Who is Really Bankrolling Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain?
EXCLUSIVE: Max Colbert and Josiah Mortimer investigate the figures behind the Elon Musk-backed far-right rival to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
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Little is known about Restore Britain’s funding. The far-right party, seen as a disrupter on Reform UK’s right flank, was only formally registered as a party in February, meaning further donations records will begin to appear in the coming months, should they cross the threshold for declaration.
The party, currently polling around 4%, was set up in February with startup cash of £2.5 million. It’s a huge amount for a party with just one sitting MP, ex-Reform politician Rupert Lowe. However, due to a gap in electoral law, Lowe does not have to declare where that money came from, because assets belonging to a party at time of registration are not subject to standard rules around donation transparency.
While there is no suggestion of any financial wrongdoing on the part of Lowe or Restore, this represents a blind spot which could allow for “dark money” to flow into British politics.
What is known so far, however, paints a picture of a party accepting membership and/or donations from a string of extreme or scandal-hit individuals, as well as from property developers, management consultants, and members of the cryptocurrency community.
The ‘Cromwell Club’ Money Men
Central to this is Restore’s exclusive donations vessel, the ‘Cromwell Club’, which people can join for an annual fee of £2,500 per year. The club appears to be named after Oliver Cromwell, the 17th century republican leader responsible for the direct killing of thousands in Ireland during his conquest there. The Restore Britain Page makes clear that “All donations will be used to support political campaigning and the operations of Restore Britain”.
The Cromwell Club page reminds potential contributors that “If you donate more than £11,180 to Restore Britain in a calendar year, we are legally required to report the donation to the Electoral Commission, which will publish the donor’s details.”
Because the membership list is not published, what is known so far about the Club’s membership is patchy, but several individuals on social media have made a point of stating that they have signed up for entry into the elite tier of Restore’s donor base.
Businessman and political activist John Mappin has said that he has joined the Club, stating on X: “We are proud to support Rupert’s vision and proud to have donated to Restore’s Cromwell Club”. Mappin, owner of the Camelot Castle Hotel in Cornwall, was an early backer of Turning Point UK, and along with his wife Irina hosted the launch event for the offshoot of the US right-wing student activist organisation.
Mappin was involved in anti-vaccine campaigning during the pandemic, and in 2022 The Times reported that the ‘leading conspiracy theorist’ was offering a discount to guests who could prove they had posted anti-vax comments.
Jonathan Wong, an organiser of “Abolish Asylum Day”, also made his donation known. An associate of the far-right UK influencer Carl Benjamin (AKA Sargon of Akkad), and contributor to the ‘anti-woke’ media outlet Vox Populi, Wong congratulated Mappin under his post claiming membership, writing “Welcome to the Cromwell Club” – with a saluting face and a Union Flag emoji.
Another self-described Restore donor is – or was – English far-right YouTuber Miles Routledge (AKA Lord Miles), a Restore activist and supporter who has called Steve Laws a “liberal” for wanting to deport millions of people from the UK, saying: “I have better solutions”.
In a post last July, he wrote: “What brings me joy and hope in this world is that by 2039 we’ll have another Hitler to lead another great uprising.”
In the case of Routledge/Miles, it seems he later fell out with the party over the donation, tweeting that he “donated £2.5k to Restore and was promised a simple thank you call, never happened, no email either. Was going to donate substantially more”.
Also announcing himself as a Cromwell Club member is James Holmes, a property developer from an affluent area of Sheffield behind the “Fly the Flag” campaign, who caused controversy in the local area when he draped a 100-foot-wide, £3,000 Union Flag over a large former council building he owns in the area. He announced that he had become a member of the ‘exclusive’ donors club in a post on Facebook.
One Ashton Ward, co-founder of management consultant firm Eton Bridge Partners, has also indicated that he has joined the Club.
Crypto Comrades
Finally, members of the cryptocurrency online community have also donated to join Cromwell. An account going by the name “Walshy”, reportedly belonging to the co-lead of ‘Neiro’, a cryptocurrency inspired by Elon Musk’s Dogecoin, has stated on X that he became a member of the Club. The account posted that it had donated in excess of £11,000 to Restore Britain and Rupert Lowe.
Another crypto account, ‘WhaleFUD’, likewise tweeted that “The crypto community supporting Restore Britain $BRITAIN has joined the Cromwell Club and will soon have a call with Restore Britain leader”, and another crypto-linked poster, “KROP”, posted on X that it has “just exceeded +$20,000 in donations” to Restore Britain.
However, with these crypto donations in particular, Restore recently refunded the ‘$Britain’ project, according to the party. Donations made from the cryptocurrency project, referred to as the “Britain Token”, made by these largely anonymous creators, were a “memecoin” which claimed to have donated tens of thousands to Lowe’s Party. Those involved said they were not affiliated with Restore but supported it.
Written evidence given to Parliament at the time by campaign organisation Spotlight on Corruption stated that researchers for the group had “seen evidence of at least one case so far where the creator fees paid for by investors in a $BRITAIN token affiliated to the Restore Britain Party have been donated to a political party.
“The source of these donations, ‘Britain Token’, which amount to over £35,000, is impermissible as it is an entity that has no legal standing,” a Spotlight on Corruption spokesperson said.
After concerns were raised about the project with the Electoral Commission, a Restore spokesperson said that the party had “already refunded every single penny received from this organisation, going above and beyond any necessary rules to ensure that we are fully compliant”.
It is not currently known to what extent, if at all, crypto-supporters of the Cromwell Club still retain membership, how many were deemed impermissible, or how many of those who are or were members were involved specifically in the Britain Token project.
The Labour Government recently placed a retrospective moratorium on all cryptocurrency donations to political parties, which is still in effect. It was not in place at the time of the Britain Token project, but the Electoral Commission had not published any substantial donations made in cryptocurrencies before the ban.
Lowe and the Musk Effect
Aside from membership of Cromwell, other donors have also given personally to Restore’s only MP, many of whom have done so in support of the ‘Rape Gang Inquiry’ that he initiated. This includes two donors to Reform, collectively behind £65,000 in donations to Nigel Farage’s party. Derek Holder and Margaret Hepburn have donated to the Inquiry.
Hepburn, a resident of Monaco, has donated both personally and via her company, Hepburn Bio Care UK Ltd, the vehicle she also uses to back Reform. These donations were received after Lowe’s expulsion from Reform UK. The donations for this total £33,000.
Further recorded donors to Lowe personally include Munish Sharma, whose website states: “Like many in my generation my parents immigrated to the UK, had little wealth, but worked hard, tirelessly and selflessly for me and our family.” He donated £2,000 to Lowe last June. The other is Christopher Newman, believed to be the man who represented the MP in his failed bid to block a parliamentary watchdog investigation into him. Newman gave support of £5,000 to Lowe last July, likely to be a donation-in-kind for his time.
Perhaps the most globally prominent vocal supporter of Rupert Lowe is Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who has repeatedly amplified Restore’s presence on the social media platform X, which he owns. Musk has previously posted for people to “Join Rupert Lowe in Restore Britain, because he is the only one who will actually do it!”, and has on multiple occasions posted about the party and shared content from Rupert Lowe.
Two days after Restore was launched, Musk posted on his platform that, “It will win. It must win. To Save Britain”. To date, Rupert Lowe has earned £85,534 from X Corp and his monetised presence on the platform since the 2024 election.
In terms of reach on the platform, it has previously been reported that on X, Lowe has at points been the most popular British politician in terms of post ‘likes’, far outstripping Farage and Green Party leader Zack Polanski. Ahead of the Makerfield by-election, it was reported that Lowe had 10 posts with 10 million views each on X, with Farage having none, despite having three times as many followers on the platform.
As of this week, Musk has welcomed “Britain’s last hope” to America. As part of a trip to the US, Lowe has said he would meet the world’s first trillionaire on Sunday.
There are suggestions that the Government will amend the current Representation of the People Bill to ensure the sources of donations received by a party before they are formally registered with the Electoral Commission will have to be declared on registering as a party.
Speaking to Byline Times, Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, which campaigns against the radical right, said of the party:
“Restore Britain’s increasing popularity is a chilling reminder that, even if Reform UK stumbles, there is always something lurking in the wings, even further to the far-right.
“Rupert Lowe’s party, and its mysterious funding sources, make one thing clear: we urgently need PR in place ahead of the next election as a firewall to ensure populists and dangerous extremists don’t control the balance of power, and to protect our democracy and rights from those who threaten them.”
Restore Britain and Rupert Lowe were contacted for comment.
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