Restore Britain: the party’s over

The Telegraph today reports that ex-Royal Marine officer, Jez Hermer, has accused Restore Britain of being “hijacked by racists”. Hermer, who stood in a by-election for Dover council last month, said he had witnessed “overt anti-Semitism, racism and misogyny” among its activists. He said the party had gone through a “rapid charge to the hard-Right” which Rupert Lowe, the leader, was doing little to address. Hermer revealed he had been called a “traitor” by hard-Right activists because he had said Restore did not believe only white people could be British.

This is not exactly a revelation. The party has been dogged by its grotbag faction pretty much from the outset, and decent high profile people walking away is becoming a trend. On that basis, I’m calling it now. Restore Britain is over as a party.

With the nationalist grotbag faction dug in at the highest levels of the party, it can only repel the kind of candidates in needs. You can't afford to lose candidates like Jez Hermer, a Royal Marines officer. You need candidates of good standing and moral integrity the people will follow. Moreover, veteran officers are a close knit political community and they do talk to each other regularly. Hermer has got Restore's number and word will get out.

In recent weeks I've spoken to three former ranking officers (army, navy and air force) who like Rupert Lowe and agree with him, but really don't like the company he's keeping. They are not going to put their reputations on the line to be associated with anti-semites and all round bigots - especially the anti-NATO "horseshoe" far right.

The kind of reputational harm the grotbags have done to Restore is likely irrecoverable - and there's more damage to come. Word will get out about the seedy conduct of Lowe's fake rape gang inquiry, probably some financial intrigue, and open associations with known neo-nazis.

If Lowe has any chance of repairing the damage, he is going to have to sack Charlie Downes - but that will open up a new front in the civil war on the right, probably spawning a new party, leaving Restore looking like another toothless Advance UK because of its other structural problems.

I doubt Lowe will act though because I don't think he really understands what is going on in his own party. If he was on top of things, he would have listened to what his friends have been saying and acted months ago. The steps he has taken are too little and too late.

In my view he should have sacked Charlie Downes the moment he started pandering to the anti-Israel crowd. The Israeli "genocide" narrative is lazy and issue illiterate - and it's important to keep challenging it. Everybody who repeats this mantra routinely demonstrates they know nothing about it.

The left adopt this narrative so they can cosy up to Islamists as part of a utilitarian alliance to bring down the West. It is then all the more disappointing to see prats on the right like Charlie Downes using the same rhetoric, because its used to the same ends. Doctrinal British nationalists are anti-NATO, anti-capitalist isolationists who use the term "international finance" as a synonym for "the Jews" - an entire web of conspiracy theories to explain the West's largely self-inflicted malaise. They are just as much nihilistic revolutionaries as the far left.

This explains Restore's close relationship with Frank Wright, a foaming antisemitic conspiracy theorist (extending to blaming 9/11 on Jews). No self-respecting conservative should have anything to do with Restore Britain. It has a stage 4 cancerous tumour and its name is Charlie Downes - and people who should know better are turning a blind eye to it.

Ultimately, a party like Restore needed to attract the patriotic officer class. They are an essential component of any serious movement, not least because of their connections, money and experience. A party that wants to win votes needs veteran officers more than it needs conspiracy cranks who put racist stickers on lampposts and spend all day watching American youtubers. That meant staying well clear of the grotbags.

It should be noted that the anti-NATO/Israel sentiment on the far right is not a new thing. It is as old as I am - and was just as present in days of the cold war. When you see it in conjunction with antisemitic conspiracy theories you know you are dealing with actual fascists - and nobody presentable who ever served in the British armed forces is going to sign up to that - nor anyone else who actually wants to accomplish something.

I don’t expect expect that Restore Britain will give up the ghost immediately. It will probably linger on for a while and make a nuisance of itself just to satisfy Lowe’s vendetta against Farage, but any potential it might have had to become a serious contender is well and truly sunk.