Kemi Badenoch Refuses to Sack London Conservative Leader Backing Far-Right Group Demanding Mass Deportations

Kemi Badenoch has been told to “show some backbone”and expel their London Assembly leader Susan Hall, after she joined the advisory board of a far-right group demanding the mass deportation of millions of people living legally in the UK.

In a post on social media, expelled ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe said that he was “absolutely delighted to have Susan Hall AM, Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly and the party’s 2024 London mayoral candidate, join our Restore Britain Advisory Board”. He went on to call her a “proper campaigner with fantastic experience”. 

Lowe’s new outfit claims that it is not a political party, but rather a “movement” aiming to “carpet-bomb the cancer of wokery”, and that wants to entice members from any party it can “if they share our values and want to be part of a bottom-up movement that has the potential to transform Britain”. 

On the group’s web page, it has pledged to “ban the burqa”, “defund the BBC”, “restore the death penalty”, “deport all illegal migrants” and achieve “net negative immigration”. The group goes much further than many political outfits that support reducing migration, wanting to actively see mass emigration by removing millions of legal residents of the country. 

In the wake of grooming scandals, Lowe said earlier this year: “If whole [Pakistani] communities have to be deported, then so be it”.

Lib Dem London spokesperson Luke Taylor MP Hall’s backing for Restore Britain shows either her values “are out of step with the Conservative Party, or the Conservative Party has lurched even further to the right out of desperation.”

Challenged on Hall’s far-right endorsement on Wednesday, a Conservative party spokesperson defended her, telling journalists Lowe “is an independent MP & his is a non-aligned, non-partisan movement”.

In a statement to the London Centric Substack, Hall said: “I have yet to meet with any other [Restore Britain] board members to discuss policy, and as I understand it no policies have been voted on or supported. My engagement thus far has been one conversation with Rupert Lowe.”

“I support those who migrate here with a view to integrate and help build our communities, and I do not support their deportation. However, I am deeply concerned about those who do not integrate, or who commit crimes, who should not be here.”

However, Restore Britain’s “net negative migration” policy would require “annual departure of legal migrants [to] at least double”. This would almost certainly involve mass deportation of hundreds of thousands of legal migrants, a policy which has strong overlap with the British National Party or the National Front. 

Lowe’s project has already attracted a number of prominent individuals on the right, including Charlie Downes, a far-right political commentator who has praised Enoch Powell and spoken at anti-migrant demonstrations. Downes announced his joining on the Lotus Eaters podcast. 

Restore Britain, which claims it wants to “end anti-white racism”, has also received the public support of former UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe, racism-scandal historian David Starkey, and, seemingly, Elon Musk, who under Lowe’s announcement of the project tweeted two Union Flag emojis. 

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Xtremists 

It’s perhaps not surprising that Musk has decided to indicate his support for Lowe. The billionaire had previously suggested he should lead Reform, and that: “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes”, after Farage distanced himself from comments made by Musk in support of far-right agitator Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson).

Musk had called for Lennon to be released from prison, where he was then serving his latest prison sentence for contempt of court, saying he was imprisoned for “telling the truth” and sharing a post calling him a “political prisoner”. 

Lowe has also previously defended Lennon, claiming that he deserves to be given credit for “the things he’s done right”, also refusing to deny a conspiracy theory, peddled by Musk, that he was a “political prisoner”. 

Always on the further right of the Reform ranks, since sitting as an independent, Lowe has drifted even further, and become more radical, accusing Farage and Reform after he lost the party whip of “watering down” its position on migration, and publishing a document called ‘Mass Deportations: A Blueprint’ with the Centre for Migration Control think tank, and tabling an early day motion titled ‘Mass deportations of illegal immigrants’. 

He has also, as reported by HOPE Not Hate, written on his own X account, above a picture of people seeking asylum crossing the English Channel, that:

“I do not want these unvetted young men free to roam our streets. ‘Desperate’ asylum seekers? Come off it. Use your eyes. You can call me ‘racist’, you can call me ‘far-right’. I am so past caring. What needs to happen, urgently? Two words. Detain. Deport. All of them.”

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Hall of Shame

Susan Hall, prior to joining the advisory board of his new movement, made a number of interventions on behalf of Lowe, claiming that the desire to remove him was “a stupid thing to do to say the least”. 

Hall herself has a history of appearing to endorse racist social media posts, including liking far-right commentator Katie Hopkins’ description of Sadiq Khan as “our nipple height mayor of Londonistan”, and posts praising Enoch Powell.  

“Conservative group leader Susan Hall has shown once again just how unfit she was to be the Mayor of London,” said Lib Dem Luke Taylor MP.

“Kemi Badenoch needs to show some backbone and remove her from the Conservative Party. If she doesn’t, she’s admitting that the policies of Restore Britain are acceptable to the Conservatives.

“Either way, London deserves better than Restore Britain and Susan Hall, who are totally out of step with the values of our city. It’s time for Kemi Badenoch to do the right thing.”

Max Colbert is a freelance journalist and regular writer for Byline Times. Josiah Mortimer is Byline Times’ chief reporter.