Thursday’s Makerfield by-election is a make or break for both Burnham and Farage.
Like so much of life, politics is often about who shouts loudest.
In isolation, and objectively, few care for Rupert Lowe’s take on the demise of Britain or his radical solutions.
But his extreme views are spreading like wildfire thanks to social media or, more accurately, his trillionaire chum Elon Musk.
And here is the rub: both men have been publicly snubbed, and consequently embarrassed depending on your point of view, by Nigel Farage. And neither have taken kindly to that.
Musk cares little about Britain, and knows even less, so his intervention in the upcoming Makerfield by-election and recent Belfast riots have an ulterior motive.
Lowe, who represents Great Yarmouth, is a one-man band after a brutal falling out with Farage. He was thrown out of the party after being accused of bullying and verbal abuse. He vehemently denies all the claims.
He maintains the spectacular parting of ways boiled down to popularity – he was more popular, more clever, and had broader appeal than his boss.
An insider said: “Farage loathed Rupert’s appeal. He hates Rupert and his success. He just doesn’t want to know.”
The well-placed source claimed Lowe irked Farage because of a broad appeal that won him millions of admirers on social media and a ringing endorsement from the world’s richest man who was a key Donald Trump lieutenant.
He also went rogue by outlining a wide range of policy suggestions including a plan to inject life into Britain’s high streets.
Since he was binned he set up Restore, an extreme version of Reform.
Bruised egos have made for a dangerous platform – Lowe’s venomous words coupled with Musk’s unrivalled reach mean Restore is more than the sum of its largely irrelevant parts.
Musk has amplified Lowe’s rants and calls for protest across Britain from far right agitator Tommy Robinson. He has ensured anti-immigration posts and messages are seen across the world. Without him Lowe has no presence and is reduced to being an angry man holding a grudge.
It means Makerfield goes to the polls in 48 hours to vote in a by-election that has never been about local issues and could be shaped by a rich man running a social media giant based 5,000 miles away where disinformation is hoovered up in the blink of an eye.
The outcome is mind boggling and frightening in equal measure.
Latest voting intention puts Labour on 46%, Reform on 41%, and Restore on 7%.
Farage said Labour’s Andy Burnham – the likely next prime minister if he wins – would be “delighted” after Musk shared a tweet from Lowe about the upcoming poll, adding: “Musk has decided he will try to split the right of British politics as best he can. This is supporting a party that’s one man with a social media account. Quite what he’s trying to achieve, I have no idea.”
Most reasonable people – despite what you see and read scrolling the cesspit of humanity that is X – find Restore and its policies deeply abhorrent.
It calls for “remigration”, described as “the most ambitious programme of mass deportations ever seen in Britain” and worse besides.
The majority know it is not the answer and it is most certainly not the language of the tolerant and welcoming country we remain, despite deep divisions and the myriad of social problems we face.
But what people see sticks. And for Lowe, who counts a handful of local councillors in Kent, Great Yarmouth, and East Riding, as his political base, Musk is the most important player in Makerfield.
Researchers from the not-for-profit tech watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate said: “Musk’s amplification has been instrumental. As the owner of X and its most followed user (he) has unparalleled power to shape what people see online. With that power comes responsibility for the content and conduct his platform promotes.”
Responsibility is hardly a word you would associate with politics right now, but with the future of the country at stake Farage faces a fight with Burnham on the left and Lowe and Musk on the right. It is one he can’t lose if he has any hope of becoming prime minister.
Reform say “if you go Lowe, you get Labour” but secretly they are rattled and hope the people of Makerfield see through Burnham’s egotistical ambitions and Lowe’s unquenchable thirst for revenge when they cast their vote on Thursday.
The feeling is that people trust Farage, not only for what he believes, but the way it is delivered. You might not like his message, plenty don’t, but he remains the only realistic chance of kicking out a government that by any objective measure has been an unmitigated disaster for Britain.
Lowe and his filthy rich pal cannot change the political landscape, but Farage can.
