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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Abbie Llewelyn

Restore Britain’s Rupert Lowe declines to say whether King is a white Briton

Rupert Lowe MP (Aaron Chown/PA) - (PA Wire)

Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has declined to say, when asked, whether he thinks the King is a “white Briton”.

It comes after Mr Lowe said “white Britons will become a minority by 2063” in a video in which he offered to work with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

The BBC’s Nick Robinson asked Mr Lowe about the issue on the Today programme on Thursday, noting that the forecast he referred to defines a white Briton as someone whose parents were both born in the UK.

Mr Robinson asked: “Are you aware that, by the definitions used in that particular report, King Charles is not a white Briton? Do you think he is a white Briton?”

Responding, Mr Lowe said: “Well, many people have different interpretations of that, Nick. I mean, we can split hairs.”

Charles, then the Prince of Wales during a visit to the Byzantine Church in Kapnikarea, during a walking tour of the Kapnikarea area in Athens (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA) (PA Archive)
Charles, then the Prince of Wales during a visit to the Byzantine Church in Kapnikarea, during a walking tour of the Kapnikarea area in Athens (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA) (PA Archive)

Mr Robinson interjected: “We’re not splitting hairs, do you think the monarch of this country is a white Briton?”

Mr Lowe said: “The experience of what we’re talking about is quite clear and I think most British people, if you speak to them, would agree.

“And that is why Restore Britain’s membership is growing very fast and your listeners are dropping equally fast, because you don’t reflect actually what’s happening. You try and whitewash all the things that are happening.”

Mr Robinson accused Mr Lowe of “ignoring the question”, to which the Restore Britain leader said: “I’m not ignoring the question.

“It is a fact that, by 2063, white British people will be a minority on current trends. I don’t think anyone disputes that.”

Mr Robinson said: “What I was putting to you is that the basis of that forecast, which is widely disputed and based on a whole series of assumptions that none of us know whether they’ll be true or not, is that you’re only called a white Briton if both of your parents were born in this country.

“So, because Prince Philip was born in Greece, King Charles is not, under your definition, treated as a white Briton. Now let me go on and ask you a different question.”

Mr Lowe replied: “I did come on to speak to speak about ostensibly the economic paper we’ve just put out, and about the issue with Nigel Farage, and you’ve managed to turn it into a discussion about British people becoming minority, white British people, by 2063.

“So look, please move on to another question.”

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