees far outweighs the number of female attendees at his Exeter tour stop, I asked Anderton if Reform UK has a problem recruiting women. He disagreed and listed out examples of female leadership and politicians in the party. In their worst poll last week, Reform was at 26% among the population, with support 5 points higher among men at 31%, and 6 points lower among women at 20%. In their best poll last week, Reform scored 31% among all voters, with support among men and women statistically tied at 32% and 29% respectively.
When asked if Farage is a flip-flopper who doesn’t have cohesive politics, Anderton, though adamant on not speaking for the Reform UK leader, expressed that Farage is not ideological. “He believes that taxes should be lower and that the government should stay out of social issues.”
An audience member asked how Reform would be different from the Conservatives. Anderton replied that “the Tories are done” and that “the Conservative Party hates us”. To him, what’s different is that the leadership are all people who have made sacrifices. He listed Zia Yusuf as an example since Anderton feels that Yusuf could have been somewhere nice enjoying his riches but is instead “taking a lot of abuse” by working for Reform UK.
Anderton declared that the goal forward for Reform UK is winning the next General Election, with the local elections in May 2026 as an important stepping stone. The challenge is to not succumb to overconfidence, to keep the momentum and “stick to the mission”. They aim to win a thousand council seats.
Exeter is Jack Anderton’s fourth university stop on his nationwide tour which aims to build a young talent network for the right. At York University, his event attracted the response of around 400 student protesters. At Edinburgh University, his event was cancelled. Yet it was also in York University where the paid membership for their Reform UK society doubled after his event. He told me that he would regard his tour as a success if a similar trend occurred throughout the tour.
I asked Anderton if he was disappointed that the size of our protest was merely 25-30 people, as one can deduce how he obviously benefits from any sort of reaction regardless of the negativity. He said no. Earlier in the event, he claimed that the protests were clearly “a co-ordinated effort” from the left, but that he welcomes and encourages protests. He told the audience that he thought “the protests [were] funny” and that the people outside Streatham Court were “deeply troubled people.”
… he claimed that the protests were clearly “a co-ordinated effort” from the left, but that he welcomes and encourages protests.
The student protesters of Exeter University never got inside the venue or got into physical contact with Jack Anderton. I asked if he ever felt unsafe. He shook his head no and told me that he was impressed as the university has been supportive. “[Exeter] takes security seriously,” he said.
The speaker event was hosted by Freedom Society. The society’s President, Jonathan McBride, said “I am very happy [with how the event went], I wish [the protesters] a nice evening.”
Approximately 25-30 people attended Anderton’s event while a similar number attended the protest directly outside the room.
A spokesperson at Exeter Students’ Guild said, “We support diverse voices and the right to open discussion. University is a place for debate, learning, and challenging ideas, and we want to ensure students feel safe, heard, and respected in that process.
The Freedom Society’s event, with speaker Jack Anderton, was carefully reviewed and approved under the External Speaker Framework with risk assessments and safety measures in place to prioritise student wellbeing. While we don’t endorse the views of external speakers, we have a legal duty to facilitate lawful speech in a safe and structured way.
We know this is a sensitive and emotive topic, in which around 30 students peacefully protested the event. We encourage students to engage respectfully, share their perspectives, and continue important conversations in a constructive way. We support any student who wants to host an event, discussion or protest, and work with them to ensure the event goes ahead safely.”
