The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - Who’s Campaigning In Makerfield？

00:00:00.000 Hello there, Harry here for the Lotus Eaters. We are in sunny Brin in Ashton in Makerfield

00:00:06.400 and part of Wigan for the by-election Lotus Eaters coverage. We've been taking a look around,

00:00:13.420 it's a breezy Monday afternoon, there's not that many people about so we've just been getting a

00:00:17.560 feel for the area and seeing what kind of signage is outside in people's houses. Most of what we're

00:00:22.960 seeing is down these long residential roads where there's going to be more traffic and we've been

00:00:28.620 seeing a lot of Labour, a lot of Restore and a lot of Reform. No representation from any of the

00:00:35.020 other parties at all really. A three-way race here. As of today I saw some reporting saying

00:00:42.320 that the latest poll coming in from the Times was putting Labour in at 43% with Reform coming up

00:00:49.880 right behind them at 40% and Restore at 7%. Now when we speak to the Restore canvases later we'll

00:00:56.440 be able to see if that is reflective of their canvassing or if that is a vast underestimation

00:01:01.780 so we've got to see what's going on there everything is to play for and we'll see what

00:01:07.100 people in the local area think as well who may not be attached to any of the parties and see if

00:01:11.820 they really like all of the national attention that this is brought to the local area and if

00:01:16.120 Josh Simon's stepping down is even going to be something that is good for them as local constituents

00:01:21.520 all that and more coming up. So we've just got out of the Brewer's Fair meeting with all of the

00:01:27.500 Restore canvassers who are taking the late shift to go around the local constituency, knock on doors

00:01:33.180 and see what voters are saying, see how up for Restore they are. We're going to be tagging along

00:01:38.180 with them. So far they all seem like a really great bunch of guys and girls. One interesting

00:01:43.380 thing that happened is that while we were all sat down there a local a Guardian journalist showed up

00:01:49.680 out of nowhere who had been lurking around the local area asking people about Restore and they

00:01:55.860 came in and tried to ask about what was going on with vote splitting and all sorts but they were

00:02:00.400 quickly shooed away because understandably I don't think anybody here trusts the intentions

00:02:05.360 of a bunch of Guardian journalists coming to make a I'm sure very unbiased and neutral documentary

00:02:10.700 about Restore's efforts but we're going to be talking to all of these local guys we're going

00:02:15.260 to be following them around seeing how canvassing is going can't wait to see how it's all going on

00:02:20.140 so what's your name my name's Stuart Stuart Pembry nice to meet you Stuart so what kind of we're on

00:02:26.060 the afternoon shift now the late afternoon it's about half past five what have responses been

00:02:31.800 like to local canvassing so far entirely favorable that does I don't mean that everybody's going to

00:02:37.220 vote for Restore Britain they're not but everybody's been really pleased to see us

00:02:40.940 We've come up from Norfolk, so we're not local.

00:02:43.640 And everyone's smiled.

00:02:45.620 Everybody's been, as I say, pleased to see us.

00:02:47.640 And if there's one thing that's important to everybody, it's being safe.

00:02:52.740 And that's been a recurring thread, particularly whenever a lady's answered the door.

00:02:57.660 Our policy messages about the castle doctrine, about pepper strape,

00:03:03.120 it's just resonating across the whole constituency.

00:03:06.540 So it's just rewarding.

00:03:08.620 Yeah, that's fantastic.

00:03:09.840 And what have they had to say about the local candidate, Rebecca, and what she can do for

00:03:14.720 the local constituents as well, compared to what people like Robert Kenyon with reform

00:03:19.420 are offering, and as well, Andy Burnham.

00:03:22.580 And what have the responses been for when you've met, if Andy Burnham has come up?

00:03:27.620 Because it really does seem like a nakedly political move on Labour's part for Josh

00:03:33.720 Simons to step down for him.

00:03:35.440 It doesn't seem like it's concerned about local constituents at all, frankly.

00:03:39.080 Well, interesting question. So we've been really lucky today. Rebecca's been out with us.

00:03:44.160 Rebecca's been out with our group all day. So whenever anybody's asked, or maybe they've been

00:03:50.320 unsure about their position, we've been able to introduce Rebecca to them. And obviously she is

00:03:54.440 the very best person to talk about all the issues here in Makerfield. As for Andy Burnham, the Labour

00:04:00.140 voters we've spoken to are Labour voters. They're not particularly Andy Burnham voters. And that's

00:04:05.640 come across quite clearly nobody says we're Andy Burnham so it's all about party we're labor and

00:04:10.800 if they're labor they're labor they'd they'd vote for anybody who's labor because they're labor

00:04:15.160 whereas you know we've had Rebecca with us and it's been very personal and that's a big difference

00:04:20.900 fantastic and so the demographics you're saying that women are positively responding as well then

00:04:26.640 so why is it that women in particular are responding well well because Robert Kenyon's

00:04:31.100 got a slightly flaky past when it comes to his social media content particularly regarding women

00:04:35.580 the female vote won't go anywhere near him we don't think any of the lady anybody any woman

00:04:41.080 who's heard about what he's said in the past will not be voting for reform wow and uh one last thing

00:04:46.840 before we'll let uh we'll before carry on and see how things go what do you think about the guardian

00:04:51.080 showing up while we're at the uh brewer's fair then the only worst thing being talked about is

00:04:56.220 not being talked about right so the guardian have heard about us the garden wants the guardian

00:05:00.280 talk about us great how's it feeling in maker field well i think it's quite different because

00:05:04.980 Rupert Lowe was and is the MP for Great Yarmouth.

00:05:09.000 So Rupert Lowe is a local celebrity.

00:05:11.380 He's almost a local hero already.

00:05:13.640 Here it's very different.

00:05:14.680 This is Labour's home turf.

00:05:16.940 We are not from here.

00:05:18.600 And so it's all quite different.

00:05:21.080 But having said that, the reception we've had has been really,

00:05:24.600 I say really positive.

00:05:25.560 We're not embarrassed.

00:05:26.560 We're not ashamed, nor do we need to be.

00:05:28.520 We're proud to be Restore Britain.

00:05:30.700 We're Restore Britain because of the policies,

00:05:32.920 because of Rupert Lowe's confidence.

00:05:34.980 and as I say, we've been made really welcome.

00:05:37.200 So it's different, but then every constituence is different,

00:05:41.060 and we have to celebrate the difference,

00:05:43.240 maximise the opportunities that come from that difference,

00:05:45.880 and have a go.

00:05:46.880 Is this the sort of stuff that you've done before,

00:05:48.680 or did Restore bring you out for this?

00:05:51.360 Well, I'm older than I look, right?

00:05:53.880 So I was first canvassing when I was 17 in 1979,

00:05:57.520 which was when Margaret Thatcher was standing

00:05:59.380 for the first time to be Prime Minister.

00:06:02.540 So I've done it a little bit.

00:06:03.700 then I've had a whole working life. And now I've got children, I've got grandchildren. And

00:06:09.860 what Rupert Lowe has identified that we need to do to restore Britain,

00:06:15.460 is I'm absolutely behind it. So I've done it before, and now I'm doing it again.

00:06:18.900 Yeah. Which of his policies were the ones that really drew you in? Especially seeing as it

00:06:25.380 sounds like you've got concern for your children, your grandchildren, the future of this country?

00:06:29.620 Well, the obvious one is illegal immigration, and none of us understand why if someone breaks

00:06:35.460 the law, we don't enforce the law. I've spent a lot of my working life in the States. The idea

00:06:40.420 of going to the States and breaking in is inconceivable. Your feet wouldn't touch the

00:06:46.020 ground. So that whole thing is, I think, the primary policy. And then everything else,

00:06:52.980 all the other policies support that, whether it's castle doctrine, ladies being able to carry pepper

00:06:58.420 spray and all the other policies support the primary policy which is just fundamental safety

00:07:05.540 and everything that you're talking about there with illegal immigration is that reflective of

00:07:10.360 some of the responses that you've been getting from people who've been positive about the party

00:07:14.180 it is and i think that what we've done and what rupert has given us the opportunity and empowered

00:07:19.500 us to do is to have these difficult conversations which in the past we've been called we'd be called

00:07:24.380 names and now the I don't care message has empowered all of us to not care about that either

00:07:30.520 so we're finding we're all confident to state the policies answer the questions and if people don't

00:07:37.560 like those policies they'll say well fine you don't have to like it and then we go and knock

00:07:40.300 on the next door so we're empowered and I think that's the first it's the first time in any kind

00:07:45.080 of political environment where I as a mere volunteer have been empowered uh what's your

00:07:50.000 name? Jacob, pleasure to meet you. Pleasure to meet you, Jacob. So what brought you to Restore?

00:07:54.940 Why are you out canvassing for Restore today? Well, it's a long story. I've been eligible to

00:08:00.340 vote for 10 years. In that time, I've been a dedicated Farage supporter. I voted for UKIP

00:08:05.600 with Farage in 2015. I voted for Brexit with Farage. I fully believed in his message through

00:08:10.520 the Brexit party that he had sincere beliefs, sincere principles. After seeing how he treated

00:08:17.260 Rupert Lowe for simply expressing the principles that he himself had claimed to to stick by um that

00:08:23.540 was the first warning signs that things were up um then reform accepted conservative candidates in

00:08:29.540 and my faith in their capacity to deliver what we need in the changes for Britain

00:08:33.700 was completely shattered um so being disillusioned with them and seeing how they treated Rupert Lowe

00:08:39.780 for speaking sincerely um the choice was made on my behalf I felt it was my duty you know there was

00:08:45.880 a moral compulsion to be here on the ground doing absolutely whatever I can to help us achieve the

00:08:52.960 vision that we need for Britain before ultimately it's too late and Britain is lost forever you know

00:08:57.680 as we once knew it. I'm here with Rhys and Stuart and we're part way through canvassing right now

00:09:03.260 just get a little update what have responses been like on the door so far I know you've already

00:09:07.180 canvassed some of these areas so you're going back over some of the maybes and seeing how positive

00:09:11.860 people are what's the responses like well ultimately i think it depends entirely where

00:09:16.060 we're going don't get me wrong we've certainly had we've certainly had mixed responses but

00:09:19.940 on the vast you know generalization lots of people are very receptive once they sort of

00:09:24.900 understand what we're actually about and and they understand the policies that we're putting forward

00:09:28.440 then all of a sudden they sort of you know they you realize they are on our side they've just

00:09:32.380 sort of been misled for the better part of the past you know 10-15 years but as it goes for here

00:09:36.900 i mean we've got some of these lovely estates here and these people might have traditionally

00:09:39.900 been labour or lived in for the better part of their generation their lifetime but all of a

00:09:43.840 sudden we've reached this point now where it's all no one's happy and Rebecca's come along with

00:09:47.800 a great slew of policies and a great platform as well you know women and children's safety who can

00:09:52.100 argue against that and so ultimately the moment they hear that and they they hear that you know

00:09:56.440 we're vying for putting pepper spray in the hands of children and women so they can go to and from

00:10:00.520 live their lives as they should be able to their ears perk up and their eyes their eyes light up

00:10:05.300 and and they're all ears and so it's been really really motivating you know as someone who's

00:10:08.880 spent the time to come up here I've taken days off work and yeah it's really inspired me to see

00:10:14.480 how far we can go with this and hopefully give Rebecca a good shot. Great and is there a feeling

00:10:18.920 that Restore's going to care more about local issues as well as these national issues than

00:10:23.200 the other parties? Well without a doubt because I mean that's what we're all about isn't it that's

00:10:26.560 sort of the model is that ultimately we are people and we live in communities with other people

00:10:30.820 and so we want to do the best we can for those around us you know that's something that just

00:10:35.160 seems to have been completely out of the discourse for so long you know we we live we live and have

00:10:40.140 these issues and you know we just want the best for each other because if we don't have a community

00:10:44.140 then we don't have a nation what do we have you know we're not we're not these fungible people

00:10:49.140 we are real living bodies in groups and and we and this is what creates our lives and so we're

00:10:54.820 just we're just fighting for our local issues for local people and then if that works then we can go

00:10:59.840 beyond that. Yeah. And I asked Tyler this as well before. So the Times recently posted some new

00:11:06.400 polls saying that Labour are in the lead at 43%, reform at a close 40%, with restore in third

00:11:12.320 place at 7%. Is that reflective of your guys' experience on the door? How does that line up

00:11:17.940 with your experiences? Well, it certainly doesn't feel like that. I mean, I'm sure as you'll all

00:11:22.400 know, Servation used that 7% poll and all of the papers used it for well over three weeks,

00:11:27.060 even though, you know, you could argue from the first hour it was released, it was out of date.

00:11:31.200 And so they're going to go with their line up until about polling day and try and convince people that we're splitting the vote

00:11:36.560 or saying, oh, there's just not enough support, when in reality, what we're getting on the ground,

00:11:40.320 you actually might not be splitting the vote.

00:11:41.960 And I've said to a number of fine people today that actually it's simply that narrative alone

00:11:46.780 that's sort of keeping them confined in this sort of uniparty box,

00:11:49.840 and they feel like they have to vote for the worst of a bad bunch, when in reality that's not the case.

00:11:53.660 You know, we have a genuine alternative, and it's the first time in a long time

00:11:56.560 whether that's been available and people starting to realize that which is why i think it's so great

00:12:00.860 wonderful thank you very much that's all right no worries great chat so we're at the end of the day

00:12:05.120 now it's been a long day canvassing uh we managed to tag along for the last little stretch that you

00:12:10.360 did there it was a very interesting great to see so it seemed like you guys were getting some

00:12:14.720 very positive responses so how does today stack up canvassing wise

00:12:19.420 um today's been fantastic canvassing wise we've had so many enthusiastic uh responses

00:12:26.400 to to restore the people who are sold on our message are sold and there's a great uh recognition

00:12:32.340 house to house to house that things need to change desperately so we've had some fast

00:12:37.300 fantastic feedback today and yeah roll on again tomorrow no yeah i completely agree with that

00:12:42.820 actually in regards to the people who have already heard of restore they are just like they see the

00:12:47.880 hat they see the top they see you know canvases coming up to their doors and they're screaming

00:12:51.620 from their windows like yep we got you we got you we're voting for you you're 100 with us

00:12:55.800 that sort of thing and it's really really encouraging to see and in regards to like reform

00:13:00.660 especially as well a lot of them some of them haven't heard of us first of all which is a big

00:13:05.440 thing but more often than not you're able to flip them on the door because i don't know if you

00:13:09.740 remember i disappeared for about 15 minutes and that's what i was doing i was working on a reform

00:13:14.100 voter telling him all the information that we need and he flipped he's firm yes now on us put the

00:13:20.440 we're voting uh restore britain first and all that sort of thing so yeah he put it in his window and

00:13:24.900 was it that was it yeah great work and what what kind of response are you getting from the people

00:13:29.280 who've uh not heard of restore or even are like hard labor voters do you get many of them sticking

00:13:35.940 around what sort of responses do you get from them i'll tell you what actually uh about two

00:13:40.200 weeks ago i was up in makerfield again and there was a guy with his house he had about three or

00:13:45.980 four uh pictures in the in the windows of him saying he was going to vote for uh andy burnham

00:13:51.660 and he tried getting every single canvas

00:13:54.620 as possible to just come up to his door

00:13:56.200 and have like a 20-minute conversation

00:13:57.960 to waste our time.

00:13:59.500 And so you get those sort of strategies, definitely. 0.69

00:14:03.120 A few fuck-offs here and there, 0.60

00:14:04.860 you know, that sort of thing. 0.93

00:14:06.300 But generally speaking, it does.

00:14:08.760 You get fervency on all sides

00:14:10.200 and the passion in and of itself

00:14:12.560 just surrounding politics nowadays

00:14:14.540 is definitely interesting to see.

00:14:17.240 Yeah, because this is coming up to be

00:14:19.420 what many people are considering

00:14:20.820 in a big important by-election but you're also talking right before we started recording about

00:14:25.320 like community it's not it's not just the people that you were saying uh that you've been speaking

00:14:31.220 to it's also just like supporters who are part of the community um like just tell us a bit of a word

00:14:37.200 about that the kind of guys who've been supporting you in the efforts well i was absolutely astounded

00:14:41.760 i joined these efforts um not too long ago in terms of down in makerfield um that actually

00:14:46.420 represents you know it's the the the wheel hubs you know the spoke hub of uh of the entire nation

00:14:52.520 with regards to you know the restore activists um i'm astounded at how brotherly and fraternal the

00:14:58.460 entire thing is um people immediately you know we recognize we are motivated the inner flame is is

00:15:03.980 the same cause um and yeah just just the love the support the complete altruism between uh the

00:15:10.900 actual members of restore um that are truly working to something that they see as morally

00:15:16.240 justified you know to uplift the greatness of the country again and everyone's in this together so

00:15:21.060 um yeah the actual the interaction between the membership itself is absolutely fantastic and

00:15:26.280 astounding honestly really astounding so i mean yeah just as an example i would like to talk about

00:15:30.720 the patriot hotel right yeah i mean we have we have to mention it you know it's uh headed by a

00:15:35.240 guy called darren he's a local he's a fantastic guy true supporter genuine patriot and he's

00:15:40.480 just been going and inviting as many people as possible, shacking us up all in together,

00:15:45.480 feeding us, housing us. And it's just incredible to see that level of sort of dedication to the

00:15:51.360 cause where it's his own private home. And there are so many people who just kind of like go in

00:15:55.680 and stay a few nights, come out and help restore and all of that. And it's fantastic to see.

00:15:59.840 Really, I didn't expect that sort of thing. He's like 30 people through his house, you know,

00:16:02.860 through the entire time. And, you know, he's been cleaning up and helping and organizing lifts,

00:16:07.880 But broadly, actually, that's a reflection of a much bigger network that has brought that together, because there's organisers and people who I've never spoken to before, who I messaged before coming down saying, can you help us out with organising X, Y and Z? And in half an hour, it's all sorted. And that's the other. So actually, the efficiency of the inner network as well is astounding. It really is good. There's a fantastic machine for the ground game being put together here.

00:16:31.740 awesome and because this is going to be a big by-election you know things are starting to ramp

00:16:37.120 up things are starting to like uh accelerate so we had the guardian come in earlier today

00:16:43.760 and while we were out we heard uh that from your organizer that the other group who was out

00:16:49.360 canvassing had channel four following around as well why do you think that all of a sudden

00:16:55.580 restores starting to get attention from those kinds of outlets well they've realized that

00:17:01.260 their tactic of trying to bury us and censor us and avert no attention to us whatsoever

00:17:07.640 is failing, that we have such an organic spread and reach, and that people in this movement are

00:17:14.560 dedicated to themselves spreading the message. It's not just, oh, I'll vote Restore. It's,

00:17:19.600 I am a Restore member. Everything, you know, the predominant part of their life becomes sharing,

00:17:24.960 being part of the community, you know, spreading the awareness. So the media being aware of this

00:17:29.500 can no longer allow us to control our own narrative so they're now trying to step in with

00:17:34.640 various smear pieces and x y and z you know you've seen it all over with various articles coming out

00:17:39.260 recently some in america cnn and all the rest actually they're making the same mistake that

00:17:45.180 they always make which is their smears against us are either not smears at all and are just

00:17:51.520 repeating our policy and don't realize that the mood in the country has very much shifted and

00:17:56.360 people support that um or people see through the fabrication that you know that they're put up of

00:18:03.300 our um our way of thinking and see right through it that the media's attempt to discredit us

00:18:08.720 for a public who to whom the media have already been discredited actually serves our cause

00:18:14.180 fantastically so the media is trying to bring us down and every bit of effort that they put

00:18:19.380 to do that actually only raises us up further no honestly i mean you put that perfectly that's

00:18:25.320 essentially what's going on and you know they have to change their strategy and that's about it so

00:18:29.020 well final question for you so we've still got about a week and a half to go what are you feeling

00:18:36.060 like it's going to be going forwards any hopes any worries how do you think canvassing how do

00:18:41.580 you think campaigning is going to go as we lead up to the 18th i would say that it's probably

00:18:48.440 going to maintain sort of how it's been going for the past what two weeks now i think um

00:18:53.980 it's going to be very consistent but hopefully because closer towards the actual elections

00:18:59.380 we're going to go back to some of the houses that are sort of considering and try and work

00:19:03.960 them over a bit more and see if we can get them to come to our side and support us so we could

00:19:08.620 hopefully see more people from reform and other places coming over to restore as well that would

00:19:14.940 probably be my analysis of the next few weeks it's consolidation mainly i would second that

00:19:19.580 entirely um reform reform's vote share is dipping and it's going to continue to dip and people are

00:19:26.480 going to be educated about our message the fact that um anything that they wanted from reform

00:19:31.960 they will get from us so so you'd say um the polls that people are seeing are not reflective of your

00:19:38.060 guys experience absolutely not at all definitely um reform have lost uh the female vote in this

00:19:43.880 area women do not trust reform in this area so that's 50 percent of your voters immediately wiped

00:19:48.460 off the uh the chance um yeah people are uh not sold by farage they they don't trust him even

00:19:56.420 people who staunchly claim the old vote reform because it's the only chance they have themselves

00:20:00.880 i've seen several times uh the quiet admission that actually farage is not to be trusted um he's

00:20:07.400 not a particularly honest or principled character but he's the only chance we have rather than the

00:20:12.100 crudging horse that he really is um so yeah uh as far as we've seen uh restoring this area have

00:20:19.000 far more support than uh reform but we'll see how that goes all right yeah we certainly will be i'll

00:20:26.040 see you guys again tomorrow and it all sounds like it's very positive so far guys so uh good

00:20:31.500 luck for tomorrow and uh we'll see how it goes till the 18th thank you very much both

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - June 09, 2026

Who’s Campaigning In Makerfield？

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