THE RIGHT (DIS)UNITED

Rupert Lowe's decision to relaunch his Restore Britain pressure group as a political party has drew a mixed response to say the least.  Some are elated about what they see as an ethno-conservative party that can challenge the multi-cultural establishment, while others have lashed out at what they see as a major split in the right and a gift to Starmer and the left.  Some question whether Reform and the Tories are even 'right-wing' parties to begin with, while others on this so-called 'right' have deployed the tactics of the left by labeling Lowe and his new party 'racists'.

Name-calling won't bother Lowe.  Since his ejection from Reform, he has steadily built a profile as a no nonsense straight talking guy who appeals to a demographic that has long tired of suave fork-tongued politicians.  In years gone by the emergence of a new party would merely be a flash in the pan that would quickly be muted by the Lab-Con protection racket that has destroyed British democracy for decades.  Now, with the destruction of the Uniparty in full flow, democracy is booming like never before.  The game has changed.

So who should be concerned about the rise of Lowe?  A recent poll put Restore Britain on ten per cent, level with the Lib Dems in fifth place.  Crucially, this cut Reform's poll lead in half, from ten points to five.  Clearly, Farage's decision to eject Lowe could prove catastrophic to his hopes of winning the next general election.  However, there is no need for Reformers to panic just yet and they can look to a recent example from the left for potential salvation.

When Zarah Sultana rashly announced she and Jeremy Corbyn were launching a new party on the left, it appeared to be a hammer blow to Starmer and Labour, who were already reeling from a tough (self-inflicted) start to government.  It was viewed by many - including BTLP - as a major split in the making.  However, what followed was the most disastrous launch and development of a party we care to remember.  Eight months on 'Your Party' has no visible leader, has had more ins and outs in Westminster than even Reform and has not fielded a single candidate in an election to date.  In that time, the Greens have emerged as the biggest threat to Labour on the left, and they were endorsed by none other than 'Your Party' in the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election.

Unlike Corbyn, Rupert Lowe is relatively new to politics.  Yes, he's built up a cult following on social media and produced a snazzy video to announce his new party, but can he build an actual root and stem political party and make it a success?  Time will tell, but if he wishes to usurp Farage and enter Number Ten in his place, he cannot waste the best part of this year squabbling with colleagues and failing to contest elections.  We are already almost half way thought this parliament.

Starmer and Labour will obviously very happy with this development, but it will not rescue them from a pitiful exit from government in three years.  Their voters are ditching them in hitherto unseen numbers, many to the Greens, but also to Reform.  Both Labour and the Tories are becoming less and less relevant and May's elections will show that.

It's by no means representative of anything other than our own social media following, but we thought we'd test the water with an emoji poll over the weekend.

At the time of writing the results are as follows.

Lowe = 2,519 (57.1%)

Farage = 1,067 (24.2%)

Badenoch = 209 (4.7%)

None = 617 (14.0%)

As ever, we do not endorse any political party at BTLP, regardless of the ebb and flow of the party political leanings of our supporters.  A broad church is how we defeat the establishment, not a myriad of ever splintering political parties.

AN OPTIMISTIC BUNCH

Our New Year emoji poll on Facebook suggested that our followers are optimistic for 2021, albeit this was held prior to new lockdown announcements in England and Scotland, and also Professor Whitty's warning that coronavirus restrictions could be in place twelve months from now.

Note that less than a thousand votes were recorded.  This is proof, if nothing else, that the Facebook algorithm continues to restrict the prominence of our page in the timelines of our 110,000 followers.

A FREE CHRISTMAS?

With the UK-wide Christmas 'dispensation' predictably falling apart, our latest emoji poll asked simply whether families should remain free to choose.  After 24 hours 850 people had voted and the overwhelming majority thought that families should be free to gather.

The percentages were 79.6 per cent for and 20.4 per cent against.  Although the poll was publicly accessible, the fact that it was posted on an anti-socialist site and one in five backed curbs on family gatherings is a tad worrying.

DEAL OR NO DEAL

96 per cent of Facebook users backed a no deal Brexit in our latest emoji poll.  1,622 people participated.

Suggestions that Boris may capitulate following the departure of Dominic Cummings have not come to fruition, with UK negotiators appearing to stand firm.  Even if a deal is struck it could still be vetoed by EU member states, with France the likely stumbling block.  Any short-term hit to the UK economy in the event of a clean break will probably be barely noticeable thanks to the government's economy-trashing Covid strategy.

If it weren't for the cowardice and complicity of the last Parliament, all this could have been dealt with last year and a post-Brexit Britain would have been back on its feet by the time the virus came calling.  Instead we face a crippling recession and may never be able to show that remoaners and project fear were wrong all along.

TOTAL PROHIBITION?

Our second 'emoji poll' on Facebook again featured one of the dystopian ideas circulating in regards to the pandemic.  At the start of the outbreak such ideas would have sounded absurd, but nine months in we now know that literally anything is possible.  Unfortunately some lockdown enthusiasts have been so brutally conditioned by fear they are willing to accept any restrictions in the name of 'fighting the virus' - no matter how draconian.  The fact that we have all so meekly surrendered our liberties and livelihoods gives government the green light to do whatever they like.

"What has booze got to do with a virus?" was one of the first comments on this poll.  Indeed.  Having spent millions on making their businesses Covid-safe, pubs are one of the safest environments and yet they have inexplicably been targeted by every administration in the United Kingdom.  Pub closures will result in people gathering in private homes, where there are no controls in place - no social distancing measures, no masks, no curfews.  When cases rise again (and they will) a total prohibition is next in the arsenal of our totalitarian masters.

Our advice to drinkers: stock up on booze before January.

FACEBOOK POLLING

A couple of people have asked about Facebook polls recently.  Unfortunately we can no longer run them on our page because the poll option was removed.  Facebook has not given a reason as to why the option has been removed or whether it will be restored in future.

The last poll we ran was in July and a lot has happened since then that we would have dearly loved to have polled our supporters on.  Having discussed 'emoji polls' as an alternative, Karl decided to run a pilot meme on Monday, albeit this comes at a time that the page is being partially censored by Facebook.  Predictably participation was poor in comparison to earlier polls and attracted just a tenth of the number of votes we would normally expect.  However, it still provided us with a valuable insight into the opinion of our supporters and in this instance the result was clear (although the debate in the comments was as fierce as ever).

If the Facebook page survives we intend to run more of these.