Thomas Skinner: from TV star to 'Britain's most influential political figure'

Former "Apprentice" contestant Thomas Skinner has been announced as one of the celebrities taking part in the next series of "Strictly Come Dancing". But while a stint on "Strictly" seems like a natural step for a reality TV star, the 34-year-old from Essex has also been making headlines in a very different arena: politics.

Just days ago, Skinner – famed for his social media videos and "bosh" catchphrase – was among the guests at an exclusive barbecue in the Cotswolds hosted by US Vice President J.D. Vance.

Arthurian myth

Skinner’s presence at the vice president's holiday barbecue would once have seemed "improbable", said The Telegraph, but the former market trader may now be "Britain's most influential political figure", despite the fact he "rarely says anything political".

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Although he "sounds ambivalent" on the question of entering politics himself, politicos "from across the spectrum" are "seeking to hitch their wagons to him": the "philosophy of bosh may be where we’re heading".

Skinner's political beliefs have begun to "emerge" through his social media posts, said Cockburn on The Spectator World. He's said he thinks Donald Trump is "brilliant", that Sadiq Khan has "ruined" London, and that environmental protesters are "ruining people's lives".

In today's fraught political climate, Skinner's "broad, cheerful demeanour" is as "welcome as an ice-cold pint of lager on a warm summer's day", said Simon Evans on Spiked. He "recalls an earlier, healthier, more confident Englishman"; an "avatar of that stubborn Arthurian myth, of the sleepers under the hill that will awake in England's direst need".

Perhaps there's "an element of artifice" in his "presentation of himself to the world" as a "perennial British type", said UnHerd. But he nonetheless represents a "large but neglected demographic: the old aspirational working and middle class", who are "often culturally conservative, patriotic" and "tough on law and order".

Grafter to grifter?

When Skinner spoke at the right-wing Now and England conference in June, his speech was "simple, stirring, populist stuff", said Nicholas Harris in The New Statesman. He confirmed he's "thinking about giving it a go in politics", but "in so many ways, he's already there". Dominic Cummings has "offered his services" to Skinner and the "reactionary right" have "sniffed out a new champion in their battle against the libs".

But "Esoteric Skinnerism" is "not a programme, or even a politics", said Tom Jones on The Critic. It's just a "vibe – admittedly an attractive one – of unapologetically patriotic blokeishness", an "endless repeating of the gestures of common sense and national pride", with "no real political content behind them".

When Skinner was on "The Apprentice" in 2019, "I was a fan", said Adam Miller in Metro, but in recent months there's been a "deliberate use of misinformation" designed to "stoke culture wars". His fans – the "Bosh army" – are what "really scares me", loyally "jumping to his defence when lefty lunatics challenge the conspiracy theories he casually shares".

There is potential for Skinner to become a "dangerously influential figure", and his "flirtations" with Reform UK have "real impact": creating "more division" in a country he "claims he wants to unite".