Status: 🔴 UK polling firm that the British Polling Council says may have committed “deliberate breaches” of its rules by concealing who commissioned polls secretly funded by a foreign source; the same firm that conducted Sex Matters’ March 2026 poll
JL Partners (stylised “J.L. Partners”) is a British political polling and research firm. It was founded by James Johnson, a former Senior Opinion Research and Strategy Adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May, and Tom Lubbock, a former Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) pollster. The firm is a member of the British Polling Council (BPC), the polling industry’s self-regulation body.[1]
On 3 September 2026, Channel 4 News and Verbatim (an investigative group founded by journalists from the Centre for Climate Reporting) broadcast undercover footage revealing that senior Reform UK figures — including James Orr, the party’s Head of Policy, and Dan Jukes, a close aide to Nigel Farage — had arranged for a US company to secretly fund three polls that Reform UK had commissioned, all conducted by JL Partners.[2][3]
The three polls cost £32,500 in total:
The newspapers were not told that Reform UK had commissioned the polls. The US company that paid was in fact controlled by the undercover reporters.[3:1]
The investigation documented party figures describing the arrangement in their own words:[3:2]
The British Polling Council’s rules require members to publicly declare who has commissioned their polls. A BPC spokesperson said of the findings:[3:3]
“From the information provided to us by Channel 4 News, it appears there may have been deliberate breaches of this rule. We will be seeking further information from the BPC member concerned.”
JL Partners’ own spokesperson acknowledged the exposé revealed failures:[3:4]
“Despite there being no concern about the accuracy of our work, the report did reveal weaknesses in our procedures. For that reason JL Partners is reviewing those procedures in order to eliminate possible grey areas and ambiguities and strengthen our safeguards for the future.”
The Telegraph suspended the relevant articles and said it would “review our future relationship with this polling company, as we believe we have been misled.” The Times said it “was not made aware of Reform’s involvement in commissioning and arranging payment of the poll.”[3:5]
Bob Posner, former Chief Executive of the UK Electoral Commission, said there should now be a criminal investigation, describing the facilitation of the poll payments as “shocking”: “[it’s] against the law and the evasion of the rules… these are serious criminal offences.”[2:1]
The Electoral Commission said: “Information about any potential attempt to evade the controls on donations is for the police to consider.”[3:6]
Reform UK has been reported to police over the allegations, and two Reform officials stepped down.[4][5]
JL Partners conducted Sex Matters’ March 2026 poll, asking a nationally representative sample of 1,500 UK adults thirteen questions about single-sex toilets and changing rooms. The results were published and promoted by Sex Matters to advance its campaign against trans people using single-sex spaces. This is confirmed on Sex Matters’ own website.[6]
JL Partners has multiple documented links to Onward, a right-wing think tank:
Onward has hosted anti-trans figures at its events. At its 7 October 2025 event, “After the Supreme Court Ruling: What next for sex-based rights?”, the listed speakers included Maya Forstater (CEO, Sex Matters) and Kate Barker-Mawjee (CEO, LGB Alliance), alongside Miriam Cates, Cath Leng, Neil O’Brien OBE MP, and Caroline Elsom.[9]
This establishes a documented, if indirect, chain: JL Partners (via co-founder James Johnson and Director Guy Miscampbell) is connected to Onward, which in turn platforms the leadership of both Sex Matters and the LGB Alliance.
Companies House records for JL Partners’ original LLP (OC428349, dissolved 2021) list only two persons with significant control: James Johnson and Tom Lubbock, both British nationals resident in the United Kingdom. No American or Christian investor appears in the public ownership record. The claim that JL Partners is “linked to American Christian investors” is not supported by any verifiable public source.[10]
The relevance to this wiki is the convergence: a polling firm that — per the BPC — appears to have committed “deliberate breaches” of polling-disclosure rules by helping conceal the foreign-funded commissioning of politically influential polls, is the same firm producing public-opinion polling for Sex Matters.
The question the exposé raises for the anti-trans network is whether polling that shapes public debate on trans rights is being conducted and funded with the same lack of transparency that Channel 4 documented — a question that remains open rather than answered.
Mark Pack — JL Partners profile (founders, BPC membership) ↩︎
Channel 4 News — “Exclusive: Nigel Farage filmed undercover celebrating secret new foreign donations” (3 Sept 2026) ↩︎ ↩︎
Channel 4 News Substack — full investigation text ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Independent — “Reform officials step down after allegations of donation rules breach” (4 Sept 2026) ↩︎
BBC — “Two Reform UK Officials Step Down after Channel 4 Report” (4 Sept 2026) ↩︎
Sex Matters — “Sex Matters poll results March 2026” (JL Partners poll) ↩︎
Onward — “After the fall: Where the Conservatives went wrong” (poll designed by James Johnson and Tom Lubbock of JL Partners) ↩︎
JL Partners — About (Guy Miscampbell bio notes prior Research Fellowship at Onward) ↩︎
Onward — “After the Supreme Court Ruling: What next for sex-based rights?” event (7 Oct 2025; speakers include Maya Forstater and Kate Barker-Mawjee) ↩︎
Companies House — JL PARTNERS LLP (OC428349) persons with significant control ↩︎