The UK Porn Star Parliament Candidate Who Recruits Students for His Films

Screenshot courtesy of Huw Sambrook

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

Last week, it came to the world’s attention that a UKIP candidate in Bristol is a porn actor and baron who goes by the screen name “Johnny Rockard.” Real name John Langley, the local election candidate organizes orgies and has paid Hungarian girls to let him rail them on camera when he’s not railing against the evils of immigrant workers.

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Since then, a VICE-reading filmmaker has been in touch with some rarely-seen footage of Langley scouting for performing porn talent around Bristol University. It shows him giving further insight into his views on porn, why he likes working with students, and his views on domestic violence.

When the news came out last week, Langley said that his work is “no big deal.” “I cannot see why there should be any problem with any of this,” he told the the Bristol Evening Post. “What people do in the privacy of their own homes is nothing to do with politics.”

Maybe he’s right about his work being “no big deal.” I’m not here to pass judgement on one man’s decision to set himself up in the porn industry. However, Langley’s assertion that his work has “nothing to do with politics” jars with what he says in the footage below, which suggests that he knew full well the political context in which his videos were made—that of students struggling to have enough money. He implies that he targets female students because they already work multiple jobs and therefore are more likely to take up his offer of porn work.


Johnny walking around Bristol University looking for talent. Footage shot by Huw Sambrook

The student vote is always highly sought after, and luckily Langley has plenty of experience working with students. Here he is explaining why:

I got into filming students from a political perspective because I had a conversation with a girl who was basically doing three or four jobs a day just to try and make ends meet and on top of that she was doing her studies as well and I said to her, ‘This is crazy,’ you know. So that’s when I decided to do stuff around the universities and feature ‘fantasy students.’

Students always sell on films—young people, younger people—always sell on films because they appeal to a wide audience, such a wide audience. How much girls can earn is always a very interesting question that I’m always asked because the amount of money the girl earns is dependent on how committed she is.

The producer of the footage is Huw Sambrook, a researcher and videographer who at the time was making a documentary about student sex work for his final-year project at Bath Spa University. I called him for a chat. I asked how he reacted to the news that his former documentary subject was now a UKIP candidate. He said: “Yeah, I saw it pop up and I was like, ‘What the fuck is he doing?’ I was like ‘What?!’ and just shocked… it was crazy.”

Later on in the footage, Langley is handing out flyers to girls when he is challenged by a male student who calls him a “pervert.”

“I think you should leave these intelligent young women alone,” says the student. “‘Johnny Rockard’? Not any of them would go near you. You’re fucking disgusting.”

Another student interjects, “You shouldn’t be going around university students. It’s completely inappropriate.”

The student then asserts that the porn industry Langley works in contributes to domestic violence.

“Not everybody shares your view,” argues Langley.

“I’m perfectly sure of that,” replies the student. “That’s why you’re here with an arse on your T-shirt.”

Langley then dismisses the number of people who carry out domestic violence because of porn as, “a very small minority of people,” adding later, “You can’t sanitize life—you can’t.”

I got in touch with the Bristol branch of UKIP for comment. Branch chairman Steve Wood reaffirmed that, “What [Langley] does in his private life is entirely up to him,” and that, “He’s a stalwart member and he’s done a lot of good for the branch.

“As far as we’re concerned the matter is closed,” he said. I pressed him about some of the comments in the videos—don’t they suggest that Langley’s work is exploiting broke students more than he let on previously? He told me to email him the quotes and that he would get back to me. I haven’t heard from him since.

Hard up students, your troubles are over: This UKIP candidate wants to bang you out of your overdraft.

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