Rupert Lowe’s Reform olive branch torn apart as Farage ally hits out | Politics | News
Rupert Lowe has offered an olive branch to Nigel Farage (Image: Getty)
Rupert Lowe has been slammed with appeared to offer rival Nigel Farage an olive branch yesterday to end their bitter feud. The former Reform UK MP, who set up Restore Britain after a dramatic bust up, said millions of people โsee a patriotic right hopelessly dividedโ.
Mr Lowe, the former Chairman of Southampton FC, said he was willing to put their differences aside and work with Reform UK again โ if five demands were met. He called for Britainโs immigration crisis to be โreversedโ, for โdemographic securityโ, a referendum on the death penalty, โrestoring a self-sufficient Britainโ and boosting faith in politics.
Nigel Farage’s allies think Mr Lowe is seeking political gain (Image: Getty)
But an ally of Mr Farage has accused Mr Lowe of seeking โrelevanceโ because Restore Britain is not proving popular enough.
Gawain Towler, who sits on Reform UKโs board, added: โWe should be clear about what happened this morning. A man of sixty-eight, a man elected twice on the coattails of Nigel Farage, who has spent eighteen months declaring that his purpose was the destruction of Nigel Farage, has looked at 8.7% in a nationally ignored by-election and concluded that his moment is now or never.โ
Mr Towler said Restore has some policy positions that Mr Farage would never accept โ such as banning Kosher food.
It comes after the Greater Manchester Mayoral Election, where Restore beat the Conservatives into fourth place โ behind Labour, Reform and the Greens.
But Andrew Rosindell, one of the eight Reform MPs, appeared to welcome the video, posted on social media site X.
Rupert Lowe was elected alongside Nigel Farage in 2024 (Image: Getty)
He said: โMy concern is this โ our country is going to a very dark place, under a Labour Government.
โThe next election is going to be very difficult because you could find that Labour, the Liberals, Greens, form some kind of left-wing alliance.
โWe do have to somehow bring the right-of-centre in British politics together.
โWhat happens with Restore and with Rupert is a matter for Rupert to talk to Nigel about. What I would say to him, and to people across the country, is that we need a change of Government.
โ’Any hope that people can come together and vote for a new government that can save Britain from this mess, I’m all in favour of that.
โBut I think it will be with Nigel Farage as our Prime Ministerโ. Allies of Mr Lowe praised the move.
But some friends of Mr Farage were sceptical about Mr Loweโs offer of peace.
Gawain Towler, a Reform UK board member and an ally of the partyโs leader, said: โThis is not an open hand. It comes with conditions.
โReform is asked to reverse course on a list of positions, among them a referendum on the death penalty and a ban on halal and kosher slaughter. Both are settled Restore policy. Both are known to be positions Reform are unlikely to take.
โThat is not an olive branch. That is a demand engineered to be refused, offered in public so that the refusal can be filmed.
โIt is the oldest move in the book and it is not even well disguised. Lowe is not asking Farage to unite the right.
โHe is asking Farage to become Rupert Lowe, and then intends to spend the autumn touring the studios explaining that he, Rupert, the bigger man, tried. It is self-serving nonsense.
โConsider what a serious approach would have looked like. Lowe has Farageโs mobile number. He has had it for years. It is not unity he wants.” He finished with a brutal eleven word statement, saying: “It is relevance, and he is in a hurry for it.โ