Laura Hollis

Revolution brewing in British political circles

There’s a revolution brewing across the Big Pond. The British people were already fed up with the Labour government headed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. And then the man Starmer appointed to be ambassador to the United States – Peter Mandelson – was exposed as having a deep friendship with sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, even after Epstein was convicted on charges of sex with a minor in 2008. Mandelson is now under investigation for possibly passing sensitive government information to Epstein. Starmer is viewed as being crippled by these revelations and losing support within his own party.

But it’s the split on the political Right that is most interesting at the moment. For quite some time, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party has been the favorite to unseat Labour in the next general parliamentary election in 2029. Farage came into the international spotlight as the leader of the movement to take Britain out of the European Union (“Brexit”). But Farage is increasingly viewed as having become “establishment,” particularly on the question of what to do about the millions of Muslim migrants who have poured into England and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Farage and former fellow Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe had a serious falling-out last year. Lowe was – and is – pushing for mass deportations, a policy that Farage has dismissed as “beyond the point of reasonableness, of decency, of morality.” Lowe publicly criticized Farage’s leadership of Reform UK; Farage responded by kicking Lowe out of the party, accusing him of “bullying” staff members and of making threats against party chairman Zia Yusef. It would further appear that Farage was responsible for a police raid on Lowe’s home to confiscate his firearms. (No charges were filed against Lowe, and his guns were returned to him.)

Lowe has returned with a vengeance. Two weeks ago, he announced the formation of a new political party, “Restore Britain.” Among the policies Lowe says the party will advocate for are banning the burqa, return of the death penalty for the most heinous crimes, stronger self-defense protections for British homeowners, reversal of convictions for those accused of “hate speech crimes” and commutation of their sentences, laws ensuring freedom of speech, and mass deportations, starting with migrants who have committed crimes, including and especially the men who have participated in the “rape gangs.”

Perhaps more than any other issue, this one has galvanized the British public. People are shocked to discover that the government was too timid to arrest and prosecute men – largely Pakistani – who were known to be keeping young girls as sex slaves, fearing being called racist. Lowe has sworn he’ll bring all the facts to light and earlier this week released a victim’s statement indicating that members of local police forces were not only aware of the Pakistani rape gangs but, in some cases, were participants.

All of this has created a perfect storm of outrage, and Lowe has very clearly hit a nerve. The British parliamentary system is very different from America’s political structure, and their general election is – absent some intervening event – three years away. But this feels for all the world like a MAGA-esque revolution in the making.

Polls conducted this week asking Britons their voting intentions show Restore Britain, which is not even an officially approved party yet, already with 7% support. (Keep in mind that these numbers are divided among 10 political parties, with Reform UK having the largest percentage, at 25%.) Reform UK is trying to stave off defections, insisting that Restore Britain will “split the vote,” and cannot possibly get enough seats in Parliament to elect the prime minister, thus handing victory to Labour again (or, God forbid, the Green Party).

But this is exactly what establishment Republicans in the United States said when Trump entered the presidential race in 2015. In the UK now, as in the U.S. then, citizens are disgusted with traditional political parties and their government’s inability – or refusal – to perform what is viewed as its most fundamental responsibility – protecting the British public and preserving the country.

It’s going to be fun to watch.