The Makerfield by-election matters hugely. Not only is Andy Burnham seeking a return to Parliament, he will also likely become prime minister if he succeeds at defeating Reform in the contest. The stakes could not be higher. Which makes the impact of Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain particularly important. With Labour and Reform neck and neck in the polls, Restore’s estimated 7 per cent of the vote share could split the right-wing vote enough to carry Burnham to victory. Now, more than ever, it seems a good time to try and understand what Restore stands for. But after attempting to do so this past week, I’m not sure I succeeded.

This was supposed to have been an interview with Rebecca Shepherd, Restore’s candidate for Makerfield. It isn’t, and I hope you will allow me a few words to explain why before I move on to the meat of this piece. Last Monday, shortly after Shepherd was announced as Restore’s candidate, I contacted the party’s press team. Would Rebecca be interested in an interview? If so, I thought it could run in The Spectator. They responded quickly with a yes. They were particularly excited about The Spectator publishing the interview.

‘I’ve never said we should deport whole communities. What I have said is create a hostile environment and if we have to pay these people some money to go home’

‘I’ve never said we should deport whole communities. What I have said is create a hostile environment and if we have to pay these people some money to go home’

But then things became rather strange. First, the party said Rebecca was too busy to do the interview. Then they said she needed some media training and asked if I like to interview Rupert Lowe in the meantime? Rebecca would definitely be available in a few days after she got ‘some proper coaching’, they told me. I agreed to interview Rupert. Then I was told that Rebecca was taking a couple of days off so wouldn’t be available after all. In the end I was only able to interview Rupert Lowe.

Things became more confusing when I spoke to Lowe on the phone. He seemed to think that the press is denying his party coverage and that The Spectator in particular is anti-Restore. Lowe asked me: ‘Why do you think, David, most of the media has been completely ignoring what we’re doing? I mean, most of my friends who aren’t on social media had no idea we’d won Great Yarmouth [in the local elections].’ He seemed genuinely curious.

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I suggested the fact that Restore never send out press releases might be one reason. I also said that Rebecca Shepherd is an interesting candidate but there’s ‘a perception online that Restore is the party of young right wing men’.

Lowe told me he didn’t think that was ‘a fair criticism’, noting that:

‘There was this spate of accusations of ethnonationalism and all this sort of rubbish. But you know I can’t and won’t audit who supports us, but I can assure you the actual structure of the party has none of that in it. The party is founded on common sense. It’s logic. It’s common sense. You know, I run multiple businesses, I see how deficient the state is, I see how poorly its serving its electorate and constituents…I see the sort of headwinds that we all face in order to create wealth…you see all this Angela Rayner rubbish, the Renters Rights Act, it’s just meant they’re always being booted out of their houses, why would you let your house? Nobody’s letting their houses. Your mate Gove started that by the way. I mean he was very unsound in that area.’

‘There was this spate of accusations of........

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