Reform UK’s top media presenter has worked for a Chinese state propaganda channel within the past year, the Guardian can reveal.
Ray Addison, who presents the political party’s in-house podcast and social media campaigns, fronted films about Xinjiang province – where the Chinese government is accused of committing genocide – for state media in September 2025.
In the videos, entitled Raymond’s Xinjiang Stories, some of which praise Chinese infrastructure, Addison described himself as a CGTN correspondent. The series was made after Addison left GB News in 2024, where he had worked as a news presenter and reporter.
Xinjiang province has attracted international attention because of alleged human rights abuses against the region’s Muslim Uyghur population by the Chinese state, including claims of forced labour, sterilisation, re-education and mass surveillance.
…
Addison’s work for China contrasts with the hard line Reform has taken on Chinese issues ranging from industrial relations to suspected Chinese state espionage within Westminster.
In a social media video posted by GB News in January, Nigel Farage said of the UK’s relationship with China: “I’m very, very nervous about the extent to which China has effectively spied on us, stolen many of our industrial secrets. I’m worried about the extent to which they’ve infiltrated, using money, British universities. We must be cautious about the relationship.”
The videos presented by Addison for CGTN are publicly available on YouTube and carry a warning stating that “CGTN is funded in whole or in part by the Chinese government”.
CGTN lost its licence to broadcast in the UK in 2021 after the regulator Ofcom determined it was ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist party.
…
Suella Braverman, [former Home Secretary and Conservative politician and] now a Reform MP, has also made public statements to this effect. On 14 January 2025, before she defected from the Conservative party to Reform, she posted on X: “China is committing genocide in Xinjiang, funding Putin’s war of aggression in Europe and has committed acts of cyber-terrorism against the British people.”
Addison is paid by Reform to produce content about the party and creates social media videos as well as presenting its The Reform UK Podcast. In recent days he has fronted the party’s social media promotion of its conference, which is being held in Birmingham.
…
friendly reminder that “propaganda” doesn’t mean something is true or false and this “ooga-booga propaganda” bullshit is meant to keep you in line. If propaganda is false, say it is false. If it’s true but misleading, explain how it’s misleading. And if it’s true but embarrassing, go fix your shit.
Is it true that the Chinese Communist Party detained Uyghurs in camps in Xinjiang, when they hadn’t committed real crimes? Is that just propaganda? Is it false? Can you prove that it’s false?
Would you consider hundreds of murders (of mainly the majority population of Xinjiang, which is... Uyghurs) in terrorist attacks by extremists of US/Saudi exported Wahabbism to be a crime?
How about being literally part of Al Quaeda and ISIS?
Oh wait that’s fine now, see the new Western-installed tyrant of Syria. Did you know he still had a multi-million dollar State Department bounty when he visited the White House?
How about a direct comparison with the tender mercies of the West
And before you complain, the ''''''''''East Turkestan'''''''''' ''''''''''Government in exile'''''''''' thinks it's a perfect analogy... though probably not in the way you imagine
Basically your imperial secret police (the CIA, MI6 etc.) tried to inject Saudi-style extremism into an Islamic culture it was alien to, that culture was defended by the most successful and least violent deradicalization campaign conducted anywhere ever, and when your loser death cult FAILED they switched to whining about it in your imperial propaganda rags. But it’s too late idiot! The Uyghurs are safe from you, they have education and jobs and high speed rail. Do you have high speed rail?
Oh yeah, you’re from the UK, why don’t you tell me about Shamima Begum.
The point that @robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net was making seems to have been that there is no “propaganda”, yet you’ve mentioned “imperial propaganda rags”.
So I was just wondering how someone from Hexbear would react when it comes to the issue of Uyghurs allegedly being detained in camps without having committed real crimes. The post I replied to said this:
If propaganda is false, say it is false. If it’s true but misleading, explain how it’s misleading.
So is the allegation of Uyghurs being detained without having committed real crimes “false”, or is it “true but misleading”?
oh no, there’s definitely propaganda. the critique was of how the guardian uses it and how most westerners have been taught the concept.
There’s a UN report from a couple years ago that we generally accept. China is by no means spotless but the extent of things is grossly exaggerated and what they did do to people is much better than the alternative models for handling violent extremism they could have done instead like bombing civilians and invading unrelated countries.
the emphasis on Uyghurs is propagandistic, similar “human rights abuses” occur elsewhere constantly by governments you aren’t frothed up to hate and you don’t give a shit because you haven’t been told to.
“propaganda” doesn’t mean something is true or false
Propaganda is inherently false, because it is produced in bad faith aiming to distort reality.
You constantly re-post articles critical of China. I’m sure you view this as some kind of valiant truth telling exercise regardless of the article’s source, and not spreading blatant and obvious anti-China propaganda?
Rules for thee and not for me!
See, that idea is itself misinformation. Propaganda is not a synonym for 'lies", and some of the most effective propaganda has been made in good faith while employing the unvarnished truth. Propaganda is more of a function than an entity, the act of consciously or unconsciously extolling a certain worldview. Not only is our “news” media propaganda but all the shows, movies, books and games we consumed growing up all serve a secondary propaganda function. There’s a reason the Department of War was so interested in funding those transformers movies back in the late 2000s. Propaganda is so much more varied, complex and interesting than simply “lies”.
You know better than linguists I suppose.
Reds in the bed propaganda, alongside nonsense Uyghur genocide claims? Good old anti-communist guardian doing its job of ring-fencing the allowable sets of opinions for the left to hold. All the while laundering the batshit idiocy of Tories like Suella Braverman! What a slam dunk of compatible left orthodoxy and behaviour.
Feel free to do your own research, you’ll find his name in all these propaganda outlets. This right-winger worked for the Chinese Communist Party, and he isn’t the only one …
Good for him? Work is hard to come by these days and if he has no scruples about who he is working for what can any one do? I’d say it’s more of a stain working for GB news personally.
You want me to believe that because someone did puff pieces for the equivalent of the BBC foreign language news in China that’s some kind of evidence of what? Espionage? Sedition?
We all know that this really means that the vile rhetoric from Farage and friends about China and what they will do in power to them is now clearly all bluster!! Because they hired one guy with a mercenary approach to working in the media!! Ya, get a grip.
The Chinese communist party has more credibility than anyone in the US or our lackey states, low bar but still
grifters gonna grift
