 | |
| Abbreviation | TPointUK |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1 February 2019; 6 years ago (2019-02-01) |
| Type | Nonprofit organisation |
| Location |
|
President | Marco Longhi |
| Affiliations | UK Independence Party,Turning Point USA |
| Website | tpointuk |
Turning Point UK (TPUK) is a British offshoot of the American student pressure groupTurning Point USA.[1] The UK group was set up to promoteright-wing politics in UK schools, colleges and universities, with the stated aim of countering what Turning Point UK alleges are theleft-wing politics of UK educational institutions.[2] The close similarity of Turning Point UK's rhetoric and target demographic to that ofGeneration Identity, a continental European group with racist andIslamophobic intentions, has been noted by scholars ofhate studies and thefar-right.[3]
Turning Point UK describes its objectives as promoting "the values of free markets, limited government and personal responsibility". It says it does this to counter what it alleges is "a dogmatic left-wing political climate, education system and radical Labour Party" which, Turning Point UK claims, "sympathises with terrorists [and] wishes to disarm the nation".[4]
The group was launched in December 2018[5] byCharlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, andCandace Owens, then the communications director of the US group,[6] at theRoyal Automobile Club in London.[5] On the day of its social media launch in February 2019, someConservative MPs includingJacob Rees-Mogg andPriti Patel tweeted supportive messages for the group.[7][8] Labour MPDavid Lammy stated that the launch and its Tory support were evidence that the Conservative Party "openly promotes hard-right, xenophobic bile".[9] From its inception, the organisation and its leading members were the subject of widespread popular ridicule. It was described by theBBC as "a tsunami of online mockery".[10][11] In 2021,Nick Tenconi became its Chief Operating Officer and its focus shifted from influencing the Conservative movement to street protests.
The group was launched in December 2018[5] byCharlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, andCandace Owens, then the communications director of the US group,[6] at theRoyal Automobile Club in London.[5] Among those attending the event wereAndy Wigmore,Paul Joseph Watson,James Delingpole and filmmakerAmanda Eliasch (a follower ofDavid Icke).[5][12][13] The event was hosted byJohn Mappin, a hotel owner andQAnon supporter.[14]
On the day of its social media launch in February 2019, MPs includingJacob Rees-Mogg andPriti Patel tweeted supportive messages for the organisation, as didNigel Farage,[7] while it was marked for criticism by others.[8] From its inception, the organisation and its leading members were the subject of widespread popular ridicule on the social networking serviceTwitter. The ridicule continued for at least a week. It was described by theBBC as "a tsunami of online mockery".[10][11] The launch of its Twitter account was accompanied by multiple parody accounts, along with a parody of the organisation's website created by a 'left-leaning student' calling himself 'Skeptical Seventh'.[15][16] There was also a protest from the charityTurning Point over potential confusion caused by similarities between the two names.[10]
Turning Point UK's chairman wasGeorge Farmer[8][12] until April 2019.[citation needed] Farmer was Candace Owens' fiancee, a Conservative Party donor, the son of a Conservative peer, and was close to far right activistPaul Joseph Watson ofconspiracy theory websiteInfowars.[7][12] Until 2021 its CEO was Ollie Anisfeld (the son ofLance Forman, formerBrexit PartyMEP forLondon).[12] At its launch in 2019 the group had employed several full-time staff.[5]
In June 2019, it held a £180-a-head fundraising dinner hosted byFerzana Barclay, wife ofDaily Telegraph ownerAidan Barclay. This was attended by Nigel Farage, artistAmanda Eliasch,Brexit Party chairRichard Tice, antisemitic conspiracy theorist John Mappin, Brexit Party candidateLance Forman, and punditToby Young.[17][18][19]
According to theOxford University newspaperCherwell in early 2019, the group "claims to already have chapters at eight universities". The group's then chairman George Farmer told the paper they had chapters at the universities ofSussex,Oxford,St Andrews,York,Warwick,Nottingham,King's College London,University College London, theLondon School of Economics and theUniversity of the Arts London.[5] Like Turning Point USA, it does not disclose the identities of its donors.[5]
In 2019, Labour MPDavid Lammy described Turning Point UK as evidence that "sinister forces are taking hold of our country" and that the Conservative Party "openly promotes hard-right, xenophobic bile".[9] The scholarChris Allen, of the Centre for Hate Studies atLeicester University, has written that while the group is linked to Turning Point USA, which Allen notes has been linked to the far-right, the UK group does not fit traditional conceptions of thefar-right. Allen notes the group's closely similar rhetoric and demographic toGeneration Identity, a continental European group whose intentions are racist andIslamophobic.[3]
Dominique Samuels, one of the group's "Young Influencers", told theBBC during a radio interview that the UK branch would not set up the same controversialProfessor Watchlist for which its US counterpart is known.[10] Samuels later became a GBNews host.[19] The group hosts theTPUK Education Watch website, where students can submit examples of political bias in the education system. The site has been described by theUniversity and College Union as having "the acrid whiff of McCarthyism about it" after it called for videos and photos of lecturers to be sent into it for publication. Turning Point UK rejected the accusation and said that any academic they featured would be given the right to reply and that unlike the US group the default would not be to name people although they reserved the right to do so.[20][21]
The Chief Operating Officer until November 2021 was Jack Ross, who then co-directed a group called Reasoned with right wing activistDarren Grimes.[22] In 2021,Reading-based personal trainerNick Tenconi[23] tweeted that he had taken over as COO.[24][better source needed] As of 2024, its president is Conservative Party activistMarco Longhi.[25] Tenconi was reported to have attempted to broker aReform UK candidate to stand aside on Longhi's behalf in the2024 United Kingdom general election,[25] while also stepping up from deputy leader to interim leader ofUKIP.[26]
According toHope Not Hate, "following the addition of COO Nick Tenconi to the group, it appears to be in the process of reinventing itself as a street-protest organiser, taking a key role in the demonstrations against drag queen storytelling sessions in 2022 and 2023".[27]
On 25 February 2023, Turning Point UK held a protest inLewisham, London, against adrag queen event at the "Honor Oak" pub. Writers for the left-wing outletNovara Media wrote on the protest, noting that the Turning Point UK activists were greatly outnumbered by counter protestors who supported the drag queen event, and the Turning Point UK activist's protest was then confined hundreds of meters away from the pub.[28] Both thePinkNews andSouthwark News also reported on the number of pro-drag queen counter-protestors vastly outnumbering the Turning Point UK activists.[29][30]
Turning Point UK held another protest outside the Honor Oak in June, in which three people were arrested, and one trans activist was photographed with blood pouring down their face.[31][32] Turning Point UK then made posts onTwitter which implied that the activist had faked their injuries.[33][32]
On 10 March 2023, Turning Point UK staged a protest inEast Dulwich against an allegedDrag Queen Story Hour outside a pub called "The Great Exhibition."[34] However, the queen event that Turning Point UK was protesting did not exist and the pub was empty during the protest.[34] The protest was based on an outdated advertisement for a drag queen event had already happened the year prior in 2022.[34] Turning Point UK said that there had been a cover-up, and that the pub had deleted one of their drag queen advertisements.[30] The Turning Point UK protest was counter-protested by both LGBT and anti-fascist activists.[34] Turning Point UK's protest against a non-existent drag queen show was mocked by a writer forNovara Media.[28][importance?]
During theGaza war, TPUK co-organised a demonstration onRemembrance Day in November 2023, ostensibly to protect theCenotaph from potential desecration by pro-Palestine protesters, a demonstration that culminated in far-right protesters fighting police.[27]
Tenconi was involved in the2024 United Kingdom riots against migrants. On 8 August inAldershot, he led a small crowd in chanting “invaders out, close off borders, invaders out” outside a hotel housingasylum seekers.[23]
In 2024, according toHope not Hate, TPUK was reported to have connections with right-wingfootball hooligan groups including thePie and Mash Squad and theDemocratic Football Lads Alliance.[27]
In 2024, TPUK signed a “patriot declaration” with anti-migrant groupPatriots of Britain,Students Against Tyranny (a youth organisation emerging from theCOVID conspiracy theory scene) and Antifa Public Watch (a far-right social media operation) .[27] Tenconi spoke at a conference organised byTommy Robinson in January 2025, and called for the detention and deportation of “all Islamists” and “all migrants who are here to colonise”.[27]
TPUK participated in the summer2025 British anti-immigration protests. At one protest in Portsmouth the COO was accused of doing aNazi salute.[35]
