Reform UK insiders say an MP claiming he was ‘knifed’ for publicly questioning Nigel Farage’s leadership after allegations of misconduct were levelled against him have warned ‘this is what happens when you mess with Nigel’.
A civil war is raging within the party after Reform UK revealed last night that they had stripped the whip from Rupert Lowe amid astonishing claims of bullying staff and violent threats.
In an explosive statement, party chairman Zia Yusuf and chief whip Lee Anderson said the MP 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said the Great Yarmouth MP – who will now sit in the House of Commons as an independent MP after having the Reform whip withdrawn – had been reported to police over astonishing allegations he physically threatened Mr Yusuf.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 the allegations had only surfaced because he had openly questioned Mr Farage’s leadership and accused him of acting like a ‘messiah’, in an interview with the Daily Mail on Thursday.
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’.
Those who know Farage well suggested he does not take kindly to such public criticism, with one source telling The Telegraph: ‘This is what happens when you mess with Nigel.’
Adding that it was part of a ‘theme’ with the leader, they added: ‘It was the same with Ukip, it was the same with the Brexit party.’
Reform UK insiders have warned ‘this is what happens when you mess with Nigel’ following allegations levelled at an MP just hours after he spoke out about his leadership
MP Rupert Lowe is facing allegations of bullying staff, and making violent threats against the party chairman Zia Yusuf
Lowe posted a statement on X on Saturday calling for Farage to have dinner and ‘resolve this in a manner that our members, and the country, would expect’
Last year, Farage had a public spat with another Reform UK colleague Ben Habib, his former deputy, when he suggested the leader had become ‘too big for his boots.’
He added that Lowe ‘would be a fantastic leader’ and suggested that everyone had to agree with Farage or risk his wrath.
‘It is King Nigel and everyone has to do what he says, when he says it,’ Habib remarked.
While Lowe came under the fire for bringing more publicity to his falling out with Farage, one insider intimated there were few other options for those who wish to raise their concerns within the party.
According to one party source: ‘All you can do is appeal and say, ‘Please, Nigel. Please, Nigel’…[Farage] has just come back in his typical combative way and made the problem worse.’
The insiders have spoken out as Lowe took to social media on Saturday to ask Farage to have dinner with him and ‘resolve this in a manner that our members, and the country, would expect.’
He also pressed concerns about communication in the party, and said: ‘I can only smash my head against a brick wall for so long’.
In a long statement on X, the under fire MP said: ‘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.
The Great Yarmouth MP claimed he had been ‘knifed’ after asking ‘reasonable and constructive questions’ about Mr Farage’s leadership
‘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 councillor over mojitos on the beach any day. It’s the honour of my life to be the MP for Great Yarmouth.
‘Yes, I’ve been outspoken on issues. Immigration, rape gangs, deportations, the rapid way in which our country is changing. And yes, that has not been appreciated by some within Reform.
‘Let me be clear – I do not care. I will say what I believe is right, even if that upsets certain egos. I’ve run businesses all my life. Some successful, some not.
‘The one thing in common from all of the successful ones? Communication. Clear, honest communication.
‘Does requesting regular meetings of MPs make me a monster? Is asking to even just see policy before it’s made public unreasonable? Is it fair to be insulted because I want people to finally talk to each other?
‘I have torn out what remaining hair I have left over the last few months trying to talk. That’s it. Just talk. I have tried, and tried, and tried to resolve all of this behind closed doors. I can only smash my head against a brick wall for so long.
‘My one hurried and immediate summons to Reform HQ, which I could not make due to prior commitments, was the first and the last invite I would receive from the leadership.
‘Put simply, Reform has handed a priceless gift to those individuals who have presided over our country’s relentless decline.
‘I am going to now repeat publicly an invitation that I have extended to Nigel Farage in private multiple times over many months.
‘Every offer has been refused or ignored.
‘Please, let’s have dinner and resolve this in a manner that our members, and the country, would expect.
‘Any time, any place. You’ve got my number.’
The Metropolitan Police confirmed last night that officers are assessing an allegation of ‘verbal threats’ against Mr Yusuf.
An independent KC has also 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’.
There have been tensions between Mr Lowe and Mr Farage (pictured) since Elon Musk – who has flirted with donating to Reform – told Mr Farage he ‘doesn’t have what it takes’ as leader
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.
He also branded the party reporting him to police as ‘a malicious attempt to drag my name through the mud’.
‘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.
Mr Musk, who met with Mr Farage in Florida in December, appeared to endorse Mr Lowe as a replacement Reform leader in social media comments in January
‘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’.
Scotland Yard confirmed officers are assessing an allegation of ‘verbal threats’.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘On Thursday, 6 March we received an allegation of verbal threats made by a 67-year-old man on Friday, 13 December.
‘Officers are carrying out an assessment of the allegations to determine what further action may be required.’
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.
‘I am disappointed, but not surprised, to read Reform’s untrue and false allegations,’ he said.
‘Let me be abundantly clear – this investigation is based on zero credible evidence against me, as has been repeatedly stated by the neutral investigator.
‘None has been provided. I have cooperated and spoken at length with the KC they instructed, at great cost to the party, to investigate a minor staff matter.
‘I have just spoken to the KC. She is dismayed that this statement has been made, and reiterated that no evidence against me has been sent to her.
‘She stated that this has been issued before the investigation has even started.
‘She is shocked at the process, shocked at the communication from the party, and shocked that no credible evidence has been given, despite her repeated requests.’
Mr Lowe added: ‘Allegations of physical threats are outrageous and entirely untrue. I have never made any derogatory comments about women, or those with disabilities.
‘This is a lie. These allegations are not even referring to me. I will be seeking legal advice immediately.
‘There is no credible evidence against me, as the KC has stated on numerous occasions.
‘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.’
The MP defended his remarks about Mr Farage’s leadership as ‘reasonable requests of a party looking to form the next Government’.
‘All I stated was that communication needs to improve, delegation needs to improve, structure needs to improve,’ he added.
‘I have been pushing for this behind the scenes for many months, with zero success. I have been frozen out of meetings, policy discussions, press conferences and more.
‘My repeated requests for better communication and regular meetings have been ignored and mocked. Honestly, I have tried and tried – and will continue to try.’
In an appeal to party members, Mr Lowe continued: ‘To Reform supporters of mine, please stay with the party. We must win the next election. There is no other choice.
‘Infighting serves nobody but our enemies. This could have all been resolved with even the most basic level of communication.
‘I do not believe that Reform members will be pleased to know that their membership fees are being spent on instructing expensive lawyers to investigate their own MPs, over matters that are entirely baseless and have been dealt with in the correct parliamentary procedure, with HR’s full involvement and support.’
He added: ‘A complete inability to accept even the most mild constructive criticism without such a malicious reaction is not effective leadership.
‘This is our party as much as it is Nigel’s.’
In a follow-up post, Mr Lowe noted how the police complaint was lodged months after the alleged incident.
‘This complaint obviously went in just after I asked reasonable questions of Reform’s leadership,’ he wrote. ‘A malicious attempt to drag my name through the mud.’
There have been tensions between Mr Lowe and Mr Farage since Elon Musk – who has flirted with donating to Reform – told Mr Farage he ‘doesn’t have what it takes’.
The billionaire tech mogul, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, also appeared to endorse Mr Lowe as a replacement leader in social media comments in January.
In his Daily Mail interview, Mr Lowe took a swipe at Mr Farage by claiming Reform needed to ‘change from being a protest party led by the messiah into being a properly structured party with a frontbench’.
Mr Lowe said it was ‘absolutely staggering’ that he himself was ‘barely six months into being an MP and I’m in the betting to be the next prime minister’.
But asked if Mr Farage would make a good prime minister, Mr Lowe replied: ‘It’s too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods.
‘He can only deliver if he surrounds himself with the right people. Nigel is a fiercely independent individual and is extremely good at what we have done so far.
‘He has got messianic qualities. Will those messianic qualities distil into sage leadership? I don’t know.’
He further questioned Mr Farage’s leadership of Reform, adding: ‘We have to start behaving as if we are leading and not merely protesting.
‘Nigel is a messianic figure who is at the core of everything but he has to learn to delegate, as not everything can go through one person.
‘So we have to start developing policy which is going to change the way we govern.
‘I’m not going to be by Nigel’s side at the next election unless we have a proper plan to change the way we govern from top to bottom.
‘We can’t raise the hopes of people who are so frustrated with the way we are governed and then flunk it.’
Mr Farage blasted back at Mr Lowe during an appearance on TalkTV, as he delivered a withering slapdown of his fellow Reform MP’s remarks.
‘We are not a protest party in any way at all – that is utterly wrong, utterly, completely wrong,’ the Reform leader said.
‘We are an entirely positive party. Come to any Reform event and the positivity, the energy…
‘If I’ve got a following out there, that’s a good thing. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have won any seats in Parliament at all on 4 July last year.’
Asked if this included Mr Lowe’s constituency of Great Yarmouth – which was one of five seats won by Reform at last year’s general election – he added: ‘There wouldn’t have been a cat’s chance in hell.’
Mr Farage continued: ‘We’re not a protest party and he’s on the front bench, so what’s he talking about? With only five people you can’t really have a shadow cabinet can you.
‘We’ve got a lot of development to do but we’re absolutely not a protest party.’
Asked why Mr Lowe had gone public with his remarks, Mr Farage replied: ‘Perhaps he wants to be prime minister?
‘Most people in politics do – half the House of Commons think they should be prime minister. His comments are wrong, we are making gigantic strides.’
Pressed on whether he had told Mr Lowe to ‘wind his neck in’, the Reform leader added: ‘There’s no point telling him what to do or what not to do. The fact is we are making huge strides.’
And asked if Mr Lowe will be a Reform MP at the next general election, Mr Farage said: ‘Well, I hope so but he seems to be taking a tone that says he might not accept us, but there you are.’
