Mail on Sunday attacks Restore as split right creates headache for UK papers

Restore Britain was founded by Rupert Lowe, a former Reform UK MP. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Restore Britain was founded by Rupert Lowe, a former Reform UK MP. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Analysis Mail on Sunday attacks Restore as split right creates headache for UK papers Michael Savage Media editor Some titles that once backed the Tories now ‘flirting with Farage’ as they try to gauge where readers stand It was a Mail on Sunday headline with all the ferocity usually reserved for general elections, directed squarely at a political opponent. But in this case, the traditionally Conservative-supporting title was not targeting Labour. The party in its crosshairs was Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, the vehemently rightwing outfit that regards Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as too weak on deporting migrants. “Restore Activists at ‘White Supremacy Summit’,” declared the front page. It claimed supporters canvassing for Lowe’s party before this week’s Makerfield byelection had attended an event that hosted calls for “a white-only Europe”. Unusually, the Mail on Sunday’s vehemently anti-Restore editorial was displayed prominently on its app through much of the weekend. “Anyone who really cares about Britain won’t vote Restore,” it stated, asking voters to back Reform. Restore Britain described the story about the summit as “totally irrelevant” and a “hit piece”. The next day, however, the Daily Mail followed up with another blow. “Restore is the ‘new home for neo-Nazis’”, it said, citing Lowe’s claim over the weekend that if the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, wanted to join Restore, it was “up to him”. A Reform source supplied the killer quote used for the headline. View image in fullscreen Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has accused Nigel Farage of being part of the establishment. Photograph: Peter Powell/AFP/Getty Images Lowe himself saw the attacks as a sign of success. “Two Daily Mail front pages in a row abusing Restore Britain in the most spectacular fashion,” he said. “We’ve got the buggers on the run.” However, the prominence and strength of the stories have also caught the eye of senior figures in Westminster and the media, who view it as a sign of how the rightwing press is reacting to the fracturing of the British right. Reform figures believe that the emergence of Restore, and its even more stark approach to deporting “millions and millions” of people from the UK, could help push the Mail and other titles towards it as the acceptable option for its readers. The immediate driver of the Mail’s endorsement was this week’s pivotal Makerfield byelection, in which Andy Burnham is attempting to return to parliament and challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership. While Burnham is the favourite, Reform is his challenger and there is a realistic possibility that Restore’s splitting of the rightwing vote could be the difference. The approach to Restore by t