A new hard-right British political party called Restore Britain — backed financially by Elon Musk and led by sitting Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe — formally launched on Monday with a platform that explicitly embraces ethnic and religious discrimination, calls for the mass deportation of millions of people from Britain, and proposes banning both halal and kosher religious slaughter, in what political observers described as the most overtly nativist party programme seen in mainstream British politics in decades.
"We will discriminate," Lowe declared at the party's launch event, in what he framed as a deliberate rejection of the language of equality that he argued had been used to suppress discussion of immigration. The statement was not incidental; it formed the explicit headline of the party's self-presentation to the public.
Lowe, who previously sat as a Conservative MP before joining Nigel Farage's Reform UK and subsequently departing that party, invoked the slogan "millions must go" in reference to the party's immigration policy — a phrase that echoes the language of the 1970s National Front and that drew immediate condemnation from across the mainstream political spectrum.
To understand today's headlines, we must look at yesterday's decisions. Britain's political landscape has shifted markedly to the right on immigration since the 2016 Brexit referendum, which was fought substantially on the claim that EU freedom of movement had produced unacceptable demographic change. Reform UK under Farage has further accelerated this rightward movement, polling at or above 30 percent in some surveys — a position that has emboldened figures like Lowe to advance positions that would have been considered outside the acceptable range of mainstream debate as recently as 2015.
The distinguishing feature of Restore Britain, however, is not merely the extremity of its immigration proposals but its explicit ideological framework. Where Reform UK has argued for civic nationalism — membership of the British nation open to those who embrace British values regardless of origin — Restore Britain's founding documentation, according to reporting by Middle East Eye, defines Britain as "a people defined by indigenous British ancestry and Christian faith." This represents a shift from civic to ethnic nationalism that places the party outside the tradition of postwar British conservative politics.
The proposed ban on halal and kosher slaughter would affect both the UK's Muslim community of approximately 3.9 million and its Jewish community of approximately 280,000 — a combination that has united religious leaders from both traditions in opposition. The Chief Rabbi of Britain described the proposal as "an attack on religious freedom" that would make Jewish life in Britain unsustainable.
Musk's backing for the party was declared through posts on his social media platform X, where he has previously endorsed Lowe and expressed sympathy with hard-right positions on British immigration and multiculturalism. The financial dimension of Musk's support was confirmed by party officials, though specific sums were not disclosed.
The launch provoked immediate political condemnation. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the party's programme as "extremist rhetoric that has no place in British politics." Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, facing pressure on her party's right flank, was more measured but said she rejected "discrimination based on ethnicity or religion." Farage's Reform UK, competing for overlapping voters, dismissed Restore Britain as a vanity project.
The party's immediate electoral prospects are limited. Britain's first-past-the-post voting system heavily disadvantages new parties without established geographic concentrations of support. However, Restore Britain's significance may lie less in its likely parliamentary presence than in the signal it sends about the direction of travel at the fringes of British politics — and about the role of external actors with significant financial resources in funding that movement.
The question of foreign political funding has become acutely sensitive in Britain. Current electoral law contains significant gaps in transparency requirements for political donations, and the Electoral Commission has indicated it is reviewing the legal framework. Whether Musk's reported financial support for Restore Britain falls within or outside existing rules is a matter that regulators will need to address.
