Reform UK leader Nigel Farage defends suspending MP Rupert Lowe

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has defended the decision to suspend one of his MPs, as he warned against “constant infighting” within political parties.

Writing in the Telegraph, Farage acknowledged the row had “dented” the “sense of unity” in Reform but said it would have been “inconceivable” not to take action.

They are his first public comments since MP Rupert Lowe was suspended from Reform and will now sit as an independent, while an inquiry is carried out.

Lowe is accused of workplace bullying, and also separately making threats of physical violence against the party’s chairman. He denies the claims.

Responding to Farage’s Telegraph piece, he said it was an “entirely false and poisonous narrative”.

Lowe – who is the MP for Great Yarmouth – has said there is “zero credible evidence” against him, and that he was suspended in response to him criticising Farage in an interview earlier this week.

Farage wrote: “If the last general election taught us anything, it is that the public does not like political parties that engage in constant infighting.”

He said Reform had built a unified party, but that “thanks to one of our MPs, Rupert Lowe, unloading a barrage of criticisms against our operations and its main actors, that sense of unity has been dented”.

Farage said Lowe had fallen out with his parliamentary colleagues “in one way or another” since his election eight months ago.

“We did our best to keep a lid on things but, in the end, containment strategies invariably fail,” said Farage.

Reform, the successor to Farage’s Brexit Party, has been riding high in recent polls but the row has exposed divisions within the party and means its five MPs are now down to four.

Lowe is accused of workplace bullying made by two female employees in his offices.

He has also been referred to police by Reform over allegations he made threats of physical violence at least twice to party chairman Zia Yusuf.

The party has appointed a lawyer to conduct an investigation into the allegations. Lowe previously said he had “cooperated and spoken at length” with the lawyer.

In his Telegraph piece, Farage said Reform had a “duty of care” to its staff, and it was “entirely right” to carry out an independent inquiry.

“It is inconceivable that we could simply ignore such allegations,” he added.

Responding to Farage’s piece, Lowe issued a new 250-word statement on X, saying he had “enormous respect” for him – but “you know that this is an entirely false and poisonous narrative”.

He said he only learnt of the proceedings against him after he gave an interview to the Daily Mail in which he criticised Farage.

Lowe said he had asked Farage to have dinner with him to resolve the situation, adding: “This should have ALL happened behind closed doors. As I pushed for, over and over again.”

On Friday, Tim Montgomerie, a former Conservative commentator who defected to Reform last December, said as soon as he arrived in Reform he had “picked up these tensions” between Farage and Lowe.

“I don’t know obviously these individual allegations but I think this was going to come to a head at some point anyway,” he told BBC Newsnight.

The splits emerged publicly when the Daily Mail published its interview with Lowe on Thursday, where he said Reform under Farage remained a “protest party led by the Messiah”.