Steve Laws Restore Britain has been rocked by a bitter internal revolt after Steve Laws, a self-declared ethno-nationalist and Hitler sympathiser, resigned from the party and accused leader Rupert Lowe of “terrible” leadership. Mr Laws announced his departure on Saturday, blaming what he called “horrendous decisions and refusal to defend the membership”. His resignation follows a furious row over comments by Orla Minihane, Restore’s spokesman on the safety of women and girls. Ms Minihane At a Restore event in Gateshead, Ms Minihane said British girls from Indian, Asian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Somalian backgrounds also deserved protection from abuse. Her remarks triggered a backlash from hard-line figures linked to the party, who argued that “white native girls are our priority” and “our own come first”. One X user who had previously expressed support for Restore accused Ms Minihane of “pandering to foreigners”. Another said the party was not being supported “to save Bangladeshis, Somalians and Indians” and argued that universalist principles had contributed to the problem of rape gangs. Ms Minihane hit back at her critics, accusing anonymous online attackers of shouting about patriotism while hiding behind keyboards. She vowed to continue fighting for the safety and security of women and girls. She received support from Howard Cox, Restore’s transport spokesman, who branded her critics “jealous scumbags” and “pathetic amoebas who get off behind their keyboards”. He told Ms Minihane that her work had been “nothing but brilliant” and said: “We will prevail.” Howard Cox But the backlash did not disappear. Other Restore supporters warned that “trashing the base isn’t really a smart move”. Mr Laws directly challenged Mr Lowe over the dispute, asking whether he would address party members calling the base “subhuman” and “not people”. He accused the party leader of “terrible f------ leadership” for ignoring the controversy. He then turned his fire on Mr Cox, saying the transport spokesman had been in the party for only 10 days but had already caused “so much damage”. Mr Laws warned that if Mr Lowe sided with Cox against the membership, he should “just be honest about it”. On Saturday, Mr Laws formally resigned. In an email shared on X, he described his departure as “one failure after another” and said the situation had become “a humiliation ritual”. Jez Hermer The dispute had also spilled into a separate clash involving Jez Hermer, a Restore council candidate and Royal Marines veteran. Mr Hermer told The Sunday Times he did not believe someone had to be “pure white” to be British and said he had reassured Dover voters that Restore did not endorse ethno-nationalism. Mr Laws condemned those remarks as “completely unacceptable”. He questioned what the point of the party was if its candidates could not “get the basics right”. Mr Hermer won 10 per cent of the vote in the Dover by-election last month, which the Greens won by 34 votes. Reform UK subsequently accused Restore of splitting the Right-wing vote and handing the seat to the Greens. Sam Wilkes, another prominent hard-line Restore supporter who uses the name “Zoomer Historian” online, called Mr Laws’s resignation a “serious warning” to the leadership. He said Restore had a “very limited window” and warned that “everyone is losing patience”. Before leaving, Mr Laws had been linked to speculation that he could launch a splinter party and had warned he might take “a lot of the nationalist faction” with him. He describes himself as the founder of Remigration Now, which calls for the expulsion of every non-white or Jewish person from Britain. Mr Laws has also previously claimed to have been in “daily” contact with Mr Lowe’s team, a claim the Restore leader denied. On a show hosted by Liam Tuffs, an associate of Tommy Robinson, Mr Laws said that if he had lived in Germany in the 1930s, he would have supported Hitler and said he “doubt[s] the figures” on the Holocaust. When approached by The Telegraph, Mr Laws said the reasons given for his resignation were “all wrong”, but declined to identify which parts were inaccurate or explain further why he had left. Mr Lowe and Restore Britain have been approached for comment. The internal dispute now leaves the party facing questions over its leadership, membership and direction as the fallout from the resignation continues. Restore Britain facing revolt from Hitler apologist
