Patrick McGinnis proposed Restore Britain's Holborn and St Pancras candidate. The Electoral Commission register names him leader of the National Housing Party.
The man who formally put Restore Britain’s candidate on the Holborn and St Pancras ballot paper is the registered leader of a different political party. That is on Camden Council’s own election notice and on the Electoral Commission’s public register, and anyone can check both.
The anti-racism charity Stand Up To Racism says the same man has published a video blaming “Jewish ideas” for the destruction of Britain. Restore Britain has published nothing about it on its website.
We have gone back to the source documents rather than to anyone else’s summary of them. Here is what the record actually says, what it does not say, and why Camden had no power to refuse the nomination.
What Camden’s nomination record says
Camden’s statement of persons nominated lists 15 candidates for the by-election on Thursday 8 October. For Restore Britain it records:
- candidate: Tyler Kurtis Johnson, with an address in the Queens Park and Maida Vale constituency
- proposer: Patrick McGinnis
- seconder and eight assentors, named on the notice
The notice was published by Jon Rowney, Camden’s Acting Returning Officer. Full copies are available at the Town Hall on Judd Street.
Every parliamentary nomination works this way. Under rule 7 of the Parliamentary Elections Rules, a nomination paper must be subscribed by ten people: “two electors as proposer and seconder, and by eight other electors as assenting to the nomination”. All ten must be on the register of parliamentary electors for that constituency.
That is worth pausing on. The candidate does not have to live in the seat, and most of these 15 do not. The ten people who sign the paper do. Whoever signed as proposer for Restore Britain had to be a Holborn and St Pancras voter.
Who Patrick McGinnis is on the public register
The Electoral Commission’s register of political parties records National Housing Party United Kingdom on the Great Britain register, registered on 22 March 2022, at an address in Oldham. Its entry names:
- Leader: Mr Patrick McGinnis
- Nominating Officer: Mr Patrick McGinnis
- Treasurer: Ms Stephanie Parker
The party’s own website gives the same roles, describing McGinnis as “Leader and Nominating Officer”. It calls itself “a Christian Nationalist Party” and says two policies are non-negotiable for its founders: a complete halt to permanent settlement immigration, and withdrawal from the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. It also campaigns to “repeal all hate crime/discrimination laws and the equalities act”.
There is a second registration for the same party name on the Northern Ireland register, made in December 2023. On that one the leader is a different man, and McGinnis is listed as treasurer. The Great Britain entry is the one that matters for an English parliamentary seat.
One limit on the record, which we should be straight about. Camden’s notice prints the names of subscribers but not their addresses. The notice on its own therefore proves that a Patrick McGinnis proposed the Restore Britain candidate. It does not, by itself, prove he is the same Patrick McGinnis on the Electoral Commission register. That identification comes from Stand Up To Racism’s investigation.
What Stand Up To Racism says
Stand Up To Racism published its findings on 17 September, two days after nominations closed. It says the proposer is the National Housing Party leader, and that he has published a video titled “Jewish ideas are destroying our country, not Islamic ideas”.
In that video, the charity says, he blames what he calls “Jewish ideas” for transgender inclusion in schools, feminism, an alleged anti-white media agenda, the declining influence of Christianity, public debt and the weakening of the police, armed forces and legal system. It quotes him saying: “All these ideas, what have destroyed all these institutions, what I’ve just mentioned, come from Jewish ideas.”
The charity does not say when the video was published, and we have not been able to date it.
Its investigation makes wider claims about other people it says took part in the Holborn campaign, including a former British National Party official. Those claims rest on photographs and social media posts rather than on any public register, and the people concerned hold no public office, so we are not naming them here.
Weyman Bennett, co-convenor of Stand Up To Racism, said in the same statement: “Restore cannot dismiss this as a few embarrassing social-media endorsements.”
These are the charity’s allegations. They are not findings of any court, regulator or returning officer.
What the parties have said
Restore Britain’s website carries no statement on the nomination. The party is led by Rupert Lowe, who sits as the MP for Great Yarmouth; Parliament’s own record lists his party as Restore Britain.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service says it approached Restore Britain, the candidate, McGinnis and a campaign organiser for comment. Only the National Housing Party replied, telling the agency: “You are an Anti-White Christ Hater.”
We have taken nothing else from that reporting.
Why Camden could not refuse the nomination
This is the question most readers will have, and the answer is in the statute rather than in anyone’s press release.
A returning officer is not a filter on opinion. Under rule 12(2) of the Parliamentary Elections Rules, he is entitled to hold a nomination paper invalid on three grounds only:
- that the particulars of the candidate or of the people subscribing the paper are not as required by law
- that the paper is not subscribed as required by law
- that the candidate is disqualified
Nothing there allows a returning officer to reject a paper because of who a subscriber is, what party he leads, or what he has said. Provided the ten subscribers are registered electors in the constituency and the form is filled in correctly, the paper stands and the £500 deposit is taken.
The rules also close off the usual routes of complaint. Rule 12(5) says the decision cannot be challenged in ordinary legal proceedings. Rule 12(6) leaves one route open: the validity of a nomination can be questioned by an election petition after the poll.
What it means for you
If this has changed how you intend to vote, or whether you intend to vote at all, the deadlines are on top of you. From Camden’s notice of election, dated 8 September:
- register to vote: midnight tonight, Tuesday 22 September. Miss it and you cannot vote on 8 October
- new or amended postal votes: 5pm tomorrow, Wednesday 23 September
- free photo ID, a Voter Authority Certificate: 5pm on Wednesday 30 September
- new proxy votes: 5pm on Wednesday 30 September
- emergency proxy: 5pm on polling day itself
- the poll runs from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 8 October
You do not have to take anyone’s word for the nomination record, including ours. Camden publishes the statement of persons nominated in full, and the Electoral Commission register is searchable by party name. Both are linked above, and full paper copies of the Camden notice are available at the Town Hall on Judd Street.
We have set out all 15 candidates and what polling day involves separately. Our other Camden coverage includes planning news and house prices.
Sources: London Borough of Camden statement of persons nominated and notice of poll; London Borough of Camden notice of election, dated 8 September 2026; Electoral Commission register of political parties, entry PP12868; National Housing Party United Kingdom website; Representation of the People Act 1983, Schedule 1, Parliamentary Elections Rules, rules 7 and 12; Stand Up To Racism, 17 September 2026; UK Parliament members register.
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