Jonathan Tawn 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

The New Statesman ran a cover story about me and my friends in Restore Britain, which was far fairer than any prior piece by the Spectator, Telegraph, or Daily Mail. The article casts us as the disgruntled sons of Nigel Farage, disappointed with our father and seeing his revolution through to its logical conclusion. But it’s remarkable how much an accurate description of our characters reads like an endorsement: “These men – Christian, state-school educated – are unknown outside the online right. Yet they have become some of the most influential people in right-wing politics.” “They dress formally and call each other “patriot” the same way a leftist might say “comrade”. Their references span the Old Testament, Marcus Aurelius and the video game Skyrim. They have a trollish streak, but many are Christian and morally serious; they advocate marriage and fret about degeneracy. They are sterner than their online personalities suggest.” Despite Restore polling at between 3 and 8 per cent, author Emily Lawford writes: “There is evidence that these men are pushing the country’s political centre of gravity further right”. Emily even described how I arrived at our interview with my wife, “him in a suit and tie, her a summer dress. Mrs Tomlinson (her husband asked that I don’t name her) brought a gift: a slice of freshly baked Victoria sponge. She watched, smiling, as her husband told me about his journey into the radical right.” If the far right are young, presentable parents baking cakes and having conversations about how to fix the country, then sign me up. Charlie Downes regularly reminds me, Harrison Pitt, and Lewis Brackpool that “It’s us, there’s no one else.” Carl Benjamin insists he has “never been more convinced that essentially our victory is inevitable, as the horrors of multiculturalism become clear.” With articles like this, I’m starting to believe them.