‘Rattled’ Farage lashes out at Musk & Lowe

An irritable Nigel Farage has lashed out at Restore Britain and Elon Musk. And he’s got good reason to be angry, because it looks like the Reform breakaway party could prevent Farage from winning in Makerfield:

Let's see what happens next Thursday, shall we?

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) June 10, 2026

Reform, Restore, Retreat

In the clip above, Sky News’s Beth Rigby put the following to the hard-right leader:

When it comes to Makerfield, Restore are doing well here and it could really hurt you.

A tetchy Farage asked “are they?” before Rigby finished:

What’s Rupert Lowe got that it’s appealing to some people over you?

Farage answered:

Elon Musk

While a couple of people laughed, he didn’t look amused.

I thought his answers on this were very strange, given he must have known the question was going to be asked. Was his opportunity to reach out to Restore voters. Chose to have a dig at Lowe and Musk instead. https://t.co/brGPB5NsmV

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) June 10, 2026

If you’re unfamiliar with what’s going on, the story is that Musk decided Nige wasn’t hardline enough when Lowe was still a member of Reform, saying:

The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.

Around the same time, Musk decided Lowe was the man to replace Farage:

I have not met Rupert Lowe, but his statements online that I have read so far make a lot of sense https://t.co/bxHaigf3A1

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 5, 2025

Lowe did not end up becoming the leader of Reform UK, because Farage threw him out of the party. Instead, Lowe would later establish Restore Britain, with Musk throwing his weight behind it:

Join Rupert Lowe in Restore Britain, because he is the only one who will actually do it! https://t.co/sa5VkSRWXD

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2026

The confused and possibly ketamine-addled Musk has also said things like this:

🚨 NEW: Elon Musk has accused Reform UK of being "Nazis" and wanting "race extinction" pic.twitter.com/fQuh0FoIdZ

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) February 18, 2026

Since then, Farage has accused Lowe of being “one man with a social media account”. And it certainly seems to be the case that Lowe does get a boost to his reach on X/Twitter. As Rose Cocker wrote for the Canary:

Since launching Restore back in February, ten of Lowe’s X posts have received over 10-million views. Meanwhile, whilst Farage has over three times Lowe’s follower count, none of his posts have reached a similar mark.

While Farage may be correct to say Restore began as one spiteful man with a Twitter addiction, it’s certainly something more than that now:

Jut for fairness, this does reflect what I found in Makerfield. Restore have much more of a presence on the ground than I was anticipating. Have to see if they can sustain it. But it's real. https://t.co/Vr43DKeHZa

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) May 23, 2026

Unbeliever

In the clip at the top, Farage continued:

Most people here who say Restore, and by the way it’s not a very big percentage, most people here would not recognise a photograph of him.

For reference, this is what the polls are saying:

🗳️ POLL | Burnham expands lead in Makerfield:

🔴 Lab: 49% (+6)
➡️ Ref: 39% (-1)
⚫️ Res: 8% (+1)
🟢 Grn: 2% (-1)
🟠 Lib: 1% (-3)
🔵 Con: 1% (-1)

Via @Survation, 1 June (+/- vs 22 May) pic.twitter.com/IXTHwUTabh

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) June 5, 2026

Is Restore’s polling good enough to suggest they could win?

Absolutely not.

But is it big enough to stop Reform winning?

Roughly, yeah, it is.

Here’s how Farage finished:

This is stuff that pops up on their phones. That has been the problem with it. I do not believe for a moment it will last.

This is Farage scolding would-be Reform voters. And it shows he’s genuinely pissed off. But what did he expect?

Splitsville

As we reported, the far-right split isn’t happening because of a personal beef between Lowe and Farage. It’s happening because of the growing contradictions between Reform UK’s rhetoric and its actions:

As an example of this, take Zia Yusuf. Yusuf is one of Reform’s most prominent politicians, and he’s constantly arguing that white people are the most oppressed group in the UK…

If you’re a far-right voter who buys into this, why would you vote for the party with Zia Yusuf and Suella Braverman in it? Why wouldn’t you vote for the all-white Restore Britain, which is more obviously following through on Reform’s propaganda?

In other words, Restore is doing to Reform what Reform did to the Tories, and Nigel is getting a taste of his own medicine. This is somewhat ironic, too, given that Nige is something of an anti-vaxxer.

Featured image via Ryan Jenkinson / Leon Neal / Win McNamee (Getty Images)