A top Conservative demanding that the right unite to defeat Labour and the Greens has said that Restore Britain is too extreme to be included in any pact.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg cited revelations in this paper as evidence that Restore Britain, headed by former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, contains members who have ‘some very undesirable views’.
Sir Jacob, one of the most prominent voices backing the Daily Mail’s ‘unite the right’ campaign, told ITV’s Robert Peston: ‘I think at the moment, Restore is a very fringe party, and has some people in it – there was a story in the Daily Mail today – who have expressed some very undesirable views.’
‘So I think we’ve got to be careful about Restore.
‘It hasn’t got the breadth that Reform has, and we don’t want to pick up every right-winger going.’
His warning came after a week in which the Daily Mail published a number of damning exposés about the hard-right party, which now threatens to let Andy Burnham win the Makerfield by-election by stealing enough of Reform UK’s vote.
Revelations included multiple Restore Britain officials giving platforms to far-right extremists, the party refusing to disavow one prominent activist who called for the deportation of Jews, and Restore quashing the expulsion of one member who had posed with a neo-fascist flag while making a Nazi salute.
Today, the Tories also issued a statement distancing themselves from Restore, after speculation the two parties are already cooperating to stop Nigel Farage.
Jacob Rees-Mogg said last night that Restore cannot be included in any ‘Unite the Right’ pact
Rupert Lowe was given a plum seat by the Tories on a Commons select committee last year
But the Tories insisted Kemi Badenoch has done no pacts with any rival parties or MPs
The Conservatives initially appeared to enjoy a friendly relationship with Mr Lowe following his expulsion from Reform UK.
Last October the party handed him one of their own allocated seats on the Public Accounts Committee, a senior Commons panel scrutinising government spending.
It is also understood that the party held discussions following Mr Lowe’s expulsion from Reform about allowing him to defect to the Conservative Party.
But at least one MP warned Ms Badenoch it would be ‘him or me’, such was their opposition to allowing the hard-right MP to cross the floor.
Rumours of a gentlemen’s agreement between the Tories and Lowe were further fuelled when Restore failed to stand a candidate in the upcoming Aberdeen South by-election, sparked by the election of former SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn to Holyrood.
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But the party told the Mail Ms Badenoch is making ‘no pacts’ with any rival political organisation.
A senior Conservative Party source said: ‘Kemi has been clear – no pacts, no stitch-ups… Kemi will win with her serious, thought-through plan to get Britain working again.’
They branded online allegations that Ms Badenoch and Mr Lowe have some form of electoral pact a ‘silly conspiracy theory’.
And a spokesman for Restore claimed they are not standing in Aberdeen South, unlike Makerfield, because ‘as a new party, we are focusing our efforts where we can win’.
It is understood that the Conservatives cannot withdraw Mr Lowe from their allocated seat on the Public Accounts Committee, as it would require a bespoke motion in the House of Commons.
