Nafeez Ahmed investigates the opaque UsForThem group lobbying against Coronavirus restrictions and its Conservative Party, Brexit and pro-Trump connections
Boris Johnson re-opened schools too early and delayed closures in 2020 under pressure from a ‘parents’ lobby group which receives PR support from a former Conservative parliamentary candidate and communications advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign.
The same figure has extensive ties across the Conservative Party – and is currently managing PR for the COVID Recovery Group, founded by Conservative MPs who oppose the Government’s second lockdown.
On 22 December 2020, the Government was warned by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) of the urgent need to close schools to contain the spread of COVID-19 before Christmas. The new variant of the virus, they warned, meant that without earlier school closures, it would not be possible to keep the reproduction rate of the Coronavirus (the ‘R’) below one. But the Government delayed following this advice until 5 January –contributing to rates of COVID-19 among teachers increasing up to 333% higher than local rates.
The Government’s flip-flop schools policy, and its failure to ensure COVID-19 safety measures in schools, has been criticised by Independent SAGE – the group of public health experts led by former government chief scientific advisor Sir David King – for prolonging the pandemic, escalating transmission leading to excess deaths, and necessitating the latest lockdown to avert an even worse crisis.
The Government’s failure to close schools early – contrary to advice from its own scientists – was influenced by UsforThem, an opaque lobby group which refused to answer Byline Times’ questions about its funding and political connections.
The group, founded on 19 May 2020, has lobbied for schools to remain open throughout the pandemic. Its position is not simply that schools should stay open, but that they should jettison all pandemic safety measures such as social distancing, masks and ventilation.
UsforThem has received extensive media coverage in the Telegraph, Daily Mail and through the BBC, in contrast to another parents campaign group, Parents United Against Unsafe Schools, which has received considerably less.
While a spokesperson for UsforThem told Byline Times that the campaign is an “apolitical volunteer-run” group, it is not only advised by a PR consultant with close ties to the Government, it also receives support from a separate anti-lockdown organisation with pro-Trump, Brexit and Conservative ties.
In addition, its founder is a well-connected former corporate lawyer whose business partner worked for then Prime Minister David Cameron’s Strategy Unit in Downing Street.
Direct Line to the PM’s Man
On 22 June, UsforThem’s website claimed that it sent a letter based on “weeks” of work with its lawyers to the Department for Education, threatening legal action against school closures and social distancing in schools, while demanding the full and mandatory opening of all schools.
“Three days later, on 25 June, Boris Johnson confirmed that the goal of the Government was for schools to open fully in September and that schooling would be placed on a full-time, mandatory footing once more,” the website said, noting further that in July UsforThem campaigners “were able to meet with senior Government officials on both sides of the border to press home our concerns and aspirations”.
The group also took credit for a letters campaign which influenced the Children’s Commissioner’s decision to come out in favour of removing social distancing for younger children.
While UsforThem claims that it is simply a grassroots, parent-run group which receives no funding, Byline Times spoke to several parents who have wondered how the group could operate such a sophisticated lobbying and influencing strategy – including, for instance, projecting images onto buildings and hiring a van to display adverts while driving around Westminster.
Byline Times can exclusively confirm that UsforThem has leveraged high-level political connections through several public relations groups.
UsforThem’s main communications support comes from Ed Barker, who previously stood as a Conservative parliamentary candidate in Derby. He runs the communications firm The SW1 Group, which has managed the Westminster offices of many senior Conservative MPs, written articles and speeches for several incumbent Cabinet ministers, and played a key role in Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign.
Barker has provided PR support to Home Secretary Priti Patel, the Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, and former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon. The SW1 website even includes acclaim from political editors at the Daily Mail, The Sunday Times and the Sun.
Barker also manages communications for the Blue Collar Conservativism caucus, a campaign founded by former housing minister Esther McVey repackaging the Conservative Party as a working-class movement. The caucus is bigger than t