Rupert Lowe speaks out on Keir Starmer, Lord Mandelson, and his vision for Britain

Marcus Donaldson
Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:30:19 +0000

Rupert Lowe has spoken about his vision for the nation and his thoughts on Keir Starmer as he grapples with the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Sitting down with Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Great Yarmouth MP outlined the purpose of his party, Restore Britain, and answered questions on his own place in British politics.

Beginning their discussion, Jacob and Mr Lowe discussed the crisis currently enveloping No10, which began with the sacking of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador last year and now concerns his security vetting failure.

The Restore Britain leader stressed he had long spoken against giving the plum diplomatic job to the New Labour architect, describing the move as “the most extraordinary appointment, and one which didn't make any logical sense”.

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He told Jacob the drama represented “more of the same” from the British establishment.

To that end, Mr Lowe said: “I blame Blair, Brown, Campbell, and Mandelson for undermining the British Constitution.”

“The Human Rights Act, the creation of the Supreme Court, to the Equality Act, all the things that they did that I think had long-lasting, damaging consequences for the way in which we are governed.

“It's probably part of the reason why we ended up with a human rights lawyer like Keir Starmer.”

Regarding Sir Keir himself, Mr Lowe said: “I don't like him. I don't respect him. I think he's a very poor Prime Minister.

“If I were forced to vote on whether he should resign, I would vote for him to resign.

“But half of me says, actually, leaving in there as a lame duck is probably better for the other parties in terms of the British public that has become tired of the offering which they’re getting."

Moving on to his own ambitions, Jacob pressed the Great Yarmouth MP on how well known he is among the British public, citing a JL Partners poll that found that only eight per cent of respondents recognised him.

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Mr Lowe rejected the findings, pointing to the growth of Restore Britain.

He said: “Maybe I'm deluding myself, Jacob, but I'm going to continue to delude myself. I'm going to continue to build my party.

“I can tell you reassuringly that a lot of the people who are joining us, we now have 131,000 signed up, have not been involved in British politics for the past 25 or 30 years.

“We are offering an opportunity to join a party, which I think is reflective of what they want and what they think.”

Mr Lowe pledged: “We're going to release honest people and allow them to pursue their lives unfettered by a nanny state, which has become a burden on the back of productive Britain.

“Since we launched in February, we've now got over 400 branches up and running.

"The Restore Britain leader hailed the level of enthusiasm of real people fighting for local democracy”.

Responding to the scrutiny over Lord Mandelson’s vetting, a spokesman for HM Government said: “Neither the Prime Minister, nor any Government Minister, was aware that Peter Mandelson was granted Developed Vetting against the advice of UK Security Vetting until earlier this week.

“Once the Prime Minister was informed, he immediately instructed officials to establish the facts about why the Developed Vetting was granted, in order to enact plans to update the House of Commons."

Peter Mandelson has previously denied any wrongdoing in relation to Jeffrey Epstein, stating: “I was never culpable or complicit in his crimes. Like everyone else, I learned the actual truth about him after his death.”

He added that he had “relied on assurances of his innocence that turned out later to be horrendously false”.