A campaigner for the Restore Britain party was hospitalised after an alleged attack by anti-racism protesters while leafleting in Camden ahead of next month’s by-election, according to MP Rupert Lowe.
Lowe said the incident occurred on Saturday as his party’s campaign team canvassed for candidate Tyler Johnson, a London-based lawyer, in the constituency of Holborn and St Pancras. The seat is being contested in a special by-election to replace former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Lowe said police were involved in the aftermath.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Restore Britain said one of its campaigners was doused with scalding hot coffee during the confrontation.
The Stand Up to Racism group, which Restore Britain has accused of carrying out the attack, rejected the claim. The group said it had “confronted” what it described as “neo-Nazi Restore activists” but denied physically attacking anyone.
“Racists and fascists aren’t welcome in Camden, or anywhere else. We will and a confront fascists wherever they appear,” the group said in a statement.
The Metropolitan Police had not confirmed details of the incident at the time of reporting. Neither Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch nor Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham had commented publicly on the claims.
Reform UK Figures React
The alleged attack drew condemnation from senior figures in Reform UK, including Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf, who has previously clashed publicly with Lowe over separate allegations, which Lowe has denied.
“If a political party cannot deliver leaflets in a parliamentary by-election without a crazed mob attacking them, we do not have a democracy,” Yusuf said. “Make no mistake, these far left mobs – and the foreign actors funding them – will face an almighty reckoning under a Reform government.”
Professor Matt Goodwin, a prominent Reform supporter, also weighed in, referencing a separate incident involving Ann Widdecombe.
“Left-wing extremists routinely harass, abuse, and attack patriots and yet Westminster says nothing. And now, after Ann Widdecombe, we hear that patriotic activists have been assaulted on London’s streets. If this was the other way around we would never hear the end of it. There should be NO place for political violence and harassment in our democracy. We shall wait for Labour and Green politicians to condemn the violence but I suspect we will be waiting a very long time,” Goodwin said.
Lowe Calls for Toned-Down Rhetoric
Lowe urged the media and political establishment to temper their language toward Restore Britain, arguing that characterising the party as Nazis was inflaming tensions.
“Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, should be physically attacked in the street for peacefully campaigning. This has to end,” Lowe said. “Challenge our ideas, criticise our policies, debate us on our platform. Pushing for mass deportations is mainstream politics, backed by millions and millions of Brits. That is NOT ‘nazism’.”
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