Are the Tories feeling the heat from Reform? Apparently so, if online adverts are anything to go by, with London-based Facebook users complaining of an increase in online adverts targeting Nigel Farage’s party. The latest example involves an advert which tells social media users ‘Vote Reform, Get Labour’ — a phrase trotted out regularly by numerous Tory politicians.
Facebook rules say that when an advert is about ‘social issues, elections or politics’, those paying for the adverts ‘are required to disclose who paid for the ad’. In this case, the advertiser has been listed as ‘3rd Party Ltd’. On 3rd Party Ltd’s website, the organisation says it is registered with the Electoral Commission as a ‘non-party campaigner’. But on digging deeper, Mr S is a little sceptical.
Companies House notes that the business’s director is one 36-year-old Thomas Borwick. The same Thomas Borwick is, however, an active member in the Conservative party and is currently serving as the Chairman of the Cities of London & Westminster Conservative Association. It’s not his first brush with controversy either. In 2019, Borwick set up 3rd Party Ltd just a month before Boris Johnson’s snap election. During the election period, Borwick spent over £53,000 primarily on Facebook attack ads that encouraged users to vote Tory and accused Labour of failing Grenfell victims.
Borwick was embroiled in further scandal after it emerged he had boasted to colleagues he could use unknown online campaigns to ‘split the vote’ of the Tories’ rivals — and was accused of ‘pretending’ to be the Green party after buying ads that targeted swing constituency voters to ‘support your local Green candidate’ and ‘support Green’. Oo er.
A spokesperson from the firm told Mr S that: ‘3rd Party Ltd. is a dedicated consultancy providing non-party campaigns with specialist services for issues-based messaging, whether throughout targeted digital advertising or fully integrated advocacy campaigns. It operates entirely in accordance with the rules and guidance provided by the Electoral Commission.’
As Reform tails the Conservatives closely in the polls — with YouGov last week announcing Nigel Farage’s party had overtaken the Tories in one survey — Mr S isn’t surprised that Tory backers are rather concerned about what could happen come 5 July. But whether Conservative party members should make it clearer they run companies that claim to be ‘non-party campaigners’ is a rather murkier matter…
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