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Nigel Farage’s Reform UK MPs are receiving half of all total engagement by parliamentary representatives on Elon Musk’s ‘X’ platform, despite making up just 3.5% of seats in the House of Commons, new research suggests.
While many MPs are moving to platforms like BlueSky, Reform UK MPs’ content appears to be drastically boosted on there, often directly through retweets from the far-right, billionaire owner, and Trump appointee Elon Musk.
Researchers at Cavendish Consulting has found that since the July 2024 election, MPs have made over 217,000 posts on the platform.
These posts received over 100 million engagements. Reform UK’s five MPs made 7,744 posts (just 3.5% of total) – but their posts received almost 50 million engagements (50% of the total for MPs).
The analysts found that X favours polarising and emotive content, rewards controversial and sensational posts, and encourages performative rather than deliberative engagement.
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In sum, the research suggests the platform is proliferating a largely right-wing echo chamber.
In terms of the platform’s broader impact, Cavendish notes that content from X frequently reaches mainstream British media. That makes the platform highly relevant for political discourse, continuing to shape how politics is played out and consumed in the UK
Jack Spriggs, Head of Digital Campaigns at Cavendish, told Byline Times: “The research shows that while Reform MPs account for just 3.5% of all MP posts on X, they generate a remarkable 50% of total engagement. The data is clear: when it comes to impact on X, a small number of voices dominate the conversation.”
He added: “There are still really influential [non-Reform] MPs on X, like Jeremy Corbyn. He’s posted 322 times since the election (about 1.5% of the total MP posts), and those posts have received almost seven million engagements (about 7% of the total).
“His posts get an average of 21,388 engagements per post. That’s over three times what Reform MPs get on average, and about 100 times the engagement of your average MP.”
Reform MPs continue to make thousands of pounds per month from the platform, through X’s creator monetisation programme.
Last week, Politico London Influence reported that Reform UK’s five MPs have banked almost £20,000 from X since the election, “with political novice — and Musk enthusiast — Rupert Lowe trousering nearly £8,000 from his posts, followed by Farage on around £5,500.”
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Cavendish Consulting research, posts on X by MPs
(4 July 2024 – 28 January 2025)
| Posts | Engagements | Engagements per post | |
| All MPs | 217,290 | 100,483,183 | ~500 |
| Reform MPs | 7,744 | 49,551,296 | ~6,300 |
| All MPs (excluding Reform) | 209,546 | 50,931,887 | ~243 |
| Jeremy Corbyn | 322 | 6,887,107 | ~21,388 |
| All MPs (excluding Reform & Jeremy Corbyn) | 209,224 | 44,044,782 | ~210 |
Data from Meltwater, 4 July 2024 – 28 January 2025
Nigel Farage Teams Up With Extreme Anti-Abortion Group and Calls for Debate on Restricting Abortion Rights in UK
The Reform Leader is joining forces with a US-based Christian legal group, which campaigns for abortion to be outlawed around the world
At a Hope Not Hate event on Monday, the head of the Trades Union Congress launched a withering attack on Reform UK, as the party surges in the polls.
Union federation leader Paul Nowak told attendees Reform UK leader Nigel Farage MP was “a political fraud.”
“He’s a public-school educated, private-equity loving, NHS-privatising Putin apologist.
“He claims to stand for the working class, yet he and every Reform MP voted against the Employment Rights Bill that would give basic rights to millions. He says he wants to fix Britain’s broken public services, yet would welcome NHS dismantlement in favour of a US-style insurance system prioritising profit over patients.”
It came as a YouGov/Times voting intention survey the same day marked the first time the pollster has shown Reform UK in front. With a lead of just one point over Labour, it is within the margin of error, but it will be a wake-up call to mainstream parties.
YouGov figures show Reform UK on 25% of the vote, their joint-highest score to date, up from 23% in their previous poll on 26-27 January. Labour are on 24% (-3) while the Conservatives take 21% (-1). The Lib Dems are unchanged on 14%, and the Greens likewise at 9%.
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