‘In These TikTok Times,
Nigel Farage Knows
Personality Trumps Trust’

With cynicism towards traditional institutions at an all-time high, the new digital landscape in which politicians operate favours the likes of the Reform UK Leader. James Bloodworth reports

Nigel Farage is big on TikTok. Since setting up an account on the platform in 2022, the Reform UK Leader has accumulated more than 1.2 million followers – outperforming all other UK parties and politicians in terms of engagement and views.

In many ways, Farage’s colloquial style and simple sloganeering is well suited to short-form video. Whereas Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch come across as stiff and stilted – both specialise in the carefully focus-grouped banality beloved by politicians of the pre-digital era – Farage, though older than both of his rivals, is more contemporary: he is a master of the succinct, off-piste one-liner that cuts through the noise of social media.

One could argue that Farage is more unfiltered (and thus more ‘authentic’) because of his lack of proximity to power. Indeed, if he seems more unstifled than his political opponents – if he doesn’t feel the need to watch his words quite as carefully as they do – then perhaps that’s because there are fewer consequences for gaffes or tactless remarks. Which other politician could get away with spreading conspiracy theories about the police following the Southport attacks last year?