In the UK, Nigel Farage, king of Brexit and TikTok

On TikTok, Nigel Farage, leader of the conservative and anti-immigration Reform UK party, is very popular. “He has almost three times as many followers as Labour and the Conservatives combined,” notes the British left-wing media outlet Novara .

So, The Guardian asks: “Will the party’s online influence translate into voting papers? And, if not, why is Farage banking so much on his social media presence?”

In June 2024, Novara headlined: “Nigel Farage flirts with men (especially young ones).” And for good reason: “According to [the polling institute] YouGov, while the Labour Party still has the wind in its sails among young people, they are more likely to vote for Reform UK than 25-29 year-olds,” notes the British left-wing media outlet.

But Farage is seeking to appeal to a very specific category of young men, "young men from the old big industrial cities and the countryside who feel forgotten," the article states.

“Look at Farage’s recent appearances. Between the big TV shows and his show on GB News, he has invested in recent months in a very particular niche: that of self-help video podcasts – rather right-wing – aimed at young men who want to succeed in

business and finance.”

British left-wing media “Novara”

And Farage's strategy seems to be working.

In Clacton, a coastal town in southeast England, Novara interviewed Edward, a window cleaner, who said he really enjoyed the politician's jokes.

“He describes the former trader as a 'man of the people' whose speech is very interesting, especially 'for people of [his] age' ,” the site adds.

"And it's not for ideological reasons," Novara says, that Edward supports Reform UK, it's mainly because he's affected by the surge in prices.

“Everything is much more expensive, from the attractions on the pier to the price of food, and so on. I can only tell you that it's getting harder and harder to make ends meet. 100%,” says the young man.

According to Dan Evans, sociologist and author of the book A Nation of Shopkeepers , Nigel Farage is a continuation of Margaret Thatcher and her “ popular capitalism.”

He is simply reworking it for a new generation “who have not experienced the social mobility that their parents enjoyed under previous Conservative governments, and especially for those who have always stayed in the same place,” Novara explains.

Keir Milburn, author of Generation Left , qualifies this: young people are turning mostly to the left, to Labour.

But he stresses that "the current political offer does not respond to the material concerns of the population."

Keir Milburn also points out that women are taking the opposite path, and are increasingly voting to the left.

The author believes that this division “probably has to do with a crisis of masculinity, that is, the collapse of the traditional male role of breadwinner, with very little compensation, [because] it is linked to a general decline in wages.”

“Nobody at Reform UK expects to become the majority party among 18-25 year-olds overnight,” Novara concludes.

But the left-wing media outlet is calling for caution. It's also calling for Farage's "desire to rejuvenate his base – largely composed of older smallholders – by focusing his efforts on young, male voters."