Nigel Farage has been forced to defend his leadership of Reform as the party descends into further civil war over the suspension of MP Rupert Lowe.
In what is turning out to be the biggest threat to Mr Farage since his comeback during the general election last year, Mr Lowe and his allies have accused him of conducting a “witch hunt” against the Great Yarmouth MP.
Mr Lowe was suspended from Reform UK late last week over allegations of bullying against two female members of staff – but he refutes the accusations and counter-claims that he has been smeared because Mr Farage saw him as a threat to his authority.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph, Mr Farage continued his attack, claiming he had no choice but to act against Mr Lowe.
In the letter, the party leader alleged one previously undisclosed instance in which Great Yarmouth MP Mr Lowe reportedly pushed the shipping minister Mike Kane in the House of Commons just before the Christmas recess.
Mr Kane had allegedly responded to a question posed by Mr Lowe about a damaged cargo ship that had docked in his constituency while carrying hundreds of tonnes of the potentially explosive fertiliser ammonium nitrate.
Mr Farage wrote in The Telegraph: “A confrontation ensued. Heated language was heard. The minister’s shoulder was pushed. In the end, the Serjeant at Arms had to step in to calm things down between the two parliamentarians.”
He claimed there had been “far too many similar outbursts” and that, eventually, after Mr Lowe refused to cooperate in an investigation into separate behaviour, the MP had to be let go.
Mr Farage said Mr Lowe had “made some excellent interventions” since the July election last year but had simultaneously “managed to fall out with all his parliamentary colleagues”.
Hitting back on social media platform X in several posts, Mr Lowe called the situation a “vindictive witch hunt”.
He claimed Reform was “maliciously” attempting to “drag my name through the mud with zero credible evidence against me”.
“All because I dared to pose a few reasonable questions of Reform’s leadership,” he added.
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice, speaking to the BBC in a bid to calm the row, said it was the “right and proper” decision to hold an independent investigation into the allegations.
He told Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning: “We’ve also got a duty of care as a party, whether people are employed directly or indirectly. So, that’s why the chairman has instructed an independent investigation by a KC, that’s the right and proper thing to do. That will run its course.
“But imagine if we hadn’t been open and transparent about this. Imagine if we’d tried to brush it under the carpet and in some way cover it up, and then it came out at a future time. Everyone would have been raging.”
Critics have pointed out that Mr Lowe was the MP identified by Elon Musk as the person who should be leading Reform UK rather than Mr Farage.
Reform’s ousted deputy leader Ben Habib, who has become an outspoken critic of Mr Farage’s leadership style, linked the suspension to public criticisms made by Mr Lowe of Mr Farage’s “messianic” leadership style, a failure to communicate with MPs and maintaining Reform as “a party of protest”.
The criticisms in an interview for The Daily Mail were made just 48 hours before Mr Lowe’s suspension.
The row has even seen former Brexit Party MEPs – who worked with the two men after they were elected in the European Parliament elections in 2019 – weighing in. It had been pointed out former MEPs John Longworth and Mr Habib that Mr Lowe has been working with Mr Farage for six years with “no sign of problems” when they were in the European Parliament together.
Lance Forman urged Mr Farage to “sack Zia Yusuf, apologise to Rupert Lowe and make Ben Habib chairman” on X, a view reflected by James Glancy, both former MEPs.
Martin Daubney, now a GB News presenter, told The Independent Mr Lowe was “quite the teddy bear” while working in Brussels. Another former MEP said that Lowe had views “to the right of Genghis Khan” but was “a team player”.
In other X posts, Mr Lowe pressed concerns about communication in the party and said: “I can only smash my head against a brick wall for so long.”
He reiterated his plea to Mr Farage to have dinner together to “resolve this in a manner that our members, and the country, would expect”. He said the offers have been refused.
Scotland Yard has said a complaint of “verbal threats” made on Thursday about an alleged incident last December is being assessed by officers.
Reform also said it had received evidence of “serious bullying” and “derogatory” remarks made about women in the MP’s offices, with two separate staffers said to have made allegations.
They added on Friday that a KC had been appointed to look into the allegations of bullying in Mr Lowe’s offices.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said on Friday: “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.”
