According to AFP reporting on August 16 local time, the new British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, is significantly changing the way information is disseminated in Downing Street. He is actively using platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to share short videos, collaborating with internet influencers, and inviting young content creators to participate in Prime Minister's events. For this reason, he has been referred to by British media as the "first TikTok Prime Minister".
Here, “first name” is not entirely accurate. Bernam’s predecessor, Stommer, also had a TikTok account, and the British government has been active on this platform much earlier. What makes Bernam unique is that he no longer treats short videos as an ancillary to traditional press releases. Instead, he packages policies according to the platform’s logic, creates personas, and competes for voters directly.
The results came quickly. In the first week of Bernam's tenure, TikTok followers increased from less than 99,000 to over 170,000, a growth of about 73%. The video announcing the limit on bus fares at £2 received over 2 million views, and videos introducing his first five achievements received approximately 5 million views. The video in which he, along with Chancellor of the Exchequer John Sheely, tasted snacks at a bar while discussing tax cuts for the catering industry also received 4.7 million views on the X platform.
Bernam is so eager to step down, primarily because the 'algorithmic power' of British politics has long been in the hands of Nigel Farage.
As of early August, Farage has around 2.3 million followers on X, 1.5 million on TikTok, and 1 million on Instagram. Over the years, he has turned discussions about immigration, crime, and cultural conflicts into emotionally charged, strongly positioned short videos, and has marketed himself using language associated with bars, beer, and ordinary people. The Reform Party not only overwhelmed the Labour Party on these platforms but also managed to turn this advantage in dissemination into a lead in public opinion for over a year.
During Sturgeon's time, things were quite the opposite: policy expressions became bureaucratic, and short-video accounts were filled with blunt speeches and scattered memes. Voters may not know exactly what the government has done, but they can constantly see Farage telling them “what’s wrong with Britain.” For the Labour party, short videos are no longer just about image building; they are a matter of political survival.
Bernham’s response isn’t to be angrier than Farage, but rather to create a “positive populist message”: wearing dark-colored T-shirts, talking about football and bars, joking about one’s appearance, and then slipping in energy taxes, bus fares, and tax cuts for the restaurant industry into these lighthearted scenarios. He is competing with the same voters who have lost patience with traditional politics, but he offers a sense of affinity, not a list of enemies.
This strategy seems to have brought political benefits. One week after Bernam took office, Survation polls showed the Labour Party’s support rising to 26%, surpassing the Reform Party’s 24%; before Stomer resigned, both parties had 19% and 27% support, respectively. Other polls also indicated that the Labour Party has caught up or surpassed the Reform Party in terms of support. However, this rebound could be attributed not only to the effect of a new leader and policy measures for the public welfare, but also to TikTok.
What is truly notable is that the chain of transmission has reversed. In the past, politicians first gave interviews to television and newspapers, with social media taking over for dissemination. Now, the prime minister creates vertical-screen videos first, and traditional media reports on the number of views and online reactions to those videos. The place where politicians first reach voters has changed from news studios to mobile phone message streams.
But algorithms can create a sense of closeness, but they cannot reduce the waiting time in hospitals. Popular videos can explain public transportation pricing restrictions, but they cannot hide the economic stagnation and the pressure of living costs. There are about three years left until the next election, and Bernam has already shown that the Labour Party can enter Farage’s control zone. Now it must be proven that the promises made in short videos can be fulfilled in reality.
The UK elections haven’t even started yet, but the campaigning has already made its way onto every vertical smartphone screen.
