Rupert Lowe’s fringe group threatens Reform’s momentum ahead of a key parliamentary test
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 1:33pm, 17 Jun 2026A 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.
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.
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.
A member of parliament since July 2024, Lowe is Restore’s solitary lawmaker in the United Kingdom’s 650-seat House of Commons.
But the party’s profile has been soaring, thanks largely to Musk, who promotes Lowe’s posts on X, and because the UK has witnessed frequent, sometimes violent, anti-migrant demonstrations.
“We are bringing disaffected voters back to the voting booth,” Lowe told Agence France-Presse in a WhatsApp message ahead of Thursday’s by-election for the Makerfield parliamentary constituency in northwest England.
