If you don’t spend your days on the site we once knew as Twitter, it is entirely possible that you have never heard of Rupert Lowe or his embryonic party Restore Britain. If, however, you linger on X you cannot avoid him, not least because he enjoys the support and algorithmic patronage of Elon Musk.
Lowe, a wealthy businessman, was one of Nigel Farage’s new Reform UK MPs until he was thrown out, possibly because he, rather than his leader, was enjoying the Muskal benediction. At first he seemed just another in a long line of rivals turned into roadkill on the Farage freeway. But unlike others he has the wherewithal and online support — at least as important as X are his 1.2mn Facebook followers — to fight back.
And the fight is personal for him. He depicts Reform’s leader as a weak compromiser. Where Farage tiptoed towards his party’s policy on deportations, Lowe talks cheerfully about removing “millions” of people.