Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has ruled out entering talks with Restore leader Rupert Lowe unless the latter removes his “antisemitic” co-founder from the party.
Reform and Restore compete for a similar voter base on the British right, though relations between their leadership are strained.
On Monday, Farage held a press conference in which he addressed recent rumors that Reform and Restore might make a deal.
“So we can talk to Rupert Lowe – that’s fine,” he said. “But when you have co-founders, et cetera, putting out what I would call the ‘old theory’ – the old theory that we probably haven’t heard in this country since 1936 – and you have other adjacent publicly supportive people demanding that all Jews be removed from the country, just as an example…”
“The condition I would put on it is that those people would have to be out of the inner circle, and I think that for me would be the only way we could sensibly proceed,” he continued.
The co-founder in question is Charlie Downes. He was accused earlier in the month of insinuating that Farage had been “bought” out by Jewish supporters. Specifically, Downes responded to one of Farage’s posts on X/Twitter, in which Farage said he could not be bought, with an image showing him in front of signs for the Reform Jewish Alliance.
According to Politico, Farage’s attack on “publicly supportive people demanding that all Jews be removed from the country” is a reference to Steve Laws, a backer of Restore Britain who is an advocate of “total remigration.”
Reform spokesman: No agreement with Lowe’s party while Downes in place
A spokesman for Reform told The Telegraph that there was no question of any agreement with Lowe’s party while Downes was in place.
“There are antisemitic and extreme racists at or near the top of the party, and they would have to go first,” he said.
“We’re happy to talk, but we can’t do it when there are people in the party like Charlie Downes. This all started with the Groypers in the US, and it’s happening here, putting out this anti-Jewish stuff that is very similar to the far Left.”
A groyper is a member of a far-right, white nationalist network of internet users and activists, led by Nick Fuentes.
Reform behind Conservatives, at lowest polling score since March 2025
Reform is at its lowest polling score since March 2025, with the party losing ground to the Conservatives.
The latest YouGov survey put Labour on 24 points, two points ahead of Nigel Farage’s party on 22% – the first time a YouGov poll has put Labour ahead of Reform in more than a year. Restore currently has 4 points, according to the same poll.
When approached for comment, Reform pointed The Jerusalem Post to Farage’s comments to Politico.