‘Restore Britain’ Political Party Scores Shock Result in Greater Manchester

Something quietly remarkable happened in the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election on 30 July. A party registered only four and a half months earlier finished fourth, beating the Conservatives into fifth.

Restore Britain, led by Rupert Lowe and registered with the Electoral Commission on 20 March, took 46,289 first-preference votes — 9 percent of the total. The Tories managed just 41,021 votes, or 8 percent. For a brand-new party with almost no infrastructure, that is extraordinary.

Labour’s Bev Craig won comfortably with 47 percent on first preferences, rising to 66 percent after second preferences. Reform UK’s Sian Astley came second on 21 percent. The Greens took 12 percent. Turnout was a miserable 25...