Rupert Lowe has been suspended from the Reform Party after allegations of bullying and threats of violence arose following his criticisms of Nigel Farage’s leadership.

An investigation is ongoing, led by an independent council, as complaints were filed by two female employees regarding serious bullying and derogatory remarks. Lowe denies the allegations, claiming the investigation is a retaliatory response to his calls for leadership changes.

Police are currently investigating the allegations.

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Reform civil war breaks out as chairman reports MP to police over ‘threats’

Rupert Lowe stripped of the party whip after Zia Yusuf accuses him of twice making threats of physical violence

Reform UK’s chairman has reported one of its MPs to police amid a deepening civil war in the party.

Zia Yusuf has accused Rupert Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, of twice making threats of physical violence against him.

The party also revealed that Mr Lowe had been accused of bullying two female members of staff and that a complaint had been made to parliamentary authorities.

However, Mr Lowe, 67, who denies the allegations, claimed he was being targeted in retaliation for criticising the party’s leadership under Nigel Farage.

On Friday night, Lee Anderson, Reform’s chief whip, withdrew the party whip from the MP, meaning he will sit in the Commons as an independent.

In a joint statement, Mr Yusuf and Mr Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, said: “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.”

Mr Lowe described the allegations as “untrue and false”, and said it was “a lie” to say he had ever made derogatory comments about women or disabled people.

He accused Reform of a “malicious circus” after it stripped him of the whip.

In a post on social media site X, he said: “I feel so sorry for millions of decent British men and women from all over the country who put their faith in Reform.

“They have been let down by this malicious circus. You all deserve so much better.”

In a post on social media earlier on Friday, he said: “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.

“All I stated was that communication needs to improve, delegation needs to improve, structure needs to improve – these are all reasonable requests of a party looking to form the next government. I stand by everything I said.”

In a later statement, he added: “I asked reasonable and constructive questions of Mr Farage and Reform’s leadership, following months of pushing for progress behind closed doors.

“The day after, I find a knife in my back over false allegations. Whip suspended. That tells you everything you need to know.”

It is understood that party headquarters was separately contacted last week by two members of staff.

One of them is said to have worked in Parliament for more than a decade and claimed they had never seen any bullying like that allegedly engaged in by Mr Lowe.

The statement from Mr Yusuf and Mr Anderson said the MP had been the subject of complaints about “serious bullying” in his offices.

It said: “One [alleged victim] worked in his parliamentary office, the other in his constituency office…

“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 co-operate with this investigation.”

The statement added: “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 spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “On Thursday March 6 we received an allegation of verbal threats made by a 67-year-old man on Friday Dec 13.

“Officers are carrying out an assessment of the allegations to determine what further action may be required.”

‘Protest party’ row

Senior party sources said that before the KC had had time to complete the investigation, Mr Lowe decided to go on the attack in an interview with the Daily Mail earlier this week in which he claimed that Reform remained a “protest party led by the Messiah”.

When asked about Mr Farage’s potential to become prime minister, he said: “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.”

Mr Lowe also suggested he could leave the party if it did not change before the next general election.

“We have to change from being a protest party led by the Messiah into being a properly structured party with a front bench, which we don’t have,” he said. “We have to start behaving as if we are leading and not merely protesting.”

Two months ago, Elon Musk, the US tech entrepreneur, appeared to tout Mr Lowe as a potential successor to Mr Farage, whom he said did not “have what it takes”.

Mr Lowe said he was “disappointed, but not surprised, to read Reform’s untrue and false allegations”.

In his statement posted on X, 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 co-operated and spoken at length with the KC they instructed, at great cost to the party, to investigate a minor staff matter…

“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.”

He added: “If they want to kick me out over false claims, they’ll have to finally present some credible evidence against me. There is none, as the KC has just told me. Again.

“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.”

The Telegraph: continue reading

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