Is Restore Britain anything new – or more of the same?

Just when you thought politics couldn’t fragment any further, along come two new political movements on the far right, both spawned from Reform UK like replicating amoebae.

- SEAN O'GRADY

The very newest is “Restore Britain”, which proclaims it is not a party but a “movement”. That one is led by former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe. The other is the creation of former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, and is a party, albeit a slightly peculiar one. Habib was sacked from his Reform role by Nigel Farage after the general election last year, and left what he called “the cult” soon afterwards.

Although Reform UK is still arguably the main force on the right of British politics, with a comfortable polling lead over the Conservatives, it has many smaller competitors, and has itself — including in its previous incarnations (Ukip, Brexit Party) - shown a distinct tendency to splinter at the first sign of success. After all, its chair, Zia Yusuf, recently resigned and un-resigned in one day. They’re a volatile lot.

Hasn’t Habib got a party already?

Well, he did have. “Integrity” was its name. It actually never registered with the Electoral Commission, and as a corporate entity it has now been renamed Advance UK Party Limited, according to the records at Companies House.

Integrity Party Limited was originally incorporated on 19 November 2024. Its directors were Habib himself; Christian Russell (resigned 11 April 2025); Richard Shaw (also resigned on 11 April); and Mohammad Sohail (resigned 13 December 2024). So Habib is apparently now its sole director, and he is the only “person with significant control”, holding, directly or indirectly, 75 per cent or more of the shares in the company.

So is it democratic?