I don’t know about you but I don’t really have much time for YouTube politics stuff, but the above video is certainly worth it. It’s a complete vindication of everything I’ve said about Restore Britain. Orla Minihane, Spokeswoman for the Pink Ladies movement, and party ambassador for women and girls, has been hounded out of Restore Britain by the very online grotbag faction I’ve been warning about.
Minihane explains in detail what happened, and having witnessed much of it, I can say with confidence that her version is true.
This, though, was wholly expected. Not only are the the grotbag faction comically bigoted and profoundly antisemitic, they are also rabid misogynists - which is extremely bad news for a party that was already going to struggle to attract women. A party can scarcely bang the drum about rape gangs and “protecting our women” when they themselves have such appalling attitudes.
While Minihane has made a number of subsequent communication missteps, the party should have realised that they needed her (and the supporters she will no doubt take with her in the wake of this). They needed to back their own spokeswoman, but were evidently too worried about keeping the grotbag faction on side (who were already agitating for the removal of Henry Bolton).
The problem here is that Restore Britain set out with the view that it was not going to disavow any of its support base. Lowe was right insofar as Tommy Robinson supporters were concerned, but I think he underestimated just how toxic the grotbag right really are (while his own lieutenants pandered to them).
As I remarked the other day, this was a consequence of not fending them off at the very beginning with a formal party definition. While the party has taken some steps to correct this, they’ve probably left it too late. The reputational harm is already done, and the Tommy Robinson supporting patriot crowd have got their number. They like Rupert Lowe. They do not like the company he’s keeping.
Various accounts on X claim that Reform’s grubby dealings, and events over the weekend at Dover, have seen a surge in Restore membership, but Restore is now having the same churn problems that Reform (and formerly Ukip) has. Blistering public rows, backstabbing and infighting are not a good look for a party that’s supposed to be the credible alternative to Reform.
On the whole, neither of the Slop Right parties are faring particularly well in the public eye right now. Reform may also be on the brink of a civil war as the question of succession increasingly pops up. Neither party looks like it knows what it’s doing, and neither looks like a viable prospect for government. The dissident right is in freefall and is unable to hold it together until 2029. Increasingly it looks like party politics is not the answer.
Fundamentally you're right - the problem is when you don't get an intellectual basis of the party established first. It keeps bad uns out.
Sadly Rupert went for mass membership, they never learn...
I remember when Charlie Bentley-Astor went on Lotus Eaters. She wanted to talk about the Axel Rudukabana case, the grotbag right wanted to talk about her breasts.