Statement

In the period 22nd January 2026 to 11th July 2026, JL Partners was in a commercial client relationship with an entity, IL Office LLC. This entity paid for three pieces of opinion research work during that time.

We were given to understand that IL Office LLC, which was originally introduced to JL Partners by figures in Reform UK, was the family office of a UK-based philanthropist, William Lockwood. As an opinion research firm that conducts extensive polling on current affairs, we maintain good relations with various political parties, both in Britain and abroad and, in that context, sometimes people with a party alignment make suggestions about potential clients who may be interested in commissioning and paying for polling.

Although JL Partners was aware that a relationship existed between IL Office LLC and Reform UK, we were not informed of the precise nature, extent or duration of that relationship, nor would we expect to be given details of that kind. However, we understood that their relationship was regarded as private, and we respected that. There appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary about IL Office LLC and we found Mr Lockwood to be an engaging and well informed individual. In short, we had no grounds for concern.

The polls paid for by IL Office LLC were conducted to the same high standard of professionalism as all the work produced by JL Partners. The research and methodology were robust and we have every confidence in the accuracy of the results.

Like most pollsters, JL Partners has an ongoing programme of media engagement to publicise our output. As part of that, we approached newspapers and offered the finished IL Office LLC-funded polls to them on an exclusive basis. It was a straightforward process: the findings were newsworthy; the papers in question agreed; and several articles appeared subsequently.

For JL Partners, this is routine work. Some polls are commissioned in-house while others are commissioned by clients. Our usual practice is to inform a media partner when a poll has been commissioned by a particular client. In the case of the polls that IL Office LLC had paid for, we did not offer that information proactively. While there is no legal requirement to do so, it was a lapse of judgement that was not consistent with the approved procedures of JL Partners or with rule 2.1 of guidelines of the British Polling Council, of which JL Partners is a member.

JL Partners only became fully aware of this issue when we discovered that although the client whose payments we received in good faith was indeed an entity called IL Office LLC, this was, in fact, a specially constructed front, that the man calling himself ‘William Lockwood’ was, in reality, an undercover journalist and, insofar as we can tell, the whole exercise was paid for by, and used the resources of, a climate campaign group.

The matter was further complicated by the revelation that JL Partners was not in fact the principal target of the investigation which was, it now appears, Reform UK.

As one of Britain’s leading opinion research companies, JL Partners holds itself to high standards and, for that reason, we immediately contacted the British Polling Council and informed its officers that it was our judgement that we had breached rule 2.1. They concurred and we are now working with the BPC to agree the best and most transparent way to update the client description on the relevant data tables, provide additional information as well as take any remedial action they may advise. In addition, JL Partners is conducting an internal review of our procedures with the intention of tightening them to strengthen our safeguards for the future.

For more information, please contact: media@jlpartners.co.uk