Jukes, who began handling communications for the former UKIP leader in January, tweeted a photo of him standing side by side with Watson in front of the map backdrop the conspiracy theorist uses for his videos. Jukes has since “pinned” the tweet to the top of his profile.
Watson creates content for his own YouTube channel and for the Prison Planet website, as well as for the fake news site InfoWars.com. InfoWars is run by the right wing firebrand Alex Jones, described as “the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Watson himself has made a career of promoting conspiracy theories around US government involvement in 9/11, the existence of chemtrails and the link between vaccines and autism. He first attracted widespread attention in 2016 for his key role in popularising the “Is Hillary Dying” hoax, suggesting the presidential candidate Hillary Clinton might have syphilis, brain damage, a tumor, a degenerative disease, autism and Parkinson’s disease. He also claimed she was a drug abuser. His videos on the topic were viewed millions of times and were even picked up and discussed by Fox News.
The selective nature of the conspiracies promoted by Watson are motivated by a far-right position. Specifically his commentary emphasises a Western chauvinist, conservative, and right-libertarian political stance, and criticises left-liberal positions (primarily) on gender, Islam, race and immigration. Watson eschews interaction with mainstream media for frequent interactions with key “alt-light” figures such as Mike Cernovich, Lauren Southern and Gavin McInnes, although Watson describes himself as “new right”.
Also snapped with Watson this weekend was Caolan Robertson of the alt-light “counter-jihad” website The Rebel Media. Robertson has recently gained a degree of notoriety as the sidekick of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson). Jukes has also recently begun interacting with Robertson on social media.
Jukes is a rising star within UKIP, having held the post of Elections Officer for UKIP’s Young Independence (YI) youth wing, a group tarnished after the common use of antisemitic, racist and sexist trolling and the use of alt-right terminology on the group’s Facebook page was revealed. Jukes then became UKIP’s Digital Manager, playing a key role in honing the party’s public image.
Jukes was also involved in Leave.EU, the unofficial Brexit campaign run by UKIP’s former financial donor Arron Banks with Farage as its figurehead. Leave.EU mercilessly exploited fears around immigration with Trump-style aggressive, emotional campaigning and an open disdain for facts.
The fact that Farage’s spin-doctor is openly associating with far-right fake news pushers such as Watson should be considered deeply worrying for anyone concerned with veracity in politics.
A Reform Party candidate fantasised about deporting “millions” of British citizens to “rid itself of the foreign plague we have been diseased with”. UPDATE: Reform…
