The American right has developed a morbid fascination with Britain over the past two years, particularly after Elon Musk began tweeting about grooming gangs. Some European influencers have found it lucrative to present Britain and parts of the continent as having ‘fallen’, posting videos of crimes by immigrants and appearing on American podcast networks as weary ambassadors from broken countries to warn: ‘It could happen here.’ 

Yesterday evening the Joe Rogan Experience podcast released a two-hour interview with Rupert Lowe, leader of the Restore party. Was Lowe there merely to create content – or is Restore a serious political party? Some of his statements suggest it’s the former rather than the latter.

Claim: Only one person died during Dunblane (27:29)

Lowe: As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 1990s because there was a murder up in Dunblane.

Perhaps Lowe meant to say that there had been one incident which led to the banning of handguns – but he said one murder, and the Dunblane massacre, on 13 March 1996, saw 16 children and one adult teacher killed.

Claim: Migrants go to the top of NHS waiting lists (37:59)

Lowe: [If you are a small boat migrant] you go to the top of the waiting list for dental........

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