"We’re still standing by what we were elected to do"

Steven met Cllr Paul Thomas in the new Restore Britain Group office at Kent County Council. Having only recently joined the party and been elected group leader, they had a lot to talk about, including why Paul joined and left the Conservatives, why he is no longer a member of Reform, and why he landed on Restore. He also asked him about his path into politics, whether he supports far-right individuals joining Restore, and if he has curtains up in his front room...

What is it you like about Rupert Lowe?
It's refreshing that you've got somebody that speaks their mind, takes a common sense approach, and empowers us at the grassroots level. He came to visit us in County Hall. His main purpose was to thank us for joining the party, which was a no brainer, to be honest. It's all about serving your division, but collectively do the best you can for the county. A lot of the obvious ways to fix things are staring you in the face. But politicians, per se, and it seems to be the case across the board, seem to ignore that, and they start to have their own agendas.
A lot of people started accusing us of being things that we're not. I said to them, “Hold on a minute. I've been elected. I'm Paul Thomas, county councillor for Maidstone South. I live in my division, and we try and pick candidates from the communities because you then live in it.” Whereas you see a lot of other parties keep throwing people in from out of area. They don't understand it.

You're now the leader of the Restore Britain group. How would you describe Restore Britain?
To be absolutely honest, a lot of the things we used to say in Reform, like family, community, country, I always added the strapline 'with consideration.' Because if you assume things, you can get things wrong. Another issue that we always like to look at is the unintended consequences. Before we take action or suggest something, what are the unintended consequences within our area? We try and sound that out. One of the biggest issues and Reform bang the table, Rupert was an integral part, it now transpires, his idea for mass deportation was the real reason he was pushed out of the party. Yes, it's a hard policy. Yes, we're going to have those that criticise us about it, but we can't afford to pay for all of these illegal immigrants coming through.
The approach Restore are taking is to rather make these big sweeping promises, this is what we're to do. It's the same thing I was elected on. I didn't say I wasn't going to put council tax up. What I said is you vote for me, and I will go in there, and I will look at the inefficient practices or the contracts that we're doing, or what we strategically need to do. It won't happen overnight, but that will then generate savings and efficiencies, which means you can deliver more for less or if you then manage to work within surpluses, we've got choices. Those choices can be reducing the tax for people, which then means there's more money in their pockets they can spend. That will boost the local economy. But more importantly, the refreshing big difference is we're not going to be whipped locally. We've been empowered to go out, understand what needs to be done, and make those proposals, put the motions forward, chase, cajole, to ensure that we deliver what the people of Kent want.

Restore has positioned itself as right of Reform. I know you said you don’t like labels, but Restore has support from groups that have been referred to as far-right or fascist. Does that concern you?
One of the things that's always occurred to me is I can't stop people voting for me. 

No, but you can stop people who've got a conviction for a hate crime, for example, from joining the party. 
Yeah. Now, that's where we will be looking out to make sure that people that have done that don't join the party. Because where I was saying labels are always dangerous, is it hard right saying we need mass deportations? We've explained why it's a sensible approach.

There are people who have said, Rishi Sunak, for example, isn't really British or who would say that Linden Kemkaren isn't really British and therefore shouldn't be able to be a councillor and Leader of Kent County Council.
Funny enough, I asked him [Rupert Lowe] that question, and he said, “Go and read the mass deportation policy. Say where it says people like Linden Kemkaren and Rishi Sunak…”

But people who are supporting the party are saying that. Do you welcome that support?
There's a line. When it crosses that line, the answer's no.

Just to be clear, where is that line?