In March 2025 Reform UK leader Nigel Farage stripped Rupert Lowe of the party whip after his then MP gave an interview criticising the party’s structure and leadership.
A messy briefing war ultimately ended in Lowe registering a new political party, Restore Britain.
With the first test of Restore at a by-election, there is now data to back up the claim this bust-up between two middle-aged men could have implications for the next general election.
In Makerfield, Lowe’s party scored 6.8 per cent of the vote, taking 3,111 votes, diluting Reform’s efforts to stop Andy Burnham returning to Parliament.
“I drove Reform’s membership until Nigel politically attempted to assassinate me and I have no issue with them. [During the campaign] we saw them in the street, lots of young Reformers, and they all wanted selfies,” Lowe told The i Paper in the middle of the night while waiting for the results of the count in Wigan.
At the Makerfield count in Wigan, Lowe’s result was ultimately academic, as Burnham’s massive majority comfortably outperformed Restore and Reform combined with 6,000 votes to spare.
Lowe was the Reform MP for Great Yarmouth until his very public falling out with Farage. It blew up at the beginning of 2025 when Elon Musk, who had formally backed Farage, withdrew his support for him and praised Lowe instead. Lowe subsequently gave an interview saying Reform was a “protest party led by the Messiah”.
Reform then reported Lowe to the police and removed the whip over alleged threats made against then party chairman Zia Yusuf, and bullying staff, claims Lowe denied and described as “vexatious”. No criminal charges were brought.
Farage is rattled
But it certainly rattled Farage, who on Friday urged Restore supporters to “think again” about voting for Lowe’s party, warning they risk making a Labour victory at the next general election more likely.
“There’s a couple of thousand voters there who would normally have gone out and voted Reform that voted Restore, and I would say directly to them: ‘What do you want?’” Farage asked. “We are the challenger party to the left in this country, and I would urge you to think again.”
For Reform, cock-a-hoop and energetic, so sure they were on the right strategic path, Restore adds an unwanted element of uncertainty. Now an ultra-right splinter group which promotes ethnonationalism is biting at their heels.
In Makerfield, which had a history of support for the British National Party in the Noughties, Lowe successfully mobilised disaffected white working-class people, whose desire to give the Establishment – which now apparently includes Farage – a kicking seemingly knows no bounds.
My response to the Makerfield by-election result. pic.twitter.com/aESL0zbDKm
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 19, 2026There are pockets around the country which follow the same pattern: other areas of the North West, Barking in east London and parts of Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands.
Restore had to start from scratch
Restore did not have a ground game in Makerfield, they had to start from scratch, collecting raw data by knocking doors even as the campaign was under way.
The Lowe-inspired mobile army of 1,200 volunteers who descended last Saturday, some from overseas, certainly could not hope to replicate the same effect all over the country at a general election.
But Restore is already setting up branches across the country; its data is only going to get better.
And because of its volunteer base, Lowe insists he can keep overheads down. “We make a shilling do the job of a pound, we run a very tight ship,” he said.
There are several lessons from Makerfield. One reason Reform fell short despite a record vote total was the squeeze on support for the three other national parties in England’s newly-established five party system.
The Greens at 0.7 per cent, the Liberal Democrats at 0.4 per cent and the Conservatives at 2.2 per cent all lost their deposits, meanwhile seeing their vote shares fall sharply against the 2024 general election results.
Reform’s candidate also an error
According to an ally of Burnham who had campaigned in Makerfield, Reform’s choice of candidate, Robert Kenyon, was also a major error. Although he grew Reform’s share of the vote overall, this time around his campaign was nearly derailed over past social media comments about women.
“The biggest issue for Reform here is that Robert Kenyon was just a terrible candidate. People actually mentioned it on the doorstep – the BBC Question Time special – and how awful they felt he did,” the Labour source said.
“Labour’s always had this issue as well, struggling to deal with the Greens or struggling to deal with the Lib Dems, and there’s an entitlement to what they see as ‘their vote,’” the source added.
“I think Labour’s probably got better at seeing a need to negotiate with voters and make an offer that peels off voters from other parties, and I think Andy is a bridge-builder and somebody who has appeal. I think Reform needs to catch up.”
In May’s local elections Lowe showed he can win in his patch in Norfolk, taking nine county council seats in Great Yarmouth.
His brand of straight-talking gent-in-chinos appears to appeal to both Facebook boomers and young male TikTokers alike. He’s lifting straight from the Farage play book. No wonder Reform doesn’t like it.
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