The party is tearing itself apart…
Reform UK are tearing lumps out of each other as tensions spill out in the open with a suspended MP now accusing the party’s leadership of an orchestrated ‘witch hunt’ because he dared to question Nigel Farage.
Rupert Lowe, MP for Great Yarmouth, was suspended by the party, after accusations of bullying made by two women and alleged threats made against Reform’s chair Zia Yusuf.
Some have questioned the timing of the announcement, as it came the day after Mr Lowe appeared to question Nigel Farage’s leadership of the party. Mr Lowe has denied all the allegations.
In an interview with the Daily Mail last week, Lowe accused Farage of acting like the “messiah” as splits within the party burst into the open.
Lowe also said that Farage must “learn to delegate” and that Reform needed to “start behaving as if we are leading and not merely protesting”.
Last week also saw Reform announce that it had reported Lowe to the police after he allegedly threatened party staff with violence. Lowe is also being investigated over allegations of “serious bullying” towards two female employees, the party stated on Friday.
Reform’s statement said: “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 rejected the allegations made against him. In a lengthy statement on X on Sunday, Lowe said the two female employees who had made complaints against him only did so “once disciplinary proceedings had started against both of them for serious offences”.
He said there was “no credible evidence against me of any bullying whatsoever”. Lowe also denied ever threatening Yusuf, saying they had simply had a “robust debate” in December.
Farage has also suggested Lowe could not control his temper, citing his row with the transport minister Mike Kane after a debate in the Commons chamber in December where the serjeant-at-arms had to intervene. Farage quoted Kane telling GB News “the anger displayed towards me clearly showed a man not in charge of his own faculties”.
Deputy Leader of Reform UK Richard Tice had been sent on the broadcast rounds to defend Farage and the party’s decision, leading to Lowe to once more hit back.
He took to X to write: “Tice has inadvertently revealed what is really going on.
“I’m not welcome back in the party, even if my innocence is proven?
‘This is a coordinated hit job to force me out of Reform, and has NOTHING to do with their false and damaging allegations against me.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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