‘Keir Starmer Needs You!’: Tories launches Facebook page targeting Reform voters

Support truly
independent journalism

Support Now

Find out moreClose

Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.

Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.

Louise Thomas

Editor

The Conservative Party has launched a Facebook page named “Keir Starmer needs you”, specifically targeting Reform voters.

The Facebook page is being used by the Tories to launch World War I-style advertisements featuring Keir Starmer. The party has spent more than £20,000 on the ads since they were launched on 13 June, according to non-profit Who Targets Me.

The Meta (Facebook) ads feature a video of a WWI-era army poster replaced with Labour leader Keir Starmer’s face. The videos are captioned “Keir Starmer needs YOU to vote for Reform and give him a blank cheque”.

The videos end with the words: “Don’t risk Labour for the rest of your life”, before a call for Reform voters to vote Conservative.

Analysis by Who Targets Me found that the ad has been mostly viewed by over-55s, and overwhelmingly by men.

Sam Jeffers, co-founder of Who Targets Me, explains that the Tories’ campaigning has been primarily negative and attack-focused.

“The Conservative digital campaign is currently overwhelmingly negative, going so far as to create entirely separate accounts to run attack ads in order to keep those messages away from the Tory brand and cut through to voters,” he said.

“Each week of the campaign to date, their messaging has pushed their dire warnings a little further, to the extent that in the last few days, many of their ads seem to suggest that, if you don’t vote Tory, Labour won’t just win, but will be in power forever.”

The Independent has looked into the cost of all of the main parties’ social media campaigns, and you can read more about that here.