Led By Donkeys

1. 1

   January 2019. The British group Led By Donkeys starts putting pro-Brexit politicians' own words on billboards.

2. 2

   Then came Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, on billboards, projections and giant banners.

3. 3

   £499,000 from 16,492 people, by November 2019 alone: small donors pay for the next action.

4. 4

   The engine is a loop: a physical action made to be photographed, an image that circulates online, press that picks it up, donors who fund the next one.

5. 5

   Each action needs a verifiable quote, a place that gives it meaning, an image that fits a phone, the right moment and a legal check.

Copy summary

If you're new to this, start with the fundamentals, from the vote goal to what the research says. Read the fundamentals

Four friends, two of them Greenpeace staff at the time, with experience in direct action and press work. They stayed anonymous until May 2019 and now explain the method in interviews, talks and books.

• Ben Stewart

  Co-founder and spokesperson

  Set out the group's theory of change (make forgotten quotes famous) and speaks for the group after each action; he was arrested after the Liz Truss action in August 2024.

  Sources

• James Sadri

  Co-founder

  Named the group, after the First World War phrase about soldiers as “lions led by donkeys”, and coordinated the line of children's clothes on Bournemouth beach.

  Sources

• Oliver Knowles

  Co-founder

  Describes the network of collaborators (videographers, editors, logistics) and the decision to cancel actions when the moment is wrong.

  Sources

• Will Rose

  Co-founder and designer

  Designed the posters and shortened the name to the hashtag #LedByDonkeys.

  Sources

• Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice

  Partner (families bereaved by Covid)

  With the group, painted more than 150,000 hearts on the National Covid Memorial Wall, opposite Parliament, in 2021.

  Sources

• Crowdfunder.co.uk

  Crowdfunding platform

  Hosted the campaigns that paid for the billboards; in 2019 it was the largest crowdfunded political campaign in UK history, according to the platform and the group.

  Sources

What the founders have said about their method. Paraphrases, with short quotes where the phrase is theirs.

• The theory of change is to make the right quotes famous: “make this stuff famous because it can shift the narrative”.

  Ben Stewart, Contagious, interview, 26 Sep 2019

• Quotes ignored online for weeks got around 10,000 retweets once they were on a billboard. The digital–analogue–digital loop wasn't planned: they saw it worked and invested in it.

  Ben Stewart, Contagious, interview, 26 Sep 2019

• The early goal was to make the quotes so well known that journalists would use them to confront their authors in interviews.

  Ben Stewart, Contagious, interview, 26 Sep 2019

• From the start, one aim was to hold Brexit's backers to their promises, because the media wasn't doing enough of it.

  Ben Stewart, Now Then Magazine, ahead of the Festival of Debate, 22 Apr 2022

In December 2018, four friends angry about Brexit decided in a pub in Stoke Newington, north London, to “preserve” a 2015 David Cameron tweet and four promises by pro-Brexit ministers. They pasted them onto billboards at night, with a ladder and paste. From then on, every action was designed to be photographed, shared, reported and paid for by those who saw it.

£499k

raised in three Crowdfunder campaigns by 15 Nov 2019platform figure

16,492

donors to those campaigns, about £30 per person on averageplatform figure

330+

billboards bought by November 2019, with an estimated reach of 30 million peoplecampaign figure

25–30

projections carried out before the first arrest, according to the group (Sep 2025)campaign figure

From a ladder to Windsor

1. 8 Jan 2019First poster: Cameron's tweet, pasted over an advert on the A10 in Stoke Newington. It is covered the next day, but the photo is already circulating.
2. 16 Jan 2019Four billboards in Dover, including Dominic Raab's line about the Dover-Calais crossing. They go viral; the billboard company removes them the next day. The first £10,000 target is hit within hours.
3. Mar–May 2019A giant flag in Parliament Square, vans following Farage's march, a projection on the White Cliffs of Dover. On 25 May the four reveal their identities.
4. 24 Jul 2019Hours before Boris Johnson is invited to form a government, a projection on Buckingham Palace calls him a liar.
5. Nov–Dec 2019£499,000 from 16,492 donors, more than 330 billboards. In December, £250,000 in 24 hours for Facebook ads. Johnson wins a majority: the political goal fails.
6. 2020–2022Covid and Partygate: a timeline projected onto Barnard Castle, the Memorial Wall with bereaved families, Line of Duty parodies, a “The UK was crashed here” plaque on Tufton Street.
7. Mar 2023A fake South Korean firm, Hanseong Consulting, approaches 20 MPs; Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng discuss fees of around £10,000 a day. None was accused of wrongdoing: MPs may hold outside jobs, and Hancock's spokesman said he acted within the rules.
8. Feb–Aug 2024Five kilometres of children's clothes on Bournemouth beach for the more than 11,000 children killed in the Israel-Hamas war since 7 October 2023; an “I ♡ Nigel” banner with Putin at a Farage event; an “I crashed the economy” lettuce behind Liz Truss in Beccles.
9. 16 Sep 2025A 9-minute film on Trump and Epstein projected onto Windsor Castle from a hotel room, on the eve of the state visit. Four men arrested; on 22 October police close the case with no further action.
10. Dec 2025–2026A talk with Pussy Riot in Bristol (1 Dec 2025) and a book tour. In 2026 the group promotes on its pages the “Dirty Money” investigation by the Verbatim project into Reform UK's funding.

Three stages for the same quote

Each action was designed to live in three places at once.

• The streetThe billboard, the projection, the banner, the beach: seen by thousands and, above all, photographable.
• The feedThe photo or video posted by the group itself minutes later, with the source of the quote and the link to donate.
• The newsroomLocal, regional and national papers pick it up; journalists start using the quote to confront the person who said it.

The method was born in a country with an outdoor-advertising market open to anyone who pays, a strong national and regional press, and Brexit dominating the conversation.

Platforms

Commercial billboards

In the UK, outdoor ad sites are sold site by site to whoever pays; that is what let the group swap the illegal fly-posting of the first weeks for the legal purchase of more than 330 sites in 2019.

Twitter (now X)

In 2019 it was where British journalists and politicians read the political conversation; every billboard photo started there. The group had about 340,000 followers in November 2019.

National and regional press

Local and regional papers ran photos of their town's posters; the national press picked up the Dover posters. Every story took the quote to people who weren't on social media.

YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

Home of the long projection videos and the parodies; in December 2019, £250,000 raised in 24 hours paid for Facebook ads.

Landmarks and symbolic places

The White Cliffs of Dover, Parliament, castles, beaches: places that are already an image and give meaning to the projected or written quote.

Crowdfunder.co.uk

A British crowdfunding platform; each campaign had its goal in the title itself, such as “Let's paste these tweets all over Britain”.

Local conditions

• Brexit: a divided country, with 2016 promises that could be held up against the reality of 2019.
• Pasting posters over adverts without permission is illegal; the founders feared fines and convictions, which is why they started anonymously.
• Rules for third-party campaigners: ahead of the 2019 election the law (the so-called Lobbying Act) required the group to identify itself.
• Protest policing relatively tolerant of projections, until Windsor in 2025, when four people were arrested.
• Founders with years at Greenpeace: they knew how to stage direct action, photograph it and sell it to the press.

The founders didn't start from a plan: they put up a poster, watched what happened and invested in what worked. The method is the sum of what they repeated over more than seven years.

Three fronts

Use their words

No opinion from the group on the poster: the politician's exact words, with a date and a source. Hard to deny, hard to sue over, and easy for interviewers to put back to the author.

An asset that circulates

The physical action exists to produce an image: readable on a phone, in a place that gives the quote meaning, at the right moment in the news cycle.

The public pays for the next one

Every image that goes viral leads to a donation link. Small donors, not big funders, pay for the space and keep the group independent.

The cycle of an action

From the 2019 billboard to the 2025 projection, every action goes through the same eight steps.

1. Read the calendar What decision, visit, vote or anniversary is coming? The group started planning Windsor when the dates of Trump's visit were announced in July.
2. Find the quote A verifiable quote from the target that contradicts what they are doing now. Keep the original: link, screenshot, date, context.
3. Pick the place The place that gives the quote meaning: Raab and the Dover-Calais crossing in Dover; Cummings at Barnard Castle; Trump at a royal castle.
4. Check the law Legal advice first: site permission, election law, defamation, protest rules, a plan if someone is arrested.
5. Execute and capture Small crew, often at night. The master photo and video come before anything else, because the piece may be taken down within minutes.
6. Publish first The group posts its own image straight away, with the source. The press gets the photos and context; regional papers get the local version.
7. Ask and thank The donation link goes with the image while attention is high, and the next update shows what the money was spent on.
8. Measure and archive First what happened off-screen: journalists who used the quote to confront its author, coverage won, donations and list sign-ups within 48 hours. Views only as context. Log what failed; ideas whose moment has passed go in the drawer.

And again.

People, tools and a press playbook for earned-media actions built on the words of the powerful.

What works anywhere and what has to be swapped. Choose your country at the top of the toolkit to see the equivalent tools.

Choose your country

Pick the moves that fit your context and add them to your kit.

1. Their own words, billboard-sized

   No opinion on the poster: the exact words of someone in power, with name, date and source, in a place that gives them meaning and at the moment the news makes them current. In the UK, Dominic Raab’s line about the Dover-Calais crossing, put on billboards in Dover, went viral; quotes ignored online for weeks got around 10,000 retweets once they became billboards.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when the target made promises that reality has since contradicted and the public already knows what happened next.

   Don't use when

   It fails with a clipped or out-of-context quote, or when the target is a group of people rather than someone with power.

   1. Week −9 Open the quote archive: original, link, screenshot, date and context
   2. Week −9 Pick a promise that reality has contradicted and that people know
   3. Week −8 Pick the place that gives the quote its meaning on its own
   4. Week −4 Two people check the source; the lawyer reviews defamation and site
   5. Week −2 Buy the space or book the projector, with a second site ready
   6. D-day week Put the source in the caption and, if it isn’t a post, as a footnote on the poster

   Team

   • Creative core: chooses target, quote, place and moment, and kills ideas whose time has passed
   • Research and verification: keeps the quote archive and checks every source
   • Production: buys space, prints and scouts the site

   What to measure: Journalists who used the quote to challenge its author in an interview, counted through coverage monitoring, not views.

   Risks to watch: An exact quote can still hit the wrong group; the group took a poster down within 24 hours and apologised. Aim only at those with power and quote word for word, because an edited quote becomes a lawsuit.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

2. Shoot first, post first

   The physical action exists to produce an image: photo and master video in the first minutes, posted on your own accounts within 30 minutes with the source, and only then the press, including the local paper. In the UK, the Dover billboards lasted a day, but the photo kept circulating, and the national and local press picked it up.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works for any street action that may be taken down, stopped or seen by few people on site.

   Don't use when

   It fails if the image can’t be read on a phone, or if the press gets it before you post: whoever posts first sets the frame.

   1. Week −1 Write the shot list: wide shot with the place, legible close-up, passers-by
   2. Week −1 Scout the site: where to shoot from and how to get out
   3. D-day week The day before, test the framing and prepare the release, photos and dossier
   4. D-day week Get the photo and the master video in the first minutes
   5. D-day week Post your own image within 30 minutes, with the source in the caption
   6. D-day week Send release and photos to agencies, national press and the local paper, and call
   7. D-day week The next day, spokesperson does interviews with three messages

   Team

   • Image: photographer and videographer with the shot list; delivers in 30 minutes
   • Press: one person talks to journalists, and calls rather than just emailing
   • Spokesperson: what the group did, the quote and the source, what it asks for

   What to measure: Stories published with the group’s image, especially in the local paper, logged in the action archive over the next three days.

   Risks to watch: Tipping off the press ruins the surprise and can get the action cancelled: at most one trusted journalist under embargo. If the target responds, don’t fight; go back to the quote and the source.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

3. The public pays for the next one

   Every image that goes viral leads to a donation page with the target in the title and a photo of the last action; small donors pay for the space and keep the group independent, and every update shows what the money was spent on. In the UK, the first £10,000 target was hit within hours, and by November 2019 16,492 people had given £499,000, paying for more than 330 billboards.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when you already have a strong action to show and a next one people want to see happen.

   Don't use when

   It fails with hidden big donors or without accounts: a group that quotes others can’t be caught out on its own money.

   1. Week −4 Open the donation page with the target in the title and a photo of the last action
   2. Week −4 Open the email list with confirmation and a privacy policy
   3. Week −2 Close the budget; if short, launch a specific target with proof of the last action
   4. D-day week Put the tracked donation link next to the image while attention is high
   5. D-day week The next day, show donors what the money was spent on
   6. D-day week Count donations and sign-ups over the following 48 hours

   Team

   • Social and donations: posts the image, updates the page and reports back
   • Treasury: logs every expense and checks third-party campaign limits
   • Email list: tells consenting supporters about the next appeal

   What to measure: Donations and list sign-ups in the 48 hours after the action, counted through each channel’s tracked link.

   Risks to watch: Third-party campaign rules may require registration, spending caps and an imprint saying who paid: check with a lawyer who may donate, and declare everything.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

4. Legal advice and an arrest plan

   Before every action, a lawyer reviews the quote, the site, electoral law and protest law; on the night, they are on call, there is an observer outside the action and nobody goes alone. In the UK, the group carried out 25 to 30 projections without arrests; at Windsor in 2025, four men were arrested and police closed the case without charge.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works for any action in public space, especially projections on buildings and actions near officials.

   Don't use when

   Don’t use pretexts or disguises to get into a place, and where symbolic protest leads to prison, assess the personal risk first and choose legal formats.

   1. Week −9 Get the first legal opinion: quote, site, electoral law and protest law
   2. Week −4 Check the third-party campaign rules: registration, spending, who pays
   3. Week −1 Assign the observer outside the action and set up the legal support fund
   4. D-day week Do the final legal review the day before
   5. D-day week On the night, lawyer on the line and their number with everyone
   6. D-day week If someone is arrested, immediate support and a short public response

   Team

   • Legal: gives the opinion beforehand and is on call on the night
   • Safety and support: observer outside the action and an arrest plan
   • Spokesperson: responds publicly without fighting, back to the quote and source

   What to measure: Team members who went out with the lawyer’s number and an assigned observer, and anyone arrested who had a lawyer the same day.

   Risks to watch: Projecting without permission can lead to arrest even with no charge later: have a written opinion, a second site ready and a clear rule for cancelling if the risk changes.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

5. Painful issues, with the people affected

   On issues of grief or war, the people affected are partners in the action from the concept onward, and volunteers build an image that shows the scale. In the UK, the group and Covid-bereaved families painted more than 150,000 hearts on the National Covid Memorial Wall opposite Parliament; in Bournemouth, about 100 volunteers laid five kilometres of children’s clothes along the beach.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when a number too big to feel needs to become something people can see, and the people affected want to show it.

   Don't use when

   It fails if other people’s pain becomes mere scenery: without the families deciding, the action exploits those it claims to stand for.

   1. Week −8 Invite those affected to be partners from the concept onward
   2. Week −6 Decide with them the words, the place and what not to show
   3. Week −4 Recruit volunteers for the build
   4. Week −1 Rehearse the logistics and agree who talks to the press
   5. D-day week Build the action and shoot the wide shot that shows the scale
   6. 1 week(s) after Give the images and the action archive back to the families

   Team

   • Partner families: decide what is shown and speak for themselves
   • Volunteer coordination: recruits, trains and organises the build
   • Image: records the scale with respect, without exposing anyone who doesn’t want it

   What to measure: People affected and volunteers who took part in the build, and families who stayed in the campaign afterwards, counted on the volunteer list.

   Risks to watch: Showing grief without consent and entering a site under a pretext are legal and ethical risks: get the families’ permission for names and images, and permission for the site.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

A sequence to build your first earned-media action and the operation behind it. Progress is saved in this browser.

The group quotes accurately and signs its actions. If it deceived the public once, nobody would trust its quotes again.

Space with permission

Pasting over adverts or painting without permission is illegal in the UK and most countries. The group did it only in the first weeks and soon moved to buying space.

Projections and protest

Projecting onto buildings without permission can lead to arrest: at Windsor, on suspicion of malicious communications and public nuisance, even with no charges later. In Germany, police investigated a 2025 projection onto a Tesla factory over the use of banned symbols. Legal advice first, always.

Say who is speaking

The group started anonymously, but British law on third-party campaigners required it to identify itself before the 2019 election. Put on every piece who promotes and pays for it, wherever the law requires.

Transparent spending

In 2019 the group was accused of exceeding election spending limits; the Electoral Commission confirmed no rules had been broken. Record every expense and check the limits for third-party campaigners.

Exact quotes, no defamation

Quote word for word, with source and context. A true quote is the best defence; an edited one becomes a lawsuit.

Recognisable parody

Parody sites and pieces must be clearly parody. The Brexit Party sent a cease-and-desist letter over the group's parody domain.

Real people only

No fake profiles, bots, bought accounts or fake support. The strength of the action is that someone owns it.

No deceiving the public

No deepfakes, and no pieces pretending to come from another organisation. AI-made content is labelled as such.

Donations and data

Check who may donate to third-party campaigns in your country and handle the email list under data protection law (GDPR in the UK and EU, LGPD in Brazil).

Local law

Every country has its own rules on outdoor advertising, protest and campaigning. In the European Union, since October 2025 Meta has not accepted political, electoral or social-issue ads, and Google has stopped serving political ads as the regulation defines them. Regulation (EU) 2024/900, which also applies offline, billboards included, requires labels and transparency notices on paid political ads and allows targeting only with explicit consent and without sensitive data. Check with a lawyer before you start. See the “Law and platforms in the European Union” section in Fundamentals.

It doesn't win elections on its own

In December 2019, despite £250,000 in ads and hundreds of billboards, pro-Brexit parties won a majority of seats. Earned media changes the conversation; it doesn't organise votes.

It talks a lot to the converted

Press critics, from Dawn Foster in The Guardian in 2019 to reviews in 2024 and 2025, say the actions rarely change anyone's mind and sometimes give the target a platform, as with the Liz Truss action.

Impact is hard to measure

The founders admit it is hard to gauge reaction to what they post online; the reach figures come from the group itself.

Pretexts and disguises are a risk, not a step

At the Covid wall the crew arrived dressed as workers with boards suggesting permission; in Beccles the venue was prepared under another pretext, according to one account; in 2023 the group used a fake company. Even with a public-interest aim, deceiving third parties carries legal and credibility risk. This playbook doesn't teach them.

It costs those who do it

Arrests (Stewart in 2024, four people in 2025), legal advice and night work weigh on a small group. The founders talk about “deep off-duty” holidays with the laptop closed.

It depends on a small core

The ideas come from four people. Without them the method has to be rebuilt, which is why every step is worth documenting.

Five questions to lock in the essentials.

This playbook was built from the founders' interviews and talks between 2019 and 2025, the group's own pages consulted on 26 October 2026, funding data published in 2019 and 2024, and reporting on each action.

Updated 26 October 2026