The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - The Big Push in Makerfield

00:00:00.000 Well, good morning, folks. I'm now here on Saturday morning. It's just gone about half past nine.

00:00:04.680 And as you can see, we're gathering with people from across the country who have come out here,

00:00:10.320 activists on the ground to support Restore Britain. Obviously, it's still early in the day

00:00:15.820 and we're expecting even larger crowds as the day goes on. So incredible possibilities ahead of us.

00:00:22.740 And I look forward to reporting on the rest of the day for you.

00:00:25.480 Well, I'm fortunate enough to be joined here by a man who needs no introduction,

00:00:29.520 the leader of Restore Britain himself, Rupert Lowe.

00:00:32.540 Rupert, good morning.

00:00:33.560 Good morning. How are you?

00:00:34.640 I'm really well, thank you.

00:00:35.860 The sun's now coming out.

00:00:36.900 It looked a bit dodgy earlier on, but it's now coming out for us.

00:00:39.220 Yeah, we've seen some campaigning in all sorts of weather.

00:00:42.140 Rupert, what do you think of the turnout that you see before your eyes?

00:00:45.560 I'm absolutely delighted to see so many people,

00:00:48.180 because this, as I've always said, is not about any one person or a group of people.

00:00:52.380 It's about everybody.

00:00:53.880 And when the British people decide they want their country back,

00:00:56.620 and they actually start to participate in getting it back,

00:01:00.580 that for me is when we start to win.

00:01:02.400 And then I think a lot of what's happened has happened

00:01:07.260 because people have basically taken no interest in politics.

00:01:10.740 They've had life too good

00:01:11.800 and they can now see their country slipping away from them.

00:01:14.720 And I think people are waking up.

00:01:16.680 And when a country like Britain wakes up,

00:01:18.600 people need to watch out.

00:01:19.880 It's amazing being here the past few days myself.

00:01:22.700 I've seen people going knocking doors for Restore Britain,

00:01:25.280 first-time canvassers, people who've never voted before, what do you think it is about Restore

00:01:30.380 Britain's messaging that's really cutting through for the public? Well, I think it's about common

00:01:35.460 sense, team effort. It's about basically restoring representative democracy in our parliament. And I

00:01:41.060 think people are tired of tyre kickers in local government, tyre kickers in national government,

00:01:46.700 petty rules, petty bureaucracy, lack of common sense. You know, we're all having our lives

00:01:52.260 destroyed by petty bureaucracies who are effectively enriching the legal profession and not benefiting

00:01:59.560 the British people. So you have this little group of what I call white collar workers who I hope 0.89

00:02:05.260 are going to be destroyed by AI, who are enriching themselves like parasites on the back of everybody 0.99

00:02:10.280 else. And we have to stop that. We have to basically create an economy which basically is 0.95

00:02:15.240 driven by entrepreneurs, driven by risk taking, driven by the individual, not by the state. I

00:02:21.020 I mean, statism has never worked in history, and it's not going to work now.

00:02:24.960 And I think everybody can see it.

00:02:26.260 And thankfully, I think people are waking up.

00:02:28.620 I hope it's in time.

00:02:30.140 I can't guarantee that.

00:02:31.340 But what I do know is if we don't do it before 29, then ultimately it will be too late from what I can see.

00:02:38.440 And what would you say?

00:02:39.700 My final question for you, Rupert, is there's been a hell of a ruckus amongst the establishment media about the rise of Restore Britain.

00:02:48.580 and you can see that they're panicking quite a bit.

00:02:51.880 And so I would just say, the smears that are coming out,

00:02:54.700 what would you say about those who were saying about splitting the vote,

00:02:58.020 this nonsense about splitting the vote?

00:03:00.040 Well, I've said, I did an interview with several papers recently.

00:03:02.860 They ignored me, so I've been ignoring them,

00:03:04.800 but I have done a few in the last couple of days. 0.63

00:03:07.460 And my view on that is that splitting the vote is a very recidivist argument

00:03:12.820 and it basically is made by people who know they're losing that argument.

00:03:17.600 So I think democracy is about saying what you're going to do, saying how you're going to do it,

00:03:22.340 basically getting the electorate to understand what your intentions are.

00:03:25.920 And if they support that, then they vote for it.

00:03:28.260 I don't think any form of sort of, you know, splitting the vote argument holds any water at all.

00:03:34.080 And if you're going to say that, I haven't heard anyone say the Tories are splitting the vote.

00:03:38.340 Well, I think they're on, even on what I call the bent polls, they're on 2% and we're on 8%.

00:03:43.560 But I can tell you our support's a lot more than 8%.

00:03:45.980 I mean, I've never seen in political history so many people turn up of their own volition

00:03:51.740 at their own cost because they believe in what we're doing.

00:03:55.100 It's not rocket science.

00:03:56.100 So this is now so exciting because this is my vision.

00:04:01.280 That's in a way why I set up originally a movement because we can't do this unless everybody

00:04:07.080 helps and participates and makes it clear that's what they want.

00:04:10.580 And then we can change it.

00:04:11.580 Wonderful.

00:04:12.580 Rupert, thank you very much for your time, sir, and good luck campaigning out there today.

00:04:16.580 All right, well, I'm here now with Lotus Eater's favourite mystery guest himself,

00:04:21.220 Josh Firm. Josh, how are you finding it out here?

00:04:24.100 Very cold and it's very different. I went to Great Yarmouth for a week to canvas

00:04:29.940 and it was lovely and sunny and it's not that today. It's freezing.

00:04:35.140 Hopefully that means everyone's going to be home though, so I can actually get some

00:04:38.420 responses because one thing i did find in great yarmouth it's so sunny lots of holiday homes lots

00:04:43.620 of people probably out and about here i reckon lots of people are going to be in so we're actually

00:04:48.180 going to get lots of responses hopefully so that's going to be something i'm trying to look on the

00:04:52.020 bright side because at the minute i i've just seen the first bit of blue sky all morning

00:04:56.820 um but it's also great to see just how many people there are it's just a sea of people never seen

00:05:02.180 anything like it the turnout's phenomenal so um if it's you know horrible weather cold weekend

00:05:08.180 and we've got this turnout, that's a good sign.

00:05:11.680 I think we've got more volunteers here than all the other parties put together.

00:05:15.900 I think there's something to be said as well for a gentleman we were just speaking to

00:05:19.640 made the point that, you know, everyone here assembled is someone that Reform

00:05:24.820 have obviously failed to win over.

00:05:26.940 They've failed to win their vote, right?

00:05:28.320 These are natural Reform constituents.

00:05:31.160 They should have been addressing their concerns,

00:05:33.160 and instead they've obviously come over to Restore Britain.

00:05:36.240 what do you think it is about Restore that is galvanizing the country at this rate?

00:05:40.960 At first it was just that people believed that Rupert was the real deal. Rupert is the man

00:05:47.120 that people thought Farage was. And as Farage has been in the public eye more and more,

00:05:53.600 people are realizing actually maybe he's much like the conservatives that

00:05:58.080 talked a big talk but didn't deliver. And I think that people believe Rupert because he is genuine.

00:06:04.640 he's more than happy to say things that aren't going to make him particularly popular.

00:06:09.280 And now as the party's continued, it's not just Rupert that's drawing people in,

00:06:13.920 it's also the difference in policies. And as things are going to continue, I think the difference

00:06:18.240 between the two is going to become quite stark. It's not just Restore is going to deliver,

00:06:25.120 but they're also going to deliver on lots of different things, and I think much better things

00:06:29.040 than reform are promising. Plus, the seriousness of Restore is very different. I think Restore

00:06:36.480 and the people involved in it understand the stakes here, whereas reform, it's sort of got this

00:06:42.800 bingo hall sort of fun atmosphere that's very dissonant to the state of the country.

00:06:47.520 Well, Josh, thank you very much for your time, mate, and good luck canvassing out there today.

00:06:52.160 Thank you very much, and it's always a pleasure to speak to Lotus Eaters, funnily enough. Who'd

00:06:57.280 of thought, eh? But yeah, good talking to you and good luck.

00:07:02.080 Well, I'm fortunate enough to be now joined by both Callum and Madeline, who have come up today

00:07:06.400 with the rest of the activists. Obviously, Callum most famous for being the Lion of Epping,

00:07:10.560 which has also just been closed down. So, Callum, congratulations on that one, first of all.

00:07:14.640 I appreciate it. It's been a long, hard struggle to get that hotel shut down. And I think I said

00:07:20.000 on my statement, I wanted to thank the activists personally, because they've been protesting every

00:07:25.600 single sunday to get that shut down numbers have dwindled but you know their courage hasn't and in

00:07:31.440 the end we got what we want and the hotel has now been shut down and obviously now on to uh

00:07:36.560 other things as well the ground game here and uh obviously everything that's happening what do you

00:07:41.120 make of the numbers that you're seeing on the ground right now well there's a lot of people

00:07:45.280 it's it's fantastic i think people told me earlier they're expecting about a thousand to maybe a

00:07:50.080 thousand five hundred people which is crazy so many people just a lot of enthusiasm loads of great

00:07:55.120 people here everyone's happy to chat just a really good mood uh happy to be here and uh what do you

00:08:00.160 think callum about a lot of the uh tactics that have been coming out from the establishment media

00:08:05.080 trying to sow division and doubt in people's minds about the legitimacy of restore britain and the

00:08:10.560 actual viable option that it is well i think it just goes to show that they're afraid as you can

00:08:15.660 see here people are waking up there's thousands there's hundreds of patriots here today to canvas

00:08:20.360 and these smears just wash off people like water and the rain so I don't care I say let it come

00:08:27.160 it's more exposure to us and people see you know they see through the BBC may see through

00:08:31.440 the Telegraph some of some of the journalists that are here today you know very fortunate to

00:08:35.600 be getting interviews but I'm not that worried about it at all I think it shows that the

00:08:39.300 establishment is frightened of what's coming. And what do you think it is about Restore Britain's

00:08:44.520 messaging that's cutting through so effectively? Partly I think it's that people come across as

00:08:49.100 genuine I think the general public can see that Rupert and the team around him really mean what

00:08:53.320 they say when they talk about issues like immigration it's not just lip service and they

00:08:57.500 really actually want to carry out the policies and of course they just appeal to people because

00:09:00.560 people look around at the state of the country and they don't like how it is and they want it to

00:09:03.920 change you know issues like women's safety as well is obviously a huge problem general safety

00:09:08.880 people not happy with immigration and even things like protecting the culture of the country is

00:09:15.200 very important to most British people.

00:09:16.880 You're just going to take your hair off the microphone.

00:09:19.200 No, no, it's quite all right.

00:09:20.400 And one final question then for you, which is that, do you think that Restore Britain

00:09:26.480 can actually win this by-election?

00:09:29.120 Well, I think a lot of people go on about splitting the vote.

00:09:31.760 You've got no chance of winning.

00:09:33.200 But for me personally, we've got hundreds of activists that have turned up today,

00:09:36.720 people who've never canvassed before, never leafleted.

00:09:39.200 What Makerfield has presented to us is a fantastic opportunity to drill our new activists,

00:09:43.520 to drill these people people who've never been to political parties or meetings before

00:09:47.760 and to get them ready for the battle ahead for the local elections of a general election

00:09:52.080 it's perfect drill time training time so it kind of goes beyond who wins in my opinion well it's

00:09:58.160 my pleasure to now be joined by orla restores spokeswoman for women and girls or what do you

00:10:04.240 think of the turnout here today the turnout is absolutely amazing i am overwhelmed by how many

00:10:10.000 many people there are and people have left coach loads of people have left ken and essex and surrey

00:10:15.860 um at four o'clock this morning to drive up here to give support to rebecca it is overwhelming

00:10:20.320 and what is most overwhelming is the fact that for a party that's only four months old nearly

00:10:26.000 five months old we've got 140 140 000 members and all of these people who are giving up their

00:10:32.340 weekends to come here to support the party now ultimately that says to me that this is a

00:10:38.100 patriotic real force to be reckoned with and all the nonsense that you hear on social media

00:10:45.940 the blackout from the mainstream media is just so far from the truth and I hope that on Thursday

00:10:52.960 we are actually believed and taken seriously and people realise that we are actually a force to

00:11:00.000 reckon with and and don't push us aside say we're splitting the vote stand down how dare they do

00:11:04.940 that we are patriotic british people that are saying enough of the establishment we want especially

00:11:12.720 for me we want the rape day inquiry document to come out which is going to come out next week i

00:11:17.060 believe we want to show this country exactly what we have had to put up with for 25 nearly 30 years

00:11:23.660 since tony blair came in that's when it that's when it all went horrendously wrong and these

00:11:28.960 people that are here today are here giving up their weekends driving hundreds of miles to say

00:11:34.160 take us seriously because this is coming and it is going to be mind-boggling how much this

00:11:40.160 movement and Restore Britain are going to change this country. And I will just say as well I've

00:11:45.040 been out here obviously canvassing following Restore Britain's canvases for quite a while

00:11:49.380 now a number of days. We had quite a moment the other day where we saw an entire street

00:11:54.840 turn from Reform UK to Restore Britain. And one of the homeowners, he said that one of his

00:12:02.700 reason for changing his mind was because of Restore Britain's strong messaging on protecting

00:12:08.520 women and children. Absolutely. I mean, I was with Reform for 18 months. I ran two branches

00:12:14.780 in Essex, you know, and I believed when I joined that they were the party for change. They're not

00:12:20.740 the party for change i have seen firsthand and i have spoken to rape gang survivors i've spoken

00:12:26.900 to girls that have been sexually assaulted by migrants and hotels you know this is what i do

00:12:31.600 day in and day out and i've heard the horror stories and the only party that are going to

00:12:37.660 deal with this is restore and the only man that has stood up or mp that stood up is rupert and

00:12:43.160 that is why i joined that's why i came that's why i'm here today from from london because the country

00:12:49.400 is on its knees economically uh you know ethically and we have got to change that

00:12:57.840 and i'm afraid that reform just aren't the answer and once there is an option and people know what

00:13:04.400 restore are doing and what our policies are and the fight that we're taking detect the establishment

00:13:09.200 the fight we're taking on with the establishment they are turning because they see that reform is

00:13:13.360 not the answer you know i've got people in essex who said we voted reform in the council elections

00:13:19.480 because there was no restore but if there was a restore option we will be voting restore and

00:13:23.720 they're terrified and they know it's coming and that's why we're being bad mouthed continuously

00:13:28.780 told to stand down because they know we're a threat and that's simple well hello what's your

00:13:33.240 name sir i'm adam adam and where have you come up from today i'm up from evesham in worcestershire

00:13:38.360 Oh, fantastic. And what brings you out today to support Restore Britain?

00:13:43.040 Basically, my eyes have been opened and I thought Rupert asked for people to take control of their own situation.

00:13:52.020 And I thought I've got to do something. So I've come along.

00:13:55.520 And historically, have you supported other parties before or are you one of these newer voters?

00:14:02.700 I have always voted because I've brought up that you should always vote.

00:14:07.320 So I voted for everybody apart from Labour, Libra, Demkats and Greens.

00:14:12.660 And the last time, obviously, when I had a chance, I voted Reform

00:14:16.440 because I thought they were going to be the party of change.

00:14:18.760 But unfortunately, they weren't.

00:14:21.260 And Restore is where it is now.

00:14:23.840 And what is it about Restore Britain that actually gives you some confidence

00:14:27.760 and trust that this is the party that is actually going to begin to put things right?

00:14:32.860 I think it's just purely on the basis that Rupert has just been honest about the situation.

00:14:38.680 He's told us that it's going to be difficult.

00:14:41.040 You know, we've gone that far down the line that it's difficult to turn the tanker around and come back on it.

00:14:47.240 But he seems committed to it, so therefore I'm going to follow and be committed to it.

00:14:52.600 Wonderful. Well, thank you for your support and thank you for your time.

00:14:55.520 Hello, what's your name, sir?

00:14:56.840 It's Charlie, or on X, it's Real Ron Swansea.

00:15:00.640 Wonderful. And where have you come from today?

00:15:02.380 Today I've come from the hotel in Oral, but I drove up from Swansea yesterday.

00:15:06.620 And what brings you out to support Restore Britain today?

00:15:10.220 Restore Britain is the best and only chance we've got to actually Restore Britain,

00:15:15.580 closing the name. I think we're all very much tired of the Uni Party charade,

00:15:21.500 we're very much tired of broken promises, of failed politicians jumping from party to party.

00:15:27.420 it's time we have a serious proper go at fixing the country and Restore has got the policies,

00:15:33.660 it's got the support and we've got the momentum. We can do this.

00:15:37.100 And what are your thoughts on a lot of the establishment chatter around this

00:15:42.220 by-election and talk about splitting the vote and all of those talking points?

00:15:46.940 There's two things. One, it shows they're rattled. It shows that there's a force outside

00:15:53.420 of their control that they are afraid of, that they know is a credible threat. And secondly,

00:16:01.980 if we listen to that sort of stuff, no new parties would ever form. You'd be stuck in

00:16:06.460 this cycle. We'd eventually get to the point where they are in America, where it's red team 0.90

00:16:10.540 versus blue team, and you've got no point in voting for anything else. I don't want Britain

00:16:15.340 to get like that. I think it's good that we've got a plethora of parties with lots of different

00:16:20.540 opinions because people have lots of different opinions and we need to have suitable outlets

00:16:25.900 for that. I think the greatest thing Restore Britain could do is to give a voice to people

00:16:31.340 that don't think there's any point in voting. Certainly a lot of people I know who don't

00:16:35.900 normally vote are keen to vote for Restore, so let's hope it works. Wonderful. Well, good luck

00:16:41.100 canvassing out there today. Well, I'm now delighted to be joined by Nick Buckley. Nick, pleasure to

00:16:45.420 speak to you. What brings you out here today to support Restore Britain? Well, obviously I'm now

00:16:50.140 a member of Restore Britain and this area is only down the road from me so many people here have

00:16:55.500 been traveling five hours to get here. It took me 20 minutes so I had to come, I had to support

00:17:00.060 this fantastic candidate hoping to become an MP for Makerfield in Wigan.

00:17:05.260 And why do you believe that the people of Makerfield should vote for Rebecca Shepard to be

00:17:09.900 their member of parliament? It sounds like a cliche but obviously we need change

00:17:15.660 and we can't get change if all we're going to do is tweak the status quo and that's what all

00:17:20.620 the other parties are promising. They're promising we're going to do better this time or we've not

00:17:24.700 been in power before but we're going to keep the same system and we're just going to tweak the

00:17:28.060 edges to make it work better. That might have been something that would have worked 30 years ago,

00:17:33.980 we're beyond that now. We need this system basically tearing down and starting again

00:17:39.180 and there's only Restore Britain that is actually offering that. Tweaks around the edges may benefit

00:17:44.540 some people but it isn't going to benefit the country. And as a man who is of course local to

00:17:50.860 Manchester yourself who was of course run to be mayor of Manchester as well what's your assessment

00:17:55.940 of Andy Burnham as well and how he's been handling Manchester since he's arrived there?

00:18:01.220 Oh Andy Burnham's been missing in action for 10 years in Greater Manchester. If there's any good

00:18:07.120 news Andy Burnham will turn up at the photo shoot even though he had nothing to do with it

00:18:10.740 and when there's bad news in Greater Manchester he sends out his deputies to take it on the chin.

00:18:15.460 Andy Burnham's achieved nothing in a decade in Greater Manchester apart from one thing, yellow buses.

00:18:21.780 He spent millions of pounds painting all the buses yellow, reducing the fare to two pounds

00:18:28.260 and then putting up our council tax to pay for the two fare buses. That's the only thing that he's

00:18:33.860 achieved. He promised to end rough sleeping, it's got worse. Crimes out of control in Greater Manchester,

00:18:40.100 Piccoli Gardens is a hellhole. A great amount of police went into special measures under his

00:18:46.660 control. He really hasn't achieved anything. He spent 10 years perfecting the art of PR,

00:18:54.900 and he spent all his money on PR. He has a fantastic team around him. He portrays himself

00:19:00.100 as King of the North. He's achieved nothing. And so do you think, based on the narratives

00:19:08.420 that we've been hearing from the media, right, and the establishment, that they're getting nervous

00:19:13.700 and that actually Restore Britain's message is one that can resonate with the people of Makerfield?

00:19:19.940 Oh, it absolutely is a message that people understand and the people want to hear.

00:19:25.620 And that's the big thing that's happening. People want to hear this message

00:19:30.180 because they understand it and they're saying it to themselves in their head,

00:19:32.980 but they're afraid to say it externally and suddenly we have a party saying all the things

00:19:39.200 they know to be true and that's what's happening with restored Britain that's why a thousand people

00:19:44.180 turned up today to hand out leaflets a thousand people turned up today to hand out leaflets and

00:19:50.180 knock on doors when I was running in the Gorton and Denton by-election the most we had on the day

00:19:56.700 was maybe 30 people knocking on doors handing out leaflets they've got a thousand today something's

00:20:02.400 changing in the country and restore britain seems to be the vehicle that is going to be pulling lots

00:20:08.040 of people towards this and more importantly they seem to be tapping into the non-voter

00:20:14.100 the person who's given up voting the person who's sick of being lied to by every politician

00:20:19.140 who knocks on their door who promises them the world and then delivers nothing if we can tap

00:20:25.040 into them and and and it's easy saying we're different so you know let's warn people don't

00:20:30.520 ever believe what a politician tells you you know always hold them to account because they'll all

00:20:34.680 lie to you but this party seems to be tapping into something and it's exciting to be part of it

00:20:41.380 well the canvassers everyone who was gathered here today is now starting to move out take to

00:20:46.620 the streets uh to get the message out there to the people of makerfield that the restore britain vote

00:20:53.180 is the one for them uh the reception the atmosphere on the ground here has been

00:20:58.800 nothing short of colossal, frankly. We've just been over and heard some speeches from

00:21:03.960 Rebecca Shepard, from Rupert Lowe himself, giving a speech. And as I say, the enthusiasm is

00:21:11.260 absolutely staggering. Everyone's here. They've come from so far. I've spoken to people from

00:21:15.920 London. I've spoken to people from Kent, from Aberdeen, from the Isle of Man, who have come

00:21:20.880 here as well, just from the far corners of Britain. And it is something truly exceptional.

00:21:26.980 And so we're going to follow them around on the trail and we'll keep you updated.

00:21:32.160 Hello. Well, I'm fortunate now to be joined by Campaigns Director Charlie Downs

00:21:36.200 and Director of Investigations Lewis Brackpull.

00:21:39.020 Gentlemen, you've been going out canvassing today on this great day of activism for Restore Britain.

00:21:43.820 I mean, the numbers that we saw this morning have just been so inspiring.

00:21:47.520 What have been your impressions from the day so far?

00:21:49.820 I mean, it was absolutely astonishing the number of people we had turn up today, over a thousand easily.

00:21:54.840 It was like a blooming festival or something.

00:21:57.560 But no, I mean, the responses on the doors

00:21:58.700 has been really positive

00:21:59.660 given that we are a four-month-old party.

00:22:02.840 Our name recognition is very, very strong.

00:22:05.460 And the leaflet that we've been dropping today

00:22:07.700 has been outlining the differences

00:22:09.720 between Restore Britain and Reform UK

00:22:11.860 because the press and our political enemies

00:22:14.520 have been running with this line

00:22:15.740 that we're essentially the same party

00:22:17.600 and we're just splitting the vote

00:22:18.760 and all this sort of thing.

00:22:19.720 And what we're seeking to illustrate

00:22:21.020 is the fact that we are two very different parties

00:22:23.980 with very different agendas,

00:22:25.580 very different visions for Makerfield

00:22:27.240 and for the country.

00:22:28.860 And that if people want real change,

00:22:31.180 not establishment approved,

00:22:33.400 you know, tweaks around the edges,

00:22:35.460 but real fundamental change

00:22:36.800 to the way this country is governed,

00:22:38.520 Restore Britain is the only option.

00:22:40.120 That's what we've been telling people today.

00:22:41.620 And that message is very, very powerful.

00:22:43.480 It's resonating with people.

00:22:44.820 We've met a lot of people

00:22:45.880 who are going to vote for us.

00:22:47.440 A lot of our supporters.

00:22:49.100 We've met plenty of other supporters as well.

00:22:51.260 Of course, we had one nice interaction

00:22:53.240 with the Labour voter who was, you know, pleasant to us.

00:22:56.600 But no, I mean, other than that,

00:22:57.920 it's been a really, really positive day.

00:22:59.320 Really good day.

00:23:00.140 It's really, really astonishing, to be honest.

00:23:02.440 Wonderful.

00:23:02.840 What have been your observations, Lewis?

00:23:04.620 So I was here last week

00:23:05.880 and you can really see the divide

00:23:07.560 between the lower economic areas

00:23:09.460 and the higher economic areas of Makerfield.

00:23:12.080 You find when you go to the lower economic areas

00:23:14.500 that you have whole streets wanting to vote restore

00:23:17.120 and you have people as well who want to vote reform,

00:23:21.280 but they're a bit worried about the narrative

00:23:22.760 on splitting the vote that's been the most that we've heard so far but we're saying on the doors

00:23:27.800 things such as regardless of what happens in this by-election Labour will still be in power by 2029

00:23:33.060 so this is your moment of opportunity to actually vote for something that you believe in and that's

00:23:37.700 been the key to having people flip from reform to restore where you go to the middle class areas

00:23:44.400 and areas that have a bit more money you find that a lot of them are wanting to vote Andy Burnham

00:23:51.300 and you find that because for some strange reason and you know it's completely up to the electorate

00:23:56.980 on who they decide to vote on when the time comes for them to vote but in regards to Andy Burnham

00:24:02.840 it seems to be that a lot of Labour voters and supporters quite frankly believe that the Labour

00:24:09.520 Party is going to be resurrected with this old guard face of the Tony Blair era so I mean it's

00:24:15.400 sad because it means if they do obviously you know vote him in it sort of shows that they want to keep

00:24:20.500 paradigm that we're in but at the same time if you hear the reform camp they just say it's a two

00:24:26.140 horse race when really it is actually a three horse race we're certainly in there to uh you

00:24:31.780 know make quite a statement i mean the polls from the times and nigel farage as well you know puts

00:24:37.020 us at seven to eight percent i mean i don't want to get too ahead you know and i don't want to make

00:24:41.780 the wrong prediction but what we're seeing is more above 15 uh 15 to 18 maybe a bit more uh so we're

00:24:49.080 definitely making a statement and the establishment and the mainstream media simply can't ignore us

00:24:54.020 for much longer. Charlie, what has been your reaction to the obvious organised attacks on

00:25:02.480 Restore Britain from across the establishment, of course, ranging from the establishment newspapers

00:25:07.440 to GB News, of course, and the division that they're trying to obviously sow against those

00:25:13.620 within Restore Britain?

00:25:15.160 Don't care.

00:25:17.320 Honestly, I mean,

00:25:18.640 it's an indication

00:25:19.580 that what we're doing is working

00:25:20.680 because all of the right people

00:25:22.420 are getting very afraid

00:25:23.780 of our success

00:25:25.220 because they know what we represent,

00:25:27.060 which is an end,

00:25:27.760 as Lewis was saying,

00:25:28.680 to this political paradigm,

00:25:29.960 which means an end to their rule,

00:25:32.540 an end to their income,

00:25:34.320 maybe in certain cases.

00:25:35.900 These are people who make a living

00:25:37.920 selling out this country,

00:25:39.640 whether that's in the political establishment

00:25:40.840 or their friends in the media.

00:25:42.400 And those are exactly the people

00:25:43.600 who are coming after us now because they know that we have their number. They know that we

00:25:48.500 represent a real existential threat to their system. And so the more they attack us, the bigger

00:25:55.300 we get is what we're finding because the vast majority of the British public feel the same way

00:26:00.040 that we do about them. You know, they feel in their bones that there is a huge amount of treachery

00:26:06.060 in our establishment, in our ruling class. So, you know, yeah, I mean, it doesn't surprise me. I mean,

00:26:11.160 we always knew this was going to come, like these attacks from the establishment. But as I say,

00:26:15.740 they're just an indication that what we're doing is right. And so what I say is keep them coming.

00:26:20.060 And I suppose as well, because we were getting reports of, I wasn't personally in Great Yarmouth,

00:26:24.640 I wasn't able to be there, but 500 canvassers coming from around the country. And you can see

00:26:29.980 now in Makerfield, the numbers are only growing, the momentum is with us. And so I suppose it's

00:26:35.380 the case of just looking at, well, where will the party be in two months time? Where will the party

00:26:39.760 be in two years' time. So I think there's a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

00:26:43.340 If I could very quickly on that, I often say to our members that at the height of Jeremy Corbyn's

00:26:49.000 leadership of the Labour Party, they had about 600,000 members. Now, granted, their membership

00:26:53.300 was £5 a year. But I refuse to believe that there are not at least half a million more people in

00:26:58.860 this country who feel the same way that we do, who share our vision, who believe in our agenda,

00:27:03.900 but who maybe just haven't heard about Restore Britain yet. I refuse to believe that there's

00:27:06.960 not at least half a million people in this country who if presented with our ideas would be happy to

00:27:12.820 part with 20 pounds to become a member and that's and that's the key because what we're finding in

00:27:16.780 makerfield and everywhere else is when people learn about our agenda and when they get to know

00:27:21.940 ruper as a man they're on side that's really all it takes because the great advantage we have is

00:27:27.660 that the truth is on our side so we can just speak plainly about where the country is and what needs

00:27:31.940 to be done and for the majority of people for the majority of you know very you know because british

00:27:35.500 people are sensible right they hear that and they think finally finally a vehicle a political vehicle

00:27:41.140 that's actually going to do something for me for my children for my family for my country um so

00:27:46.040 yeah i mean it's uh it's all to play for like lewis said and in two months who knows wonderful

00:27:51.040 well gentlemen thank you i was just gonna say we're not doing too bad for someone with alleged

00:27:55.780 dementia as a leader and uh and that we're all bots apparently indian bots was it yeah there's

00:28:01.060 lots of Indian bots here in Wakefield today yeah yeah about 750 yeah not doing too bad well very

00:28:07.180 online party definitely anyway gentlemen thank you very much for your time well after an extremely

00:28:12.580 energetic Saturday's campaigning as you can see now all of Restore Britain's canvassers are now

00:28:18.680 at the pub enjoying a well-earned pint or pints depending on just how exhausted they are one thing

00:28:25.480 that I will say is that beyond any shadow of a doubt in meeting so many people who've come from

00:28:30.100 far and wide to canvas for Restore Britain today, is that these are people who understand the

00:28:35.300 gravity of the moment. They understand what is at stake for Britain and her people, should the

00:28:42.740 establishment be able to continue on in power. And they have been received very, very well on

00:28:49.080 the doorstep. I've been hearing some wonderful things. And honestly, I've just been profoundly

00:28:54.040 touched by the entire experience, not just today, but obviously the sequence of days.

00:28:59.660 I've been here for four days now hearing people, the people of Makerfield, people who've come

00:29:05.260 from up and down the country to Canvas for Restore Britain, and it just fills me with

00:29:11.300 the most remarkable sense of optimism, and I strongly suggest that it should for you

00:29:16.520 too.

00:29:17.100 Thank you.

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - June 16, 2026

The Big Push in Makerfield

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