In the UK and across the West, incendiary language and white supremacist policies are entering the political mainstream, raising urgent questions about what qualifies as too rightwing. The rise of Restore Britain, founded by multimillionaire businessman and former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, exemplifies this shift. The party enjoys the active support of far-right tech billionaire Elon Musk and aims to 'reverse mass migration' by deporting not only undocumented migrants but also 'legally resident foreign nationals' who live in social housing, claim benefits, or 'fail to integrate'. Lowe has declared that 'millions and millions' need to leave, and has called for imprisoning officials who 'placed dangerous third world savages in our communities'.
Restore Britain's prominent supporters include individuals with links to neo-Nazis who advocate the 'total remigration' of any Britons with non-white heritage. While some dismiss the party as fringe, Labour canvassers in the Makerfield by-election report it is finding an audience. The party claims 130,000 members, which would make it larger than the Conservatives. Although Restore Britain may split the rightwing vote and help Labour's Andy Burnham, it would be unwise to feel gratitude, as the party is part of a broader trend across Britain and the West.
After World War II, a political consensus emerged to establish a cordon sanitaire to the right of democratic politics, deeming the far right illegitimate and an existential threat to democracy. This consensus has eroded. The first serious breach came in Austria in 2000 when the far-right Freedom Party entered government, prompting mass protests and EU sanctions. Since then, far-right parties have been normalised across Europe. In Germany, the centre-right Christian Democrats passed an anti-migrant resolution with support from the far-right AfD, breaking a basic consensus. In the Netherlands, the far-right was the largest party in a coalition government until it collapsed last year. In Spain, mainstream conservatives form regional coalitions with the far-right Vox.
Surviving centre-right parties have adopted the anti-migrant agendas of their more extreme rivals, or been taken over by the far-right, as seen with the US Republicans. The old consensus about what lies beyond the pale has collapsed. US President Donald Trump can call Somalis 'garbage' and say 'we don't want them in our country' without consequence. He has pardoned far-right insurrectionists who attempted a violent coup in 2021 and appointed senior figures with a history of white supremacist views. Such language and actions would once have ended a political career; today they barely register.
Britain is following the same trajectory. Nigel Farage now speaks of 'anti-white prejudice' and 'anti-white discrimination', rhetoric long associated with the far-right fringe. Reform UK advocates deporting not only undocumented migrants but also lawful foreign residents in social housing. As Reform faces pressure from Lowe's insurgency, it moves further right. The Conservatives respond by shifting rightwards in pursuit of Reform voters, creating a race to the bottom. There are no guardrails now on the right of UK politics: where Restore Britain goes, others will follow.
