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Reform UK dramatically split on Friday as the party removed the whip from one of its only five MPs and said he had been reported to the police for alleged threats of physical violence against the party’s chair.
The row between Nigel Farage’s populist rightwing party and MP Rupert Lowe has thrown Reform into chaos, just as it is trying to cement its polling lead against the ruling Labour party and main Conservative opposition.
Tensions within the party have risen in recent days, with Lowe claiming earlier this week that Farage’s leadership style was “Messianic”.
On Friday, chief whip Lee Anderson and chair Zia Yusuf said the party had also appointed an independent King’s Counsel to investigate complaints from two female employees who had accused Lowe of bullying.
Lowe, who has been MP for Great Yarmouth since last July, responded saying there had been “zero credible evidence” against him and that he was disappointed and surprised by the “untrue and false” allegations.
He added it was “no surprise that this vexatious statement has been issued the day after my reasonable and constructive questions of Nigel and the Reform structure”.
The claims and counterclaims on Friday evening lay bare the divisions inside Reform, which has dreams of breaking Labour and the Conservatives’ parliamentary duopoly. It has now been reduced to just four MPs.
Anderson and Yusuf said Lowe had on at least two occasions threatened violence against the latter and that the matter was “now with the police”.
Their statement claimed: “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.”
On Wednesday, Lowe appeared to question Farage’s leadership of Reform, saying of the Brexit campaigner in a Daily Mail interview: “Nigel is a fiercely independent individual . . . he has got messianic qualities.”
He added: “Will those messianic qualities distil into sage leadership? I don’t know.”
Farage has been criticised by Elon Musk for refusing to endorse the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson, who is in prison for contempt of court. Musk has repeatedly called for Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, to be freed.
In January, amid suggestions that Musk might donate significant sums to the party, the US billionaire suggested that Lowe take the leadership from Farage.
Yusuf and Anderson said their party had a duty of care to all of its staff. “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.”
Lowe’s statement 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.”
He said he had spoken to the KC who had been asked to investigate the claims: “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.”
“Allegations of physical threats are outrageous and entirely untrue,” Lowe said.
The MP said that he had previously sought to improve the party’s functions only to be frozen out of meetings, ignored and mocked. “All I stated was that communication needs to improve, delegation needs to improve, structure needs to improve,” he said.
“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.”
Lowe is a former City investment banker who founded care home provider Secure Retirements and has been a chair of Southampton football club.
Farage was first elected to Parliament last year but is one of the most influential figures in modern British politics with his decades-long campaign for Britain to leave the EU, as well as his previous leadership of the UK Independence Party.
He subsequently created the Brexit Party, which failed to win any seats in the 2019 general election.
His latest political vehicle, Reform UK, picked up 4mn votes in last year’s election — coming third nationally — but only picked up five seats under Britain’s first-past-the-post system.
However Reform UK has gained traction with the public as it seeks to outflank the more centrist Conservative party from the right on issues such as immigration and “Net Zero” green policies.
One of Lowe’s most significant splits with Farage has been over his defence of Robinson earlier this year, with Lowe saying “he doesn’t deserve not to be given the credit for the things that he’s done.”
