After months of leading in the polls, Reform UK is now in meltdown. This afternoon, the party chairman, Zia Yusuf, and the chief whip, Lee Anderson, released a joint statement which says that they have now referred Rupert Lowe to the police. The pair say that they have ‘received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying’ in Lowe’s offices and that ‘we understand complaints have been made to parliamentary authorities’.
They allege that evidence has been provided of workplace bullying, with female staff who raised concerns being targeted. They suggest too that Lowe made ‘derogatory and discriminatory remarks’ about women, ‘including reference to a perceived disability’. Yusuf and Anderson say that an independent KC has been appointed to conduct an investigation into these complaints and that Lowe is yet to cooperate with this investigation. They add that ‘in addition to these allegations of a disturbing pattern of behaviour, Mr Lowe has on at least two occasions made threats of physical violence against our Party Chairman. Accordingly, this matter is with the Police’.
Lowe has now hit back at these ‘untrue and false’ allegations on X. In a lengthy statement, he says that he has just spoken to the KC who is ‘dismayed that this statement has been made, and reiterated that no evidence against me has been sent to her’. He insists that ‘allegations of physical threats are outrageous and entirely untrue’ and he is now seeking legal advice. He adds that: ‘It is no surprise that this vexatious statement has been issued the day after my reasonable and constructive questions of Nigel and the Reform structure’.
Lowe’s suspension comes less than 48 hours after the publication of an interview that he did with the Daily Mail. In it, the Great Yarmouth MP suggested that he ‘didn’t know’ if Nigel Farage would be a good prime minister and hinted he would not stand again for Reform. Such comments sparked fury within the party. Farage himself hit back publicly yesterday, telling Talk TV that Lowe was: ‘Utterly wrong, utterly, completely wrong… perhaps he wants to be Prime Minister!’
It is that suspicion – that Lowe wishes to usurp Farage – that has worsened relations in recent months between the two men and their allies. After months of tensions brewing beneath the surface, they have today erupted in the most spectacular fashion. Lowe’s statement says that if Reform ‘want to kick me out over false claims, they’ll have to finally present some credible evidence against me. There is none, as the KC has just told me. Again. A complete inability to accept even the most mild constructive criticism without such a malicious reaction is not effective leadership.’ He signs off by saying: ‘This is our party as much as it is Nigel’s.’ Within 30 minutes of Lowe’s reply, he had the party whip removed.
The party’s tensions are now out in the open. Three weeks before their much-touted Birmingham rally – which they claim will be the biggest ever – Reform is now split between its two most popular figures. Farage has fallen out with many onetime allies over the years, most recently Ben Habib, Reform’s former deputy. But unlike Habib, Lowe is an elected MP. He boasts a significant social media presence and was hailed as the grassroots’ darling at last year’s party conference.
The applause for Lowe’s speech rivalled that for Nigel Farage; from then on his fate as the Sergei Kirov of Reform UK looked sealed.
In the Ukip years, there was a saying about internal party disputes: ‘Nigel always wins’. But in Rupert Lowe, he faces a more formidable challenger than perhaps he has ever had before.
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