The think tank belonging to Reform UK has been pledged to more than £1 million in fundraising and has begun hiring staff, according to those who described its activities as those and supporters who described its activities seek to strengthen the policy platform of Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist party.
The development around Resolute 1850 comes after the Financial Times reported last month that the senior figure on reform had created a think tank plan modelled on research groups related to the US party.
For example, the Renewal Centers at the Americas and the First Policy Institute are independently funded, but openly supported by President Donald Trump.
The presentation, which set out the plan for the think tank, said it would “support policy development, briefing and rebuttal reforms,” with the aim of “change views on important issues and provide technocratic capabilities.”
Ultimately, the presentation added, “will “expand to the heart of a sympathetic ecosystem with an annual event like Davos.”
But Think-Tank CEO Jonathan Brown told the Financial Times that he aims to have multiple clients. “We are more than just reform think tanks,” he said. “As long as you catch a mouse, it doesn’t matter if the cat is black, white or white.”
Resolute 1850 rented office space in Millbank Tower, central London © Simon Turner/Alamy
Brown declined to comment on the pledge of over £1 million, but said Resolute 1850 has begun adoption and there will be office space in Millbank Tower.
The Westminster building features the Reform headquarters that previously hosted Tory headquarters and was a labour hub prior to the 1997 landslide.
The name of the think tank refers to a British naval vessel called Resistance, where wood was used to make a desk for the US president in an oval office. Brown said the name would likely be changed soon.
Reform aims to specialize and capitalize the performance of opinions that takes a level of ahead of the Labour and the Conservatives.
While reforms hope to benefit significantly from local elections in the UK next month, seniors believe that policy delivery should be reduced if it works well in the next general election that must be held by 2029.
Company House think tank application, company register, lists three directors. Metal trader David Lilley, who donated more than £250,000 to the party last year, is the director. Like Mark Thompson, he is an investor with an interest in metals and fossil fuels.
Both Thompson and Lilley are also investing in renewable energy companies, according to separate companies’ House declarations. The reforms have pledged to tax renewable energy companies to recover the money the group receives through government subsidies.
Thompson is the director of Godolphin Exploration, a mining company that produces “metals for the green energy transition,” and Lily is an investor in AltPower Ltd, a Scottish hydroelectric company.
Thompson and Lily did not respond to requests for comment
Brown added: “We had a great interest from the political and business community due to the state of the country.”
Resolute 1850 is ” committed to providing practical, high quality policy research and recommendations that shape public discourse and inform decisions in the UK,” according to the group’s recent Skeleton website.
“Our mission is to promote stronger transatlantic relationships and more effective governance, and to promote positive change through data-driven insights.”
Former Tory Donor Mohamed Amersi is involved in a talk about the formation of think tanks ©Facundo Arrizabalga/EPA/Shutterstock
Mohamed Amerci, a former donor to Tory under Boris Johnson, fell along with the then Tory party chairman, who was involved in a meeting on the formation of a think tank, but he said he thought it should be reformed as a client.
The presentation presented ambitions for reforms to secure multiple donors from the American mass movement and religious conservatives.
The party’s “position requires more research, stress testing and revision,” and “the party needs an opinion on how it coordinates thatchait’s instincts of its many leadership with the statistical attitudes of voters.”
It also assumed that it would “oppose house buildings” as the first problem-based campaign that think tanks could run in 2026.
Brown said this element is misleading. “We are not opposed to housing construction at all,” he said, adding that the policy addressed concerns that workers would accelerate new home projects at marginal seats, as labor would affect the outcome of the upcoming election.
The intention was to “not simply import the American model without adaptation to the UK,” Brown said, but to learn lessons from the Atlantic. “The idea that we are British Magazines is not true,” he added.
