Hard- Right party Restore Britain descended into open warfare over the decision to suspend a member pictured making a Hitler salute.
James Munro sparked backlash from supporters after he revealed his local chairman had booted him out of Restore over his past extremist associations.
The expulsion came after an investigation by Hope Not Hate revealed Mr Munro had been pictured holding a neo-fascist flag and Nazi saluting less than a decade ago.
But Restore later reinstated the Dundee member following the backlash, with Mr Munro confirming he will now ‘continue as a member of Restore Britain, and as an activist’.
He also defended the photo of him making the vile gesture, arguing: ‘This picture was from about ten years ago. It was a different time.’
‘There were no legitimate avenues for young men in nationalism, so back then you had to get dirty.’
Restore Britain hit headlines this week after a poll for the Makerfield by-election revealed that the party, led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, risks splitting the vote and handing a win to Andy Burnham.
The news that Mr Munro had not been thrown out of the party was later confirmed by a national spokesman, who said: ‘Branch organisers do not have the power to remove members – our team is examining that specific case.’
James Munro (left) defended the picture on the grounds it was a ‘different time’ when he posed less than ten years ago
A Restore spokesman said local branch chairmen don’t have the ability to suspend membership, and the incident is being ‘examined’
Mr Munro’s quashed expulsion came as the Daily Mail published an expose of Restore’s links to extremists and hard-Right activists.
These include Steve Laws, who has called for the removal of Jews from Britain on the grounds they are ‘foreign’.
Restore repeatedly failed to condemn, or distance themselves from, Mr Laws.
The Mail can also reveal that Restore Britain officials have shared platforms with other extremists.
Harrison Pitt, the party’s ‘Senior Policy Fellow’, recently interviewed far-Right Austrian activist Martin Sellner, who was banned from the United Kingdom in 2018.
The Home Office said Mr Sellner, whom Pitt branded ‘esteemed’, would never be allowed entry on the grounds that he was de facto leader of ‘an organisation which… directly targets Islamic communities through publicity stunts.’
The interview, published on the ‘European Conservative’ YouTube channel in March, saw Mr Pitt ask Sellner whether Europe is ‘living through a disastrous, criminal overcorrection to Naziism’.
Lewis Brackpool, Restore’s head of investigation (left), has shared a platform with Heritage Party leader David Kurten (right) multiple times
Harrison Pitt (right), the party’s ‘Senior Policy Fellow’, recently interviewed far-Right Austrian activist Martin Sellner (left)
The video’s description said the interview included discussion about ‘the globalist plot against white majorities, and why – as well as how – the indigenous peoples of Europe should reclaim their national homelands from treacherous elites and hostile outsiders.’
And Lewis Brackpool, Restore’s head of investigations, has appeared in multiple YouTube videos alongside Heritage Party leader David Kurten.
Mr Kurten has previously expressed shock that a ‘Jewess’ may ‘rule over’ Mexico if Claudia Sheinbaum won that year’s presidential election, and mourned the death of infamous Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck.
The Mail asked both Mr Brackpool and Mr Pitt whether they believe voters would be alarmed to see them sharing platforms with such individuals.
Last night, the Jewish Leadership Council issued a damning warning about Restore Britain, branding their rise ‘deeply worrying’.
Russell Langer, director of public affairs for the council, told the Mail: ‘Restore Britain has become a home for those linked to vile neo-Nazi groups such as Patriotic Alternative and the Homeland Party, as well as former BNP candidates.
Rupert Lowe with his party’s Makerfield candidate, Rebecca Shepherd, who have been warned they risk handing the seat to Andy Burnham
‘To see these open displays of antisemitism take hold in a political party with representation in Parliament is deeply worrying for Britain’s Jewish community.’
But a spokesman for Restore hit back, branding this paper’s investigation a ‘desperate attack’.
They blasted: ‘We are not engaging in these increasingly desperate attacks by an establishment media that is clearly terrified of Restore Britain’s rapid growth.
‘If the Daily Mail wants to discuss our policies, we are more than happy to have that debate.
‘Multiple attack pieces have now been launched by this paper, and judging by the comment sections on those many articles – Daily Mail readers are seeing through it.
‘We are not aiming to merely ‘reform’ the UK, we are going to Restore Britain and the establishment absolutely despises us for that.
‘If readers want radical change, and we mean radical, then back Restore Britain. The hysterical response to our growth shows exactly why we are the only choice.’
Yesterday, the party criticised pollsters for failing to properly prompt for Restore in their surveys, accusing them of attempting to ‘suppress’ the true levels of their popularity.
According to the only official poll of the crucial Makerfield by-election so far, Restore is in third place on around 7% of the vote.
Reform has warned potential backers of Rupert Lowe MP’s party that they risk splitting the Right-wing vote and handing the seat to Andy Burnham.
James Munro, Lewis Brackpool and Harrison Pitt were all approached for comment.
