Rupert Lowe yesterday vowed to sue Reform UK after being thrown out of the party over allegations of ‘serious bullying’ against two women staff and threatening the chairman with physical violence.
The former Reform MP said he was the victim of a ‘political assassination’ after questioning Nigel Farage’s leadership, adding: ‘I have been in discussions with my legal team this afternoon, and this will be followed by legal action in due course.
‘I will not have my name dragged through the mud…You have to stand up to bullies, and I am doing exactly that.’
Asked whether there was any chance of wiping the slate clean and returning to Reform, which withdrew the whip from him on Sunday, he said it was ‘highly unlikely’ and didn’t rule out joining the Tories.
Taking aim at Mr Farage, he said: ‘You’ve got to look at the pattern of relations with Nigel throughout his career…almost anybody who’s in his view, threatening him or capable of taking over from him, he tends to fall out with them.’
This appeared to be a reference to X owner Elon Musk saying that Mr Farage didn’t have what it takes to lead Reform before praising Mr Lowe on his social media platform.
But Mr Farage hit back on Monday night, telling GB News: ‘I don’t fall out with anybody, they fall out with me.
‘There has been a behavioural problem for some months. Outbursts, anger, that kind of thing.
Former Reform MP Rupert Lowe (pictured) has vowed to proceed with legal action against the party after he had the whip withdrawn over allegations of ‘serious bullying’
Nigel Farage hit back at Mr Lowe, insisting there had been a ‘behavioural problem’ for several months
‘Frankly I’ve tried to, we’ve tried to, put it all to the back of our minds.. And I’m not prejudging anything on the allegations of a bullying culture going on in his offices.
‘But I put it you that any party who had a senior figure who was facing those accusations would have to act in some way.
‘When we found out that one of our MPs was facing these accusations – without prejudging anything we decided to appoint an independent KC to have a look at the situation.
‘Since then, things have got a little bit out of control.’
Mr Lowe used an interview with the Dan Wootton Outspoken programme to once again refute the accusations against him, branding them ‘absolute drivel’.
He pointed out that the allegations relating to Zia Yusuf, Reform party chairman, weren’t lodged with police until last week despite them allegedly happening in December.
This was after an interview appeared in the Daily Mail last week in which Mr Lowe criticised Mr Farage’s leadership.
He admitted having a ‘robust debate’ with Mr Yusuf on December 13, but denied threatening physical violence.
In the first broadcast interview since the fiasco erupted, he said: ‘It was a robust debate about an email he sent and I can’t remember the exact words, we were in there together.
Left to right: MPs Richard Tice, Mr Farage, Lee Anderson and Mr Lowe
‘It was a robust debate because I was irritated that he was playing power games with Norfolk, which is part of my [Great Yarmouth] constituency.’
He said he was confident that he will be cleared by the KC hired by the Reform party to probe the allegations, adding: ‘I never said anything about bullying, disabled [people] or women – so that will all be made clear.’
This was in relation to allegations that he made ‘derogatory and discriminatory’ remarks about two of his women staff – including ‘reference to a perceived disability’.
Asked if he could now join the Tories after shadow home secretary Chris Philp defended him, he did not rule it out, saying: ‘Well look. I was a Tory years ago…I think the Tories have got a lot of work to do to get their house in order.
‘They have to do a lot of work in the head office and a lot of work on what I call their “Lib Dem MPs”. I think there’s some extremely good Tory MPs…I get on with a lot of them.’
