Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe could earn more from his prolific posting on X this year than from his work as an MP, according to earnings figures. The Great Yarmouth MP has made just under £56,000 from an estimated 60 hours spent on the platform so far in 2026.
The total appeared in his entry in the Register of Members' Financial Interests, which lists gifts and outside earnings for MPs. It showed that Lowe received a single payment of £10,265.50 earlier this month for five hours of tweeting, equating to more than £2,000 an hour.
Potential to surpass salary
Analysis by the Guardian suggests his X earnings will easily exceed the current MPs' annual salary of £98,599 if recent payout trends continue. Lowe has previously stated that he donates his monthly net MP salary to local charities and other good causes.
That amount, after tax and National Insurance, is estimated to be around £5,645 – considerably less than his recent X earnings. X's monetisation system pays subscription-holding users based on the number of impressions their posts receive.
Popularity on the platform
Lowe is highly popular on X, with around 150,000 more followers than Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Among British MPs, he has the fifth-highest follower count, behind only Keir Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn, Rishi Sunak, and Nigel Farage.
His popularity has been boosted by explicit support from the site's owner, Elon Musk. Lowe's hard-right political brand, which opposes immigration and calls for the deportation of millions from the UK, aligns with Musk's views on Western civilisation. His posts regularly receive tens of thousands of likes, and one recent example calling for a burqa ban in the UK, following Portugal's lead, was viewed more than a million times.
Political context
The engagement is notable for a politician who entered the national spotlight only last year after being ejected from Reform, and whose party has just one MP – himself – and 35 councillors nationwide. Despite this, Restore Britain finished above the Conservatives and Lib Dems in both the Makerfield and Greater Manchester mayoral by-elections.
Writing on X yesterday evening, Lowe said: 'Trust me, if I wanted to make money, I would NOT be in politics. I donate my entire net MP salary to charity. This is the most expensive job I've ever had, comfortably!'
