The think tank was set up by mining tycoons David Lilley and Mark Thompson
A MAGA-style think tank with ties to Reform UK has already secured £1 million in pledged donations and started hiring staff, according to the Financial Times.
The think tank has also set up an office in Millbank Tower, Westminster.
The group, named Resolute 1850, is seeking donations from “US donors from MAGA, Tech, Religious conservatives,” and will be used to help Reform strengthen its policy platform.
According to records on Companies House, Resolute 1850 has three directors: Jonathan Brown, Reform UK’s former chief operating officer, former Tory donor David Lilley and Mark Thompson, an investor in metals and fossil fuels.
Lilley, who is a metals trader, donated over £250,000 to Reform UK last year.
Brown, chief executive of the group, told the FT that the think tank plans to work with multiple clients. “We are not simply a Reform think-tank,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white so long as it catches mice.”
According to Politics Home, Resolute 1850 may be launched as early as this spring.
A leaked presentation shared with the FT outlines the group’s research focuses, which include helping right-wing parties win in Parliament and working to “roll back the quangocracy and DEI agenda”.
The think tank also aims to “unlock the potential of private enterprise and roll back the state,” while promoting “realistic climate policy” and “realistic and restrained immigration policy”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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