Turning Point UK

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Not to be confused with Turning Point (charity).

Turning Point UK
Turning Point UK logo.svg
AbbreviationTPointUK
Formation1 February 2019; 2 years ago (2019-02-01)
TypeNonprofit organisation
Region served
United Kingdom
Websitetpointuk.co.uk

Turning Point UK (TPUK) is a British offshoot of Turning Point USA,[1][2] set up to promote right-wing politics in UK schools, colleges and universities, ostensibly to counter what Turning Point alleges are the left-wing politics of UK educational institutions.[3][4] From its inception, the organisation and its leading members have been the subject of widespread popular ridicule.[5]

Overview[]

Turning Point UK's chairman was George Farmer[6] until April 2019, and its CEO was Ollie Anisfeld until 2021 (the son of Lance Forman, former Brexit Party MEP for London).[7][8] The group employs several staff.[9]

According to the Oxford University newspaper Cherwell, 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 of Sussex, Oxford, St Andrews, York, Warwick, Nottingham, King's College London, University College London, the London School of Economics and the University of the Arts London.[9] Like Turning Point USA, it does not disclose the identities of its donors.[9]

The group was launched in December 2018[9] by Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, and Candace Owens, then the communications director of the US group,[10] at the Royal Automobile Club in London.[9] Among those attending the event were Andy Wigmore, Paul Joseph Watson, and James Delingpole.[9] On the day of its social media launch in February 2019, MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel tweeted supportive messages for the organisation, as did Nigel Farage[11] while it was marked for criticism by others.[6] and 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'.[12][13] There was also a protest from the charity Turning Point over potential confusion caused by similarities between the two names.[5]

Labour MP David Lammy has 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".[14]

Dominique Samuels, one of the group's "Young Influencers", told the BBC during a radio interview that the UK branch would not set up the same controversial Professor Watchlist for which its US counterpart is known.[5] The group hosts the TPUK Education Watch website, where students can submit examples of political bias in the education system. The site has been described by the University 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.[15][16]

References[]

  1. ^ Grant, Madeline (7 February 2019). "The backlash against Turning Point UK rather proves its point; it's hard being a conservative on campus". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Tory MPs voice support for new UK branch of 'sinister' right-wing US group". The Independent. 4 February 2019. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Turning Point UK May Make Politics On Campus More Bitter And Polarised Than Ever Before". HuffPost. 5 February 2019. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  4. ^ "The UK launch of right-wing youth group Turning Point is going about as well as expected". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "The battle over Britain's newest student movement". BBC News. 9 February 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Barnes, Luke (4 February 2019). "Turning Point USA launches British chapter to rocky reception". ThinkProgress. Archived from the original on 8 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  7. ^ "Turning Point UK: Jacob Rees-Mogg and Tory MPs support new branch of 'sinister' right-wing US group" Archived 17 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 4 February 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019
  8. ^ "The free-market youth movement that behaves like Apple" Archived 20 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine, The Spectator, 11 March 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f van der Merwe, Ben (28 January 2019). "Right-wing dark money comes to Oxford student politics". Cherwell. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  10. ^ "Turning Point's UK launch beset by memes". The Daily Dot. 4 February 2019. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  11. ^ Walker, Peter (4 February 2019). "Tory MPs back youth group with apparent links to US far right". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  12. ^ Waters, Lowenna (5 February 2019). "Turning Point's UK Twitter launch has gotten off to an exceedingly bad start". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  13. ^ Volpicelli, Gian (6 February 2019). "How an army of farcical fakes ruined Turning Point UK's big day". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2019 – via www.wired.co.uk.
  14. ^ Brown, David (6 February 2019). "Right-wing student leader Charlie Kirk will tour UK universities". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.(subscription required)
  15. ^ Hazell, Will (2 March 2020). "Right-wing student group Turning Point UK accused of 'McCarthyism'". inews.co.uk. The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  16. ^ "Education Watch FAQ". Turning Point UK. Archived from the original on 4 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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