Thread by @docrussjackson

#Thread

#Onward, for which this disturbing & dystopian survey was done, is "a modernising think tank" that believes in "a mainstream conservatism that recognises the value of markets."

But who's behind Onward, who is behind JL Partners, & what does the survey tell us?

https://twitter.com/JLPartnersPolls/status/1567443028364742658

JL Partners was "formed after three years running the research programme for 10 Downing St, in the heart of politics. Through a range of quantitative & qualitative methods, we know which questions to ask to get the richness of understanding that you need."
jlpartners.co.uk

With offices in the UK & USA, it operates "on a global scale with research capability in every major region."

The two key players & cofounders of JLP appear to be James Johnson (left) & Tom Lubbock (right), who both worked on polling at Downing Street for then PM, Theresa May.

James Johnson describes himself as "a political adviser and pollster, having previously served as the Senior Opinion Research & Strategy Adviser to PM Theresa May" & "played an active role in a number of strategic communication & policy campaigns."

Dr Tom Lubbock is "a public opinion specialist having previously worked as an academic behavioural scientist at the University of Oxford, specialising in research methods & referendum campaigns."

From 2017-19, Lubbock ran analytics & polling at Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), working on tracking polling for PM May, & end to end segmentations. An expert in American governmental institutions & politics, he was a lecturer in politics at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Both James & Tom also work for Kekst CNC, a global public relations firm which has long worked with Big Tobacco companies, in particular Philip Morris & Philip Morris International (PMI), advising them on corporate takeovers and regulatory battles.

tobaccotactics.org/wiki/kekst-cnc/

The lesser-known 'Onward' is a UK-based 'think tank' producing research, & founded in 2018 by Will Tanner & one of the more sensible Tory MPs, Neil O'Brien, & is chaired by Danny Finkelstein - a former chairman of Policy Exchange.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1564931297314803713?s=20&t=ycBKQKvKggRHa0Z9iEY5dw

The founders state that Onward would operate in the mainstream of conservative politics, and is a reaction to the "lack of energy on the centre right". It is explicitly aligned to the Conservative Party & is not a charity.

Onward was launched at an event in which then Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson & then environment secretary Michael Gove gave speeches. Its stated mission is to generate a "new wave of modernising ideas" and "a fresh kind of politics that reaches out to new groups of people".

Worth mentioning is Francesca Fraser, a Senior Researcher at Onward, working primarily on levelling up & education policy. She joined Onward in January 2020. Interestingly, prior to this she worked as a Communications Officer at The Electoral Commission.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1563124484281753601?s=20&t=ycBKQKvKggRHa0Z9iEY5dw

To its credit (unusually for a right-wing 'think tank'), Onward is relatively transparent about who funds it (though not by how much), publishing a list of funders donating £10K+/yr which includes BAE Systems, KPMG, Lloyds, Shell & the British Pharmaceutical Industry Association.

Wealthy individuals who help fund it include Rupert Soames, CEO of the outsourcing company Serco, a grandson of Winston Churchill, & Harvey McGrath, Chairman of Prudential plc from 2009 to 2012, who is co-founder of Revere Capital Advisors, a hedge fund based in NYC & London.

In September 2020 the BBC reported on an Onward study which found that the UK was "one of the most geographically unbalanced developed economies" & that "in Germany 12% of people live in areas where the average income is 10% below the national average, while in the UK 35% do."

People living in seats won by the Tories in #GE2019 earn on average 5% less than those in areas held by Labour.

Anyway, an article by Onward's director Will Tanner, sheds some light on the troubling poll suggesting growing support for strong-man leaders.

ft.com/content/4b0e81…

Tanner warns we "should heed the growing discontent among younger generations without a vote. Across Europe, established centre-right parties are being felled not by centre-left opponents but by young people outflanking them on the authoritarian right — & Britain is not immune."

"Across the liberal democratic world, young people are turning towards authoritarianism to solve their problems. One recent study found that more than half of young Europeans believe authoritarian governments stand a better chance of tackling climate change than democracies."

🚨The share of young people supporting a “strong leader who does not have to worry about parliament or elections” has doubled in the last 20 years, to more than 60%, & nearly half of 18-34-yr-olds believe military rule would be a good way to run the country, up from 9% in 1999!

If these results are repeated with similar polls, this puts to bed the myth shared by many of the Left that the next generation may be democracy's saviour - if anything, it suggests the opposite. That a right-wing think tank is exploring this while the Left is not, is concerning.