LONDON — Questions are swirling around the British polling industry — and piling up for the company implicated in a Reform UK party scandal that prompted the resignation of two senior party aides. The scandal hinged on donations from undercover reporters posing as a wealthy American benefactor and his son that were used to pay for a real set of high-impact polls that were released without disclosing the funding source. These polls were carried out by the influential opinion research firm JL Partners, which has become a fixture of the British polling landscape since it was founded seven years ago by James Johnson, who served as an adviser to Theresa May when she was prime minister.
Since the sting video first aired last week, former employees and clients of JL Partners have told POLITICO that the company carried out other polls where the funder was not declared — while similar lapses have occurred at other well-known British polling companies. Rules set out by the British Polling Council, the industry watchdog, specify that all research carried out by pollsters which enters the public domain “must include reference to the… client commissioning the survey” as well as dates, methodology and sample size. JL Partners did not respond to requests for comment on these fresh claims.
The company told Channel 4 News in response to the report about their work for Reform UK last week: “Despite there being no concern about the accuracy of our work, the report did reveal weaknesses in our procedures.” The British Polling Council said in a statement about the Channel 4 News report that it was “clear there have been breaches” of the watchdog’s rules, adding: “We are seeking further information from the BPC member concerned.” Reform UK denies any wrongdoing in relation to the sting, which is now under investigation by the Met Police. Johnson’s firm conducted polls on three occasions during the Tory leadership elections in 2022 and 2024 which received press coverage without disclosing who paid for them either in the media reports or in the company’s published tables. JL Partners conducted internal research for Rishi Sunak’s 2022 bid for the leadership and Tom Tugendhat’s 2024 campaign and Johnson had personal ties to both camps, according to two people linked to the pollster and three people linked the Conservative Party, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Two of these people went further, and claimed allies of the candidates had arranged polls without it ever being disclosed. These polls produced positive findings for the candidates in question and were subsequently shared with the media, the same people said. There is no suggestion the findings were manipulated.
An ally of Sunak denied that his campaign had commissioned the poll in question. Tugendhat declined to comment. A JL Partners poll conducted in 2022, which was picked up by the Telegraph, showed Rishi Sunak was rated most highly by Tory voters asked who would make a good prime minister, but did not mention who was behind the poll.
A person familiar with the Telegraph’s publication process said they didn’t have any record of being given any more information than what was published. Another survey carried out by JL Partners in 2024, covered by the Daily Express, quoted Johnson as saying it was “a good poll for Suella Braverman and Tom Tugendhat” without any mention of who commissioned it. Reach PLC declined to comment on behalf of the Express.
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