Nigel Farage said he has “reached out” to Rupert Lowe after the Restore Britain leader urged him to put their past disagreements aside so the two parties can work together.
Mr Lowe, a former Reform UK MP who started his own Restore party after a public spat with some of Reform’s leading figures, made a peace offering to Mr Farage on Sunday despite a series of public rows between the pair in recent months.
The party – which until now has largely been based in Lowe’s constituency Great Yarmouth – is further to the right than Reform on issues such as immigration.
It has also enjoyed support from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has publicly backed Restore Britain a number of times on his X platform.
In a press conference on Monday, Mr Farage said: “If you want to do a political deal with somebody, you know, you would contact them privately and not do a 12-minute video.
“That said, I did actually reach out back yesterday to him. I did say, ‘look, should we have a call?’ I haven’t heard back yet, so I don’t know what the sincerity of this is.”
In a video post on X over the weekend, Mr Lowe said that he was willing to put his differences with Mr Farage aside and have their parties work together if Reform UK took on some of Restore’s policies, such as a ban on the burqa and Halal meat and a referendum on the death penalty.
open image in galleryHe also said Mr Farage would have to commit to not having any former Conservative ministers, such as Tory defectors Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, in any future Cabinet.
“I truly believe there could be sufficient common ground for our two movements to co-operate collectively (to) destroy the looming left-wing alliance that will finish off what hope remains for this country”, Mr Lowe said in a video posted on X.
“We have recently shown how effectively co-operation can work locally on the Norfolk County Council, so why not at national level?”
Responding to that Mr Farage said: “I don’t ditch my friends. I don’t ditch my allies, whether that’s Suella Braverman or Posh George (Cottrell), you know I do not ditch people because somebody else wants me to.”
The Reform leader added: “In broader terms, look, you could see a situation where Restore, without the hope of winning anything outside Great Yarmouth, I mean literally without hope of winning a single seat in the country, could do us great harm.
“I think online you will see a lot of Restore potential voters now beginning to worry about the impact that might have.
“I finalise that by saying if it was the offer of a deal, it came in a very unusual way. I have responded to it potentially, you know, with an open mind, as I would, but I’m certainly not going to be ditching people who I view to be allies and a great asset.”
The olive branch came days after Mr Lowe’s party claimed fourth place in the Greater Manchester mayoral by election, gaining 8.7 per cent of the vote while Reform came second with 21 per cent.
open image in galleryMr Farage had appeared to give a lukewarm response in his own social media post on Sunday, saying there will “always be a home in Reform UK” for those who reject the two main parties and think the country needs a “fundamentally different direction”.
“I understand Reform UK will need the support of people from other parties, as well as millions who have never voted before,” he wrote in a post on X. “That is the broad coalition I am building.”
However, he added that “only one party truly has the possibility of delivering change”.
Restore Britain was founded by Mr Lowe after he was suspended from Reform UK last year, amid claims he had threatened then-party chairman Zia Yusuf.
He denied the allegations and the Crown Prosecution Service said no criminal charges would be brought against him in relation to alleged threats towards Mr Yusuf.