A new political party called Restore Britain is threatening the rise of Nigel Farage’s hard-right group, with a tougher anti-immigrant stance and the backing of tech trillionaire Elon Musk.<\/p>\n
Led by businessman and ex-football chairman Rupert Lowe, Restore is tipped to deprive Farage’s Reform UK party of victory over the ruling Labour party in a crunch special election on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Lowe, 68, formed Restore as an alternative on the right of British politics in February following his split from Reform last year after he and Farage, 62, fell out spectacularly.<\/p>\n
A member of parliament since July 2024, Lowe is Restore’s solitary lawmaker in the United Kingdom’s 650-seat House of Commons.<\/p>\n
But the party’s profile is soaring, thanks largely to Musk, who promotes Lowe’s posts on X, and as the UK witnesses frequent, sometimes violent, anti-migrant demonstrations.<\/p>\n
“We are bringing disaffected voters back to the voting booth,” Lowe told AFP in a WhatsApp message ahead of Thursday’s by-election for the Makerfield parliamentary constituency in northwest England.<\/p>\n
– Mass deportations –<\/p>\n
The vote is a two-horse race between Labour candidate Andy Burnham, seeking to return to parliament so he can try to oust Keir Starmer as prime minister, and Reform’s Robert Kenyon, a plumber.<\/p>\n
Pollsters expect Restore’s candidate Rebecca Shepherd, a local businesswoman, to secure somewhere between five and eight percent of the vote to finish third.<\/p>\n
That vote share could be greater than the difference between Burnham, who is expected to win, and Kenyon, whose party lost a separate by-election in February to the anti-establishment left-wing Greens.<\/p>\n
Political scientist John Curtice told AFP it was possible that “Restore Britain’s intervention stands between Mr. Kenyon and his ability to defeat Andy Burnham”.<\/p>\n
“If Reform lose again they risk losing momentum politically,” said Daniel Trilling, author of “If We Tolerate This: How the British Establishment Made the Far Right Respectable”.<\/p>\n
“Their own party and supporters are more likely to get frustrated, and we’re more likely to see more splits of the kind that have already emerged,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
Restore’s headline policy is mass deportations. It would remove all irregular migrants, plus foreign nationals who commit crimes, are unable to speak English or who claim benefits.<\/p>\n
The fringe outfit also supports banning the burqa and a referendum on restoring the death penalty.<\/p>\n
“Restore has staked out a position to the right of Reform by taking a fairly openly ethno-nationalist position on issues of immigration, race, and identity in Britain,” said Trilling.<\/p>\n
While arch-Eurosceptic Farage has helped push political discourse in Britain rightwards “with a nudge and a wink”, Lowe “just is far more blatant”, Trilling added.<\/p>\n
Amid anger over a knife attack in Northern Ireland allegedly carried out by a Sudanese man, Lowe posted on X a screengrab of footage of the knife attack\u00a0alongside the words “Millions must go”.<\/p>\n
– ‘Extreme’ –<\/p>\n
The post was reposted by Musk, a frequent backer of far-right politicians in European elections, who has also tweeted to his 240 million followers that “only Restore Britain can save Britain”.<\/p>\n
Lowe has made more than \u00a357,000 ($76,500) from X since December 2024, declarations to parliament show.<\/p>\n
“All support of decent, concerned people including Elon Musk is essential if we are to succeed in cleaning out the Augean Stables,” Lowe told AFP, alluding to a huge task to get rid of perceived corruption.<\/p>\n
Campaign group Hope Not Hate has labelled Lowe “Britain’s most extreme MP” and the Times newspaper reported in April that\u00a0two prominent neo-fascist leaders have backed Restore.<\/p>\n
“The real extremist position is to willingly import savage third world animals who attempt to behead others in the street,” Lowe wrote on X earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Farage has distanced himself from far-right agitators such as Tommy Robinson — real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Musk has expressed support for Robinson and has called Farage “weak sauce”.<\/p>\n
Farage has also recruited several defectors from the Conservative party as he tries to widen his party’s electoral appeal going into the next general election, expected in 2029.<\/p>\n
But the tactic risks pushing some voters to Restore.<\/p>\n
In Hindley,\u00a0a predominantly white, working-class area of Makerfield, 54-year-old Reform voter Darren said he plans to switch allegiance in future elections, praising Lowe for “supporting small businesses”.<\/p>\n
A 67-year-old who voted Reform during local elections last month\u00a0was out distributing leaflets for Restore.<\/p>\n
“The establishment underestimate just how pissed off people are,” the man, who asked not to be named, told AFP.<\/p>\n
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