Simon Galbraith, a tech entrepreneur and investor based in Cambridge, has donated £500,000 to Rupert Lowe’s party Restore Britain.

In a post on X yesterday, Lowe said he was “delighted” to announce that Galbraith had donated two sums of £250,000 through his investment company Cade Hill, one in April and another in August.

In a statement, Galbraith said he had donated the money because: “I believe that most British people sense Britain’s decline.

“There is a centralised, bloated and incompetent state which is increasingly undemocratic, British institutions are unfocused on what they should be for, and our democracy doesn’t represent the interests and opinions of many.

“I love my country. I’ve built my businesses here, raised my family here and made my life here.”

He added: “Financially it would make a great deal of sense for me to leave, as many people with my wealth have chosen to do, but I don’t want to. I want to live in Britain, and feel a responsibility to contribute to fixing it.”

Andy Burnham is facing mounting pressure to place a cap on donations to political parties as the elections bill returns to Parliament today. 

Labour MP Stella Creasy has tabled an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill to introduce a cap on donations.

The amendment, called New Clause 120, would introduce an immediate cap on political donations set at £500,000, reducing to £100,000 in the second year, and requiring the Government to set a permanent donations cap thereafter. 

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Labour won a council seat off Reform UK in Merseyside yesterday, while the Greens took a seat off the Conservatives in Dover.

Labour’s Steve Owen beat the Reform candidate to win Billinge and Seneley Green ward in St Helens. 

The by-election was triggered by Reform councillor Jennifer Gerrard stepping down for “personal reasons” just two months after she was elected on 7 May.

Reform took control of St Helens Borough Council in May, winning 33 out of 48 seats. However, within two months of the local elections, Gerrard and another councillor had already resigned.

The first to resign was Stephen Mousdell. He resigned within a week of being elected, after it emerged that he had appeared in adult films and on OnlyFans under a different alias. 

In Dover, the Greens’ Ingrid Dodd won the Guston, Kingsdown and St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe by-election yesterday. 

Online, Reform figures are complaining that Restore Britain allowed the Greens to win.

The by-election was a three-way fight on the Right, with the Conservatives, Restore Britain and Reform UK all standing candidates.

The breakdown of votes was as follows:

Green Party – 767

Reform UK: 733

Conservatives: 456

Labour Party: 389 

Restore Britain: 284

Independent: 35

George Madgwick, a Reform councillor in Portsmouth, bemoaned Reform’s failure to take the council seat, writing: “WOW.@RupertLowe10 and his Restore Group just stood against Reform UK in Dover and allowed – on the same day hundreds of migrants arrived on our shores – the GREENS to win the very local council seat where migrants land.

“Vote Restore – Get Greens. Shameful. Wake up Britain.”

Former Reform parliamentary candidate, Matt Goodwin, also complained about the result.

He said: “The Right vote in Dover last night was 55%. But the Greens won. Why? Because Restore and the Tories handed the seat to the Left. This is what they will do in countless seats at the next general election. Vote Restore get the Left.”

Reacting to their win in Dover, a Green Party spokesperson said: “We’re delighted that Ingrid Dodd, a local retired GP, has been elected to Dover district council. While the right fall over themselves to score political points and see who can say the nastiest thing that day, Greens are focused on the issues that matter – bringing down the cost of living, tackling the climate emergency and ending rip-off Britain.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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Rupert Lowe, the leader of hard-right party Restore Britain, is on track to earn as much money from his divisive posts on X as he does from being an MP.

According to an analysis by the Guardian Lowe’s X income has surged, with the Restore Britain MP having made £932 an hour since the start of the year from his divisive posts.

In some of these controversial posts, Lowe has called for mass deportations and in another, he claimed travelling to parts of the North West of England was likely being transported to a foreign country.

According to the MPs’ register of financial interests, for 60 hours work, the equivalent of one and a half weeks’ full-time work, Lowe has received £55,923 from X since the start of this year. 

The Guardian has calculated that if Lowe’s average earnings for 2026 so far continue throughout the year, he would earn just over £93,000 – close to the current MPs’ £98,599 annual salary. 

He could easily exceed that figure if his recent higher earnings from the social platform persist.

The Guardian also found that Lowe’s total income from X since the 2024 general election has now surpassed £105,000, more than half of which he earned in the first eight months of this year.

Lowe has previously said he donates his net MP’s salary to charities and worthy causes in his constituency of Great Yarmouth.

Lowe’s posts get huge reach on X. For example, over the weekend, he posted a tweet saying that a migrant could read 10,000 Home Office pamphlets about ‘integrating’ in the UK, and he would still want them deported.

He said: “They broke into our country – they are not welcome here, and they all need to be removed.”

The post got 203,000 views, 29,000 likes and 3,600 reposts.

Ambrose Pym, a researcher covering the far right and technology who analysed Lowe’s rising X earnings, told The Guardian that the extent to which Elon Musk is boosting Lowe is going underreported.

“We tend to treat a politician’s online reach and their income as two separate stories, but for Rupert Lowe they’re part of the same mechanism.

“The more his content is seen, the more X pays him for it.”

Pym added: “Scrutiny is rightly falling on other sources of foreign money in British politics. However, a US-based billionaire simultaneously paying and boosting an ideologically aligned British politician through his own platform is going strikingly under-reported. X’s financial and reach incentive structure rewards division and is shaping British politics with almost none of the scrutiny it deserves.”

Asked about his accelerating X earnings, Lowe told the Guardian: “If I wanted to make money, I would not be in politics. I donate my entire net MP salary to local charities in my constituency – being a politician is the most expensive job I’ve ever had.”

Lowe’s comment echoes claims that Nigel Farage made in 2017, saying he was “skint” and that “there is no money in politics”.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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From having initially ruled out any deal with Restore Britain after a very public feud with the far-right party’s leader Rupert Lowe, Nigel Farage now seems to be warming to the idea of a deal with the far-right party and has set out his conditions.

Farage, who has currently seen his poll rankings tank after being embroiled in a number of scandals over his finances and his failure to properly declare financial support he has received, is currently fighting a by-election in Clacton after quitting an MP ahead of a Standards Committee investigation.

Reform has also seen its vote split by Restore in recent elections, a point not missed by Reform’s supporters.

Despite Farage trying to desperately reject claims his own party is far-right, the Reform UK leader is more than happy to do a deal with Restore, whose party leader Rupert Lowe has openly pushed far-right talking points and advocated mass deportations.

Now Farage has said that he is open to doing a deal with Restore, but only if Rupert Lowe expels a co-founder accused of antisemitism.

Farage wants Lowe to expel co-founder Charlie Downes, after he suggested Mr Farage had been “bought” by Jewish supporters.

A spokesperson for Reform UK confirmed that no discussions will take place until Mr Lowe takes decisive action against the Restore Britain co-founder.

They said: “There are antisemitic and extreme racists at or near the top of the party, and they would have to go first.

“We’re happy to talk but we can’t do when there are people in the party like Charlie Downes,” the spokesperson told The Telegraph.

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Rupert Lowe was grilled by Nick Robinson over a string of bizarre claims he has made on social media in a disastrous interview this morning.

Robinson repeatedly asked the hard-right politician to explain his recent comments on X about the “Islamification of Britain”. 

Lowe wrote: “I’m not going to sit back and watch Britain become an Islamic country” and that “we’re hurtling towards becoming an Islamic country”. 

The Great Yarmouth MP responded by talking about Restore Britain’s 219-page rape gang inquiry report, and asked Robinson “Have you read the report?”.

The journalist said he hadn’t read the whole report but asked Lowe what the evidence was for his claim about the ‘gradual Islamification of Britain’. 

Lowe deflected by attacking the BBC and saying it hadn’t reported on Restore Britain’s rape gang inquiry report. The Restore Britain leader said he would defund the BBC “very quickly” if he became prime minister.

He then accused the BBC of being “complicit in watching this gradual spread of the Islamicisation of Britain”, and claimed Muslims were allowed to pursue “a parallel system of Sharia courts”. 

There are Sharia councils in the UK but they have no official legal or constitutional role in the UK.

Robinson continued to press Lowe to answer his question: “What I asked you for is the evidence, the evidence we’re hurtling towards being an Islamic country”.

Lowe continued to talk about his party’s rape gang inquiry report and attack the BBC.

“Let me try one more time, one more time, what is the evidence that Britain in your words is hurtling towards becoming an Islamic country?,” Robinson asked for the fourth time.

Lowe claimed it was “plain to see” due to “a parallel system” of Sharia councils and the prevalence of Pakistani Muslim rape gangs. 

Robinson then pressed Lowe on a prediction in a Restore Britain report, which is that by 2063, white Britons will be “a minority”.

Robinson pointed out that based on the definitions used in that report, King Charles is not a white Briton. 

The definition used in the report stipulates that a person is only a white Briton if both of their parents were born in Britain. “Do you think he is a white Briton?,” Robinson asked. 

“Many people have different interpretations of that, Nick, we can split hairs, but I think the spirit of what we’re talking about is quite clear and I think most British people, if you speak to them, would agree,” Lowe said. 

Lowe refused to say whether King Charles, whose father Prince Phillip was born in Greece, is a white Briton under Restore Britain’s definition.

Robinson also grilled Lowe on another recent post he published on X making a comparison between “British areas” in Manchester and “more Muslim” areas. The BBC journalist asked: “Are you saying Muslims in Manchester are not British?”. 

Lowe said he didn’t think “a lot of the Muslims in Manchester are integrating into British culture”. He said that “if you go to Curry mile where I was the other day […] you see entire communities who basically are pursuing their own culture, their own religion and their own agenda”.

Robinson repeatedly asked whether Lowe thinks Muslims in Manchester are British, which the Restore Britain leader didn’t answer.

Sharing a clip from the interview, Lowe wrote on X: “I doubt I’ll be invited back on the BBC any time soon.”

Robinson responded: “Happy to have you back on. Perhaps next time you come on @BBCr4today you’ll come ready to answer questions asking you to explain things that you’ve said.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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The leaders of Restore Britain and Reform Britain are coming to blows of proposed collaboration between the two hard right parties.

The saga began with Rupert Lowe – the Restore leader – releasing a video calling for the two parties to cooperate. In his offer for collaboration, Lowe listed a series of conditions under which it could take place, including a promise to hold a referendum on the death penalty, a militant approach to deportations and a ban on ex-Tory ministers playing any role in a future cabinet.

Nigel Farage – the Reform leader – was asked about the video at a press conference today (3 August).

In his responses to journalists, Farage suggested that such a collaboration could be possible. Farage told reporters that he would approach it with a ‘potentially open mind’.

He went on to say “I did actually reach out back yesterday to him”, before adding, “I did say ‘look should we have a call’.”

Farage also said: “A conversation is different to a negotiation. I opened the door to that conversation yesterday, late morning, and at the moment I have not yet had a reply”, adding: “We will find out whether he genuinely wants to have talks – if he does then we will start to negotiate,”

However, elsewhere at the press conference, Farage questioned the sincerity of Lowe’s offer for collaboration. He told the press: “I haven’t heard back yet so I don’t know what the sincerity of this is.” He went on to say: “But it seemed to me that he was sort of more than anything putting out this gesture saying ‘look I am the good guy – Nigel’s the bad guy’. Well that is not the case”.

Lowe has since responded to Farage’s comments. And he wasn’t particularly positive. In a post on X which purportedly includes a message between the two party leaders, Lowe said: “I do not want to make private conversations public, but Farage has just done so at a national press conference.

“He just stated he said to me yesterday ‘Shall we have a call?’. Sadly, that is just a lie. Yesterday at 10.30 Nigel messaged me, saying the following three words. ‘Will call later’ – the evidence is below. I have received no call. Senior Reform figures then went public to rubbish my offer. “

Lowe continued by saying: “Yesterday’s offer was not one I wanted to make, trust me. I don’t particularly enjoy trying to work with people who attempted to put me in prison on false allegations. My house was raided by armed police because of them. I was willing, and still am, to put that aside to cooperate in order to save the country we all love.”

Looks like that cooperation is off to a good start…

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Right image credit: Owain Davies – Creative Commons

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Rupert Lowe – the leader of the extreme right wing party Restore – has released a video calling for collaboration between his party and Reform UK.

Lowe was elected to the House of Commons under the Reform banner but was suspended from the party after allegations of bullying within his parliamentary office and that he made verbal threats to the Reform chair Zia Yusuf, allegations which he denies.

Following his departure from Reform, Lowe founded Restore. The party is even further to the right that Reform, with Lowe having argued that Farage’s party is insufficiently tough on migration.

In recent months, Restore has begun to poll reasonably well in by-elections, picking up 8.7 per cent in the Greater Manchester mayoral election and 6.8 per cent in the Makerfield parliamentary by-election.

Results like this are threatening Reform’s ascendancy, and there have been concerns on the right of British politics that Restore could cost Reform seats at the next general election by splitting the right-wing vote.

Clearly that prospect is worrying Lowe, who used his new social media video to call for Farage to put “personalities and our past disagreements aside for the good of the country”.

Elsewhere, he said: “I truly believe there could be sufficient common ground for our two movements to cooperate collectively, destroy the looming left wing alliance that will finish off what hope remains for this country.”

But the video wasn’t an open offer. Instead, he set out five demands on Farage and Reform in order for Restore to consider working with them.

What Lowe describes as the “five fundamental principles” for co-operation range from predictable far-right talking points to the bizarre.

First, Lowe said that “ending mass immigration is not enough”, and called for Reform to implement Restore Britian’s full policy on deportations. In the video, he said “every illegal migrant must be deported and yes, that must include women and children”.

He then went on to say “legal immigration has called even more damage” and argued that any migrant who lives in social housing or can’t speak English should also be deported. Concluding that section of he demands, he said “millions must go”.

So far, so far-right.

Lowe’s second demand is in a similar vein. In the video, Lowe said “it is predicted that white Britains will become a minority by 2063. Nothing demonstrates the demographic vandalism of mass immigration more than that.”

Lowe’s solution for that? Reversing the “Islamification” of Britain and stopping the influence of Islam on “our Christian way of life”. And so Lowe argued that for Restore to work with Reform, Farage has to commit to banning Halal and Kosher meat, ‘mass dominating public Islamic prayer’ and so on and so on. Who would have guessed that a party on the far right of British politics would make banning Muslims from doing things a central plank of their policy?

Next up, Lowe moves away from the typical demonstration of Muslims and migrants. His third demand has a retro right-wing flavour.

Lowe said that for Restore to work with Reform, he’d need a commitment to hold a referendum on restoring the death penalty. He also (predictably) said he would campaign to reintroduce the death penalty in that referendum.

Bringing back the death penalty would make Britain one of just three countries in Europe to allow capital punishment. The other two? Our old friends Russia and Belarus.

Lowe’s penultimate demand is a reminder that along with their extreme positions on migration and the like, the hard right are just as extreme on economic policy.

He argues for a ramping up of austerity in order to deliver “a self-sufficient Britain”. “Enormous cuts must be made”, Lowe said. What’s the one area of spending Lowe demands Reform commit to cutting? You guessed it – welfare.

Lowe’s final demand steers away from policy and instead delves into personnel. He said that “former Conservative ministers who failed our country and our people in so many apalling ways must not be part of any future cabinet.”

While Lowe’s party has been picking up quite a few votes as of late, if he thinks he’s going to be forming a cabinet any time soon (with our without Farage), he might be getting a little ahead of himself.

Either way, this demand is the most bizarre of them all. Given that Farage’s party kicked Lowe out and welcomed former Tory ministers Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman into their fold, it seems just a tad unlikely that Reform will be up for agreeing to this one.

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

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