Reform UK in Meltdown as Party Ousts MP Rupert Lowe Amid “Bullying” Probe and “Violent Threats”
Reform UK was in meltdown last night after the party revealed it had stripped the whip from Rupert Lowe, one of its five MPs, amid allegations of bullying staff and violent threats. The Mail has more.
In an explosive statement, party Chairman Zia Yusuf and Chief Whip Lee Anderson said Rupert Lowe was being investigated over complaints by two female employees.
They also said the Great Yarmouth MP – who will now sit in the House of Commons as an independent MP after having the Reform whip withdrawn – had been reported to police over astonishing allegations he physically threatened Mr Yusuf.
But Mr Lowe immediately hit back at the party’s “untrue and false” claims and said he had been “knifed” for publicly questioning Nigel Farage’s leadership of Reform.
He also denied the party’s suggestion he was refusing to cooperate with the bullying probe, which is said to involve “derogatory and discriminatory remarks”.
An independent KC has been drafted in to look at the “veracity” of the allegations, but Mr Lowe dismissed it as a “minor staff matter” based on “zero credible evidence”.
He railed against the party’s “vexatious” statement, issued shortly after 5pm on Friday evening, and said he would be seeking “legal advice immediately”.
In a lengthy rebuttal to Reform’s statement, the MP said it was “no surprise” party bosses had publicly revealed the bullying probe just a day after he clashed with Mr Farage.
“The day after, I find a knife in my back over false allegations. Whip suspended. That tells you everything you need to know,” Mr Lowe fumed on social media.
In an interview with the Daily Mail on Thursday, Mr Lowe had openly questioned Mr Farage’s leadership and accused him of acting like a “messiah”.
The businessman-turned-politician, a former Chairman of Southampton Football Club, bemoaned his leader’s tight grip on the party and even floated the possibility of him replacing Mr Farage.
But Mr Farage branded the comments as “completely wrong” and swiped that Mr Lowe wouldn’t have had a “cat’s chance in hell” of becoming an MP without him.
The statement from Mr Yusuf and Mr Anderson said: “It is with regret that we feel obligated to disclose that the party received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying in the offices of the MP for Great Yarmouth, Rupert Lowe.
“One worked in his Parliamentary office, the other in his constituency office, we understand complaints have been made to parliamentary authorities.
“Evidence was provided to us of workplace bullying, the targeting of female staff who raised concerns, and evidence of derogatory and discriminatory remarks made about women, including reference to a perceived disability.
“We feel we have a duty of care to all our staff, whether employed directly or indirectly.
“Accordingly, we appointed an independent King’s Counsel to conduct an investigation into the veracity of these complaints. To date, Mr Lowe has yet to cooperate with this investigation.
“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. Reform stands for the highest standards of conduct in public life, and we will apply these standards without fear nor favour, including within our own party.”
A Reform UK spokesman later confirmed that Mr Lowe “has had the whip withdrawn”.
Soon after the party’s statement was issued, the Great Yarmouth MP issued a lengthy response on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
Worth reading in full, and read Rupert’s response to the allegations here.
Stop Press: Reform “cannot function” with Rupert Lowe as one of the party’s MPs, its chief whip Lee Anderson has said. The Telegraph has more.
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Anderson is a ruddy traitor. I’m thinking the bridges are burnt now and there’ll never be a Reform with Lowe in it again. How can there be now? Surely political suicide from the party that so many patriotic Brits were relying on to get the country back on track and which gave them a glimmer of hope for the next election; ”I have been betrayed more times than I care to remember, but never by people I would have called friends. It’s not a very pleasant feeling, to be entirely honest. Business, football, politics. Dirty games, all of them. I have always tried to surround myself with decent, honest and fair individuals, who I feel I can trust. Loyalty to those people has not always come cheap, costing me my job on more than one occasion. That is something I would not change. Of course I’m not a politician. I’m 67, and am fortunate enough to be able to financially support myself and my family. My wife thinks I’m mad to trudge around my little wonderful corner of Norfolk talking about bins and business rates. I love it, I genuinely do. Give me a heated argument with a cantankerous local… Read more »
Deafening sighs of relief from SW1.
Reform now back under control of the Uniparty.
Maybe Rupert Lowe should start his own new political party, with Genuine Patriot Nick Candy as Chairman, inviting in all the staunch former Brexit & UKIP supporters as potential candidates for the next election, including Tommy Robinson, the imprisoned British Protesters Against the Murder of Children, and a whole host of other patriots like Andrew Bridgen and Lawrence Fox. But not Petulant Stirrer Sour Grapes Ben Habib, who wants to be Britain’s First Pakistani Prime Minister.
How about the son of Patriot Peter Lynch, may God rest his soul, standing as a candidate?
And inviting the Genuine Patriot Paul Weston and Katie Hopkins as well, among countless others.
During this phase of the party’s emergence principles must come before personalities with party unity at the heart of everything it touches. Without that it is finished before it has even begun. Bickering should always be acted out behind closed doors otherwise the destructive effect of egos clashing cascades down to the grass roots at lightning speed. Farage needs to shut this down pronto.
There can be no party unity, except by re-naming it “The Caliphate Party”.
Farage has firked up again and big time.
Anyway that’s his tilt for PM consigned to the bin.
With Rupert Lowe Reform were heading for mass market membership, they will stall now and remain nothing more than fringe.
Lee Anderson’s position is hilarious, he’s just swiped Lammy’s village idiot title. 😀
Principles must come before personalities. – does that include NF?
Innocent until proven guilty – which isn’t on Mr Anderson’s say so.
Whenever he spoke in Parliament, Mr Lowe stood out as a beacon of reason and sanity in the madhouse.
Yusuf’s religion must surely play a part here too. I cannot imagine that it has no relevance to what is occurring now. We know how outspoken Lowe has consistently been regarding mass deportations, migrant criminals, the drain on resources and burden on services they pose etc, he posted a tweet about the cruelty of Halal slaughter yesterday and calling for it to be banned, and he’s obviously a huge patriot and very active on Twitter, where he has an impressive following. In contrast, how many other Reform members have you heard be anywhere near as blunt in speaking out about the Islamization of Britain and the slow erosion of British culture and heritage? Lowe I think is the only one to have also given Tommy Robinson any sort of credit or acknowledgment, as opposed to just slagging him off whenever the topic arises. I think ‘straight as a die’ Mr Lowe rubbed both Farage and Yusuf up the wrong way due to his appeal and popularity, but also his ability to speak to precisely the issues and concerns the British public want addressed; ”It is clear from interviews that Nigel has given that Zia’s influence and control of the partyline… Read more »
Who are you quoting?
Great post Mogs.
I must say my allegiance is wobbling. I soured on Farage when he stood down his party candidates on the eve of the election in 2019. I lost him comprehensively when he pushed for Bliar to be made “vaccine Tsar” during the Scamdemic. I cannot support Farage. I have lent my support to Reform but I believe I’m pissing in the wind.
“Our salvation will not arrive via the ballot box.”
Except that she is not giving credit where it is due.
It’s not enough to use quotation marks without stating who you are quoting from, which she fails to do.
Ta, hux. As a ‘Woman that wouldn’t whisht’, myself, Rupert Lowe has my sympathies because, like me, he’s plain-speaking, says what’s on his mind and is opinionated, and to hell with the consequences or what people think. Unsurprisingly, these character traits sometimes get up people’s noses but hey ho, we’re all big boys and girls at the end of the day.
Big difference, of course, as we move in very different circles and he’s a public figure. But at least when my haters defame me on here it stays on DS and they’re easy to ignore, whereas our Mr Lowe has a huge, public and expensive ordeal ahead of him to clear his name now.
“our Mr Lowe has a huge, public and expensive ordeal ahead of him to clear his name now.”
Agreed.
Farage has to go. Reform with Rupert Lowe at the head can rescue this country. Reform with Farage and Yusuf is a dead duck perhaps better called Uniparty Two.
Farage wants to cozy up with the muzzies and the only conclusion is money. He’s a bought man and Yusuf is the trojan horse. Far from shutting the gates Nigel is opening them.
The Reform membership need to take over the party because there is no future in the current set up.
This might be in the Round-up tomorrow. You know what fans of the Telegraph they are. Farage’s version of events. ( No paywall ); ”The truth is that Mr Lowe has made some excellent interventions over the past eight months and helped to stimulate public debate on a range of pressing issues facing the country. What many people may not have realised, however, is that in that time he has also managed to fall out with all his parliamentary colleagues in one way or another. We did our best to keep a lid on things but, in the end, containment strategies invariably fail. One clear example of the type of difficulty that I have in mind occurred in the chamber of the House of Commons just as Parliament was about to enter the Christmas recess. It was the last parliamentary debate of the year. Mr Lowe, who represents Great Yarmouth, asked Mike Kane, the transport minister, a question about the MV Ruby, a damaged cargo ship which had docked in his constituency while carrying hundreds of tonnes of the potentially explosive fertiliser ammonium nitrate. Mr Lowe was unhappy with the answer that he received from Mr Kane and, at the end… Read more »
Farage clearly has forgotten…when in a hole, stop digging.
What an absolute slimeball.
Amazed Nigel Farage still has his comments turned on for Twitter as he’s getting massively roasted off the back of that Telegraph article. Many are measured and articulate posts but some are very funny. Harsh but funny;
”You complete and utter egotistical c**!
People trusted you, you’re an establishment twat and have no place in politics…… you weak, weak man child what you are!''
Farage deserves all the slagging he is receiving the bloody turncoat Next Tuesday.
This sounds like something the English Patriot Paul Weston would write.
If this is his writing, give credit where it is due.
Hear, hear.
Long way to go before the next election but in my eyes Reform have lost a lot of credibility. Lowe was a good speaker and seemed to have sound ideas. I am not sure I trust them to deliver now.
Agree.
And I think he has the ability to attract conservative voters.
Nigel on the other hand is a bit more like marmite.
i cannot help feel that this has been handled very badly. If allegations are true, proof should be provided pronto. If not true, surely this all falls in the defamation and slander corner?
The timing is suspicious
I don’t know much about Farage. It strikes me that people’s objections to him are based more on style than content, a bit like Trump, though I have other concerns such as the endorsement of Blair as “vaccine tsar”.
Soviet style sabotage.
Not really, because Nigel has done this twice before, setting up two other patriotic parties and then pulling the rug out from under them.
Yep, standard procedure from Farage in destroying his parties – or in this case Farage Limited as it is not a party with members only subscribers.
Katie Hopkins gives ALL the Reform actors an emotional tongue-lashing for letting down the people of the country so badly. She starts with a review of the facts as she understands them then takes the gloves off from 17:10: https://x.com/KTHopkins/status/1898373129581293819.
Katie is bang on the money with this video. Excellent.
Much more difficult than it looks, this ‘building a successful political party’, eh.?
We have been voting UKIP Brexit Reform etc. for years since all other parties supported HS2. Must have given a bit more than usual so invited to reception after pre election rally in Westminster, joined club with increased subs. Since then done little bits to help signing candidates nomination forms etc. Joined as a member recently but would not have done so after TR was thrown under bus. Now want to cancel my annual subscription from renewing; not that easy but a lot of time.
Well done for being a man of strong principles.
Alan Sked, founder of UKIP – stabbed in the back by Farage in 1997
Dr Richard North, Researcher for UKIP – stabbed in the back by Farage
Mark Steyn, presenter for GB News – stabbed in the back by Farage while recovering from a heart attack
Ben Habib, Reform spokesman – stabbed in the back by Farage
Rupert Lowe, Reform MP – stabbed in the back by Farage
You can also add screwing his Brexit Party candidates by doing a deal with the other popular charlatan of British politics, the Lying Oaf Johnson, at the 2019 election and costing them their deposits. He also torpedoed the manifesto they had taken time to prepare but disowning it at the last minute but then he is a man without policies.
Multitudes of people desperate for change in politics and who thought there was hope and light at the end of the tunnel – stabbed in the back by Farage. RIP Reform.
Tommy Robinson – Nigel called him “scum”
Gerard Batten – UKIP: Gerard Batten says Nigel Farage trying to ‘discredit’ party – BBC News
*** But Pakistani Millionaire Sour Grapes Ben Habib was NOT stabbed in the back by anybody!
He tried to buy his way into the Reform leadership, but when HE FAILED TO GET ELECTED, Nigel quite rightly replaced him with the ELECTED MPs. Then another Pakistani Millionaire gave Nigel £millions more, outbidding Habib, who has been whining about being gazumped ever since, sniping petulantly from the sidelines.
Elon Musk saw right through Farage pretty quickly.
This is the one time all of Reform should be in the pub talking together and not slugging it out in the media. Especially, as we have record numbers of boat people arriving and costing us @£65,000 per annum and the money is fast running out.
Forget your egos chaps and pull together for the sake of the Country.
Farage couldn’t pull a feckin rug.
So the party that was going to save us all from the squirming establishment has just made a total pigs ear of it. Two of the main reasons I voted reform was Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe. How can a pert expect to get rid of quality like this and still move forward into government? It would be like Liverpool FC booting out Salah and Van Dyke.
Until yesterday I firmly supported Reform, even after Habib was ousted. However losing Lowe is a step too far.
Reform, AKA Farage, has scuppered their chances, this latest public tiff will see them in terminal decline.
I’m really resentful as I was pinning my hopes on Reform. Once again I’m feeling politically homeless.
My feelings exactly. 👍
I have a feeling this has quite a lot to do with Musk’s high profile endorsement of Rupert Lowe and Lowe’s recent comments regarding Tommy Robinson, who Musk also supports.