The vanity of Rupert Lowe

spiked online ^ | Feb 16 | Tom Slater, Editor

[RandFan]

Rupert Lowe MP, ousted last year from Reform UK following a spectacular falling out with Nigel Farage, has re-launched Restore Britain, turning his erstwhile ‘political movement’ into a fully fledged political party, positing itself as the purer, ‘patriotic’ alternative to the supposed sell-outs and subversives around Farage.

Restore Britain is what happens when you confuse online buzz with actual electoral support. Just as a decade or so ago, the left convinced itself that Twitter was Britain, only for 14 years of Tory rule and Brexit to ensue, now Very Online rightists with more mobile data than sense are making the same mistake on X. They have memed themselves into believing that not only will Restore Britain make inroads at the next election, but also that Rupert Lowe could be our next prime minister.

...

The critique, such as it is, goes something like this. Reform is soft on illegal immigration, despite pledging to deport up to 600,000 illegal migrants in the first parliament alone. It is also soft on radical Islam, purely, it seems, because British Muslims – like Yusuf and London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham – hold prominent roles. That both Yusuf and Cunningham support banning the burqa, and are vocal critics of Islamic sectarianism, isn’t enough for those who want Muslims, regardless of their views, banned from office.

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Conspiracy
KEYWORDS: nigelfarage; reformuk; restorebritain; rupertlowe; strawman

[RandFan]

I have to admit I'm confused as well because Lowe is all over twitter it seems but that's because he's being boosted by the biggest account on twitter - the owner! - It doesn't mean he has popular support that Farage and Reform has who still lead the polls.

It'll be interesting how things develop.

[FLT-bird]

Reform had 10% of the electorate on the day it was declared. I think Tom’s wrong about this one. I don’t know if Reform can win but they’re tied with the Lib Dems already. ie they have very real and significant political support in Britain.