John Gill's promotion at Reform UK, just before the party launches its inaugural Business Day at its September NEC conference, is indicative of how the party is ramping up its "business engagement" with Great Britain PLC.
John Gill has been promoted from senior press officer to a newly created role of Deputy Director of External Affairs at Reform UK where he will be working closely with Matthew MacKinnon, director of external affairs and also Katie Lewis.
The promotion comes shortly before Reform launch their first Business Day – and “Business Gala Dinner with Nigel Farage” on Thursday 3rd September – the day before Reform’s two-day conference at the NEC in Birmingham.
Gill has worked for Nigel Farage and his senior team for many years in various press and comms roles since 2013. His new brief will be to increase the party’s “business engagement” with Great Britain PLC, including engaging with FTSE businesses and all leading business sectors (from energy to defence), trade and professional associations, charities and universities.
“Political journalists are some of the sharpest people you will ever meet and have taught me more than I care to mention”
His role, according to Reform, is also to build and assemble a network of industry experts within key industry sectors to provide input (what deputy leader Richard Tice has referred to as “industry home-work”) and policy suggestions to Reform’s policy-making unit which is headed by academic James Orr, who is a senior adviser to Farage.
Gill began his career as an assistant media and internal communications officer at National Savings & Investments before working for Byfield Consultancy and then joining UKIP in 2013.
Gill’s promotion is indicative of how Reform has been prioritizing its engagement with leading UK businesses and trade bodies since leading the polls and its sweeping wins in the local elections of 2025 (when Reform broke through with taking control of 10 councils) and 2026. With Reform now controlling 24 councils, UK businesses and other stakeholders have been increasing their lobbying of the party, MacKinnon saw this as an opportunity to set up a new External Affairs Unit to deal with increased business interest.
Gill has spent most of his career as a Press Officer, most notably for UKIP in the run up to and during the 2016 EU Referendum and then briefly for the Brexit Party’s successful European Elections campaign in 2019. “Being on the winning side of the 2016 EU Referendum is pretty hard to beat” Gill tells The Mace.
Gill likes to quote a favourite maxim of Ronald Reagan: “There’s no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit”
After 2017, he took a break from politics and by 2021 had ended up in the Press Office for UK Finance, the UK’s leading trade association for the financial services sector. “Whilst there my then senior colleagues soon recognised that my experiences and network would suit me well in public affairs and gave me the opportunity to switch away from the Press Office, giving me my first real taste of policy-led advocacy work. Something for which I am still incredibly grateful for.”
He then returned to media relations for a Press Office role with Reform from February 2025 onwards which he describes as “an intensely busy and successful period for the party” travelling the country – often by battle bus – with the Westminster press pack as Reform’s senior leadership team hosted press events from Dover to Dudley.
Gill also been on hand to help manage press relations at various by-elections across the country, from Clacton this month to the parliamentary seat of Runcorn and in 2025 where he managed the press for Sarah Pochin’s victory.
Commenting to PRWeek about his new role with Reform’s external affairs team, Gill said: “Working with the Westminster press pack has been an honour. Political journalists are some of the sharpest people you will ever meet, and they’ve kept me on my toes for the past decade, and taught me more than I care to mention.”
“They’re relentless, endlessly curious and almost impossible to dodge. That’s exactly what makes them so good at their jobs, and it’s why I’m looking forward to seeing many of them socially rather than with a notebook in hand.”
He added: “I am now looking forward to returning to my other area of expertise, working with businesses and helping strengthen communication and understanding between policymakers and wealth creators ahead of the next general election.
Quick-fire Mace Q & A
Any career/life advice that has ever stuck?
A former colleague of mine once steered me towards a maxim of Ronald Reagan’s which has stuck with me ever since, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”
Favourite binge watching?
Succession, which was so well put together and is centred at the intersection of politics, media and the business world, which is where I’ve ended up.
Classic film for Westminster escapism?
The 1973 adaption of The Three Musketeers with Michael York, Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch, Charlton Heston, Christopher Lee, and even Spike Milligan. I watched and rewatched it countless times on video when I was growing up.
Any historical figure, political or otherwise, who has inspired you?
He’s still with us so not yet historical but my grandfather, former Ludlow MP Christopher Gill, who was one of the Maastricht Rebels, continues to be a source of inspiration to me.
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