Restore is a busted flush. But here is how the Right CAN unite to win: NADINE DORRIES
Daily Mail columnist Nadine Dorries argues that the parties of the British Right – the Conservatives, Reform and Restore – remain dangerously divided while Labour benefits from Andy Burnham courting the Liberal Democrats and Greens into a united Left. She dismisses a public offer of unity from Restore founder Rupert Lowe to co-operate with Reform against Labour, characterising it not as statesmanship but as a desperate bid by Lowe to salvage his political career.
Dorries claims sources told her of a secret meeting on 26 July between Lowe and Conservative representatives, part of a series of talks over the past year aimed at building a "Conservative Alliance" between the Tories and Restore, which would sideline Reform. She alleges Lowe demanded a peerage and the position of deputy prime minister, a demand the Conservatives rejected, ending the meeting acrimoniously, though both the Conservatives and Restore denied to the Daily Mail that any such talks took place.
- Dorries says the Right is split while the Left unites under Burnham
- Claims secret Tory-Restore "alliance" talks collapsed over Lowe's demands
- Tories and Restore both deny any such meeting occurred
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Britain's political right is currently split across three parties rather than one. The Conservative Party is the traditional party of the right, now out of power after its 2024 election defeat. Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, has grown rapidly by pulling voters away from the Conservatives, while Restore is a newer, smaller party.
Restore was founded by Rupert Lowe, an MP who was elected for Reform UK but left the party after a public falling-out with its leadership. Since then he has positioned Restore as a rival option on the right, adding to the number of parties competing for similar voters.
This matters because under Britain's electoral system, splitting votes between multiple parties chasing the same supporters can make it harder for any one of them to win seats, potentially benefiting other parties, including Labour, which currently governs the UK. Discussion of whether and how these right-of-centre parties might work together, rather than compete, is therefore a recurring theme in coverage of British politics.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A supporter of Dorries's argument would say the electoral maths simply demands realism: a fragmented Right split across three parties risks handing Labour and a resurgent progressive alliance repeated victories under first-past-the-post, so pointing out Restore's weak position and pressing for consolidation around the strongest vehicles is a legitimate, even necessary, act of political strategy rather than betrayal. On this view, scrutinising Lowe's unity offer and any behind-the-scenes manoeuvring is fair game, since voters deserve to know whether politicians are motivated by genuine principle or personal advancement before parties ask for their trust.
The case against
A defender of Lowe and Restore would counter that dismissing a public offer of cross-party cooperation as mere career salvage, on the basis of anonymous sourcing for a meeting both named parties deny took place, is an uncharitable and potentially unfair characterisation that pre-judges motive without proof. They would argue that new or smaller parties deserve to have their stated positions and offers of unity judged on their own terms rather than filtered through unverified claims about secret demands for titles and office, and that robust scepticism of establishment politics is precisely what such parties exist to represent.