Former Restore ‘rising star’ defects to Reform UK

Orla Minihane, Restore Britain’s first female spokesman, has defected to Reform UK after encountering “deeply abusive” young men at the top of Rupert Lowe’s party. Ms Minihane was courted by Restore after coming to public attention as the leader of the Pink Ladies movement, a group dedicated to protecting women against crimes by migrants. But she said that after joining Restore, she was called a “mudblood” at a party meeting because she is half Irish, and was told that “women shouldn’t be involved in politics”.

Now she has joined Nigel Farage’s party after deciding that her brief membership of Restore was a mistake. She told The Telegraph: “Rupert Lowe isn’t really in charge of Restore Britain. The day-to-day operations are run by politically voracious young men who are not just power mad, but deeply abusive. The tone set at all levels in the party is nothing short of toxic. “I don’t think Rupert Lowe is a bad or evil man. But I do think that some of the people he has running his party are.

And I think that if he fails to clean house, he’ll be left with very little, very soon.” Ms Minihane said she was first approached by Mr Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, about a year ago, before Restore was registered as a political party, and he told her he wanted to help her build a platform for her work in protecting young girls and women. Ms Minihane said: “Restore Britain sounded to me like a decent partner for something like that, so I had the conversation, and before I knew it, I was being announced as a ‘defector’ from Reform UK.

“It was such a whirlwind I didn’t quite realise what had happened. But I went with the flow, focused on the cause rather than the banner, and on the mission, rather than the vehicle.” She went on to become the party’s spokesman on women’s safety and Mr Lowe said it was “wonderful to have her on the team”. But Ms Minihane said she quickly realised she had made a mistake, and that was confirmed in July when she attended an event in Gateshead where she addressed a crowd of Restore supporters. ‘All-out attack on my character’ “I mentioned that in addition to our work protecting young British women from crimes perpetrated by migrant men, that we also must speak out against things like female genital mutilation (FGM) that occurs inside migrant communities,” she said.

“I couldn’t believe the response. “I know attendees of the event knew what I meant, but the response online from Rupert’s supporters and from the people who actually run the party was appalling. Frankly, I’ve never had so much abuse in my life. “I watched in horror as my comments on that subject were selectively clipped and edited in an all-out-attack on my character. They had decided they were done with me, and that my reputation should be destroyed as a result.”

Mr Lowe, she claims, “stopped reaching out” and “the entire operation cut me off… for daring to suggest we also heed the women in this country who are not white”. Ms Minihane quit Restore last month, and has now decided to rejoin Reform. The Telegraph previously disclosed that as well as being called a “mudblood”, the insult used in the Harry Potter books to describe people who lack pure wizarding ancestry, she said she was also asked: “If an Indian girl was drowning, would you save her?”

Mr Lowe set up Restore as a pressure group after his bitter split from Reform, and after its launch as a political party in February it has built a significant following. In the Makerfield by-election in June, Restore took almost 7 per cent of the vote. Mr Farage is worried that if that were repeated at a general election, it could cost Reform the chance of victory by splitting the Right-wing vote. Ms Minihane said she decided to rejoin Reform in part because of Mr Farage’s response to a recent ITV documentary which featured undercover footage of Mr Farage and his staff discussing payments from foreign-based donors.

She said Mr Farage’s decision to suspend some of his closest aides as a result of the documentary showed leadership that is lacking within Restore. She said: “Until you can show an element of professionalism like that, and show to the world that you don’t want to be associated with nasty, thuggish extremists, the wider British public will never vote for you. “I wish I hadn’t got involved with Restore Britain at all.” Mr Lowe: “I respect what Orla has done for women’s safety, and I was very open with her about that in our regular conversations.

She has landed at Reform, and I’m sure they’ll give her a warm welcome. “If The Telegraph wants to discuss Restore Britain’s policy platform, I would be very happy to have that conversation rather than yet another attempt to smear the party. These attacks are becoming increasingly hysterical, based in less and less reality.”