General British politics discussion thread

The fact that this hasn't been mentioned here might give some indication as to its chances of success.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/15/rupert-lowe-great-yarmouth-first-party-far-right-reform-uk

But after introducing five councillors who will stand at the next Norfolk county council elections under that banner, the former Reform UK figure went further by announcing that his Restore Britain movement would become a national party.

In an electoral battlefield littered with failed startups, Lowe’s new party is, for now, little more than a pebble in the shoe of Nigel Farage’s Reform, from which he parted ways last year after a bitter falling out.

However, over the weekend other parties and figures to the right of Reform quickly rallied behind the new party. Advance UK, led by the former Reform deputy leader Ben Habib and backed by the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson, said it would consider a merger.

Ordinarily, you might think that they will eventually merge with Reform, but given that Lower was in Reform already, that doesn't seem likely.

Apparently Elon Musk commented in favour of the party at the weekend so it will be interesting to see what way this develops. It's likely that we're going to have the Tories/Reform/Restore trying to out extreme each other in a bid to gain the lead.

I'd say right now you'd say it's probably even money that either or both party might have disappeared entirely by the time the election comes around. Strangely, because they're seeking to replace the Tories, Reform might actually benefit from this if Restore does end up being seen as the most extreme of the right wing parties.

Anyone want to gamble on who is going to get more seats in UK election 2029; Restore, or Your Party?

It's not complicated, nor is it a conspiracy theory.

Israeli influence on various organisations and institutions have affected how they act and this has had an impact on how the public experience their decisions/services. Tik Tok and the UK government are two, but not the only two examples of this.

And when you have Israeli officials at various times talking about action that is needed, and then steps happen that result in that action been taken, it's not a conspiracy theory, it's current affairs.

And you might disagree, that's fine, this is a discussion board. But we've seen intensely over the last few years the network of involvement of Israeli lobby groups and how they themselves in various instances have influenced or sought to influence politicians, public platforms and the like. And you might say so what, that is what lobby groups do, but this is while Israel has been carrying out a genocide on the Palestinian people, and for that reason, I feel, a light should be shone on this.

This is the firm that was awarded a 300M+ NHS IT/AI contract in 2023.

Palantir of course also noteworthy in recent years for working extensively with Israel supporting its actions in Gaza and also supporting the work of ICE in the US.

That CEO is like a character straight out of a parody Bond film.

What a crazy thing to say to investors. Would people be confident that this company would follow and uphold the law with respect to patient data available within the NHS?

He specifically referred to their interests in the UK when appealing to investors.

Their interests in the UK include significant contracts with the NHS.

When was the last time the UK government was actively trying to kill people in its own interests as a national strategy?

And that aside, the majority of people the world over don't like glorification in death. It's why they go out of their way to not use such terms as used here in most instances. Because they know it creates a bad perception of their role in the eyes of the public.

This guy seemed to glorify the use of the term and even advocates of the AI industry becoming involved in healthcare (such as Wes Streeting) will not thank him for it.

This is one of the founders of Palantir, Peter Thiel, being asked in an interview if he would like the Human Race to endure (The question was asked in the context of advancing AI).

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LXpc1YiXDoQ

The video is 15 seconds long so I'll let you watch it yourself rather than me telling you how he responded. But anyone who struggles with such a question and doesn't answer immediately with a forceful yes, is absolutely not someone who should be involved in delivery solutions (particularly and especially in the area of Healthcare) to Government entities.

Between this mindset, and that of the current company CEO shown above, massive red flags should be going off about the direction these individuals and the companies they lead are pushing society.

And you might call my concerns about this "typical outrage", and people with a mindset I'm pretty sure you have will say similar to what you are saying here, and later argue that the second amendment is necessary to prevent a tyrannical government. Companies like this are some of the ingredients of a tyrannical government and they are looking to gain more and more influence wherever they can. And as Karp said above, this includes the UK.

This doesn't look good for Mandelson, you can be sure of that. Anything they do to Andrew with respect to conduct in office they're going to do more intensely to him I feel.

There was a former Norwegian PM similarly charged last week also.

It's like a house of cards slowing teetering and starting to fall isn't it. And each of these events that happen outside the US will put pressure on the media there (the authorities are complicit with the cover up) to keep asking questions.

Andrew being arrested might help Starmer to some degree as it spreads the focus and undoubtedly there will be entwinement between Andrew and various government officials who should have been watching him which will include Tories also.