Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has defended the decision to suspend an MP and warned the party against "constant infighting." He emphasized that maintaining party unity is crucial, and any behavior that could undermine it must be taken seriously. Therefore, decisive action is needed to prevent internal disputes from escalating and affecting the party's overall goals.
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03-10, 2025Farage acknowledged in an article in The Daily Telegraph that the incident has "undermined" Reform UK's "sense of unity," but he stated that not taking action would have been "quite unthinkable." This marks Farage's first public comment since MP Rupert Lowe was suspended by Reform UK and became an independent MP. Currently, an investigation into Lowe is underway, with the party keen to resolve the issue quickly.
Lowe has been accused of workplace bullying and allegedly threatened physical violence against the party chairman. He has denied these allegations. In response to Farage's article in The Daily Telegraph, Lowe called it a "completely false and malicious narrative." Lowe stated that there is no credible evidence against him and that he was suspended for criticizing Farage in an interview earlier this week. He insists the accusations are politically motivated.
Farage wrote, "If the last general election taught us anything, it is that the public does not like political parties that are constantly infighting." He stated that Reform UK had built a united party, but "that sense of unity has been damaged by a series of criticisms of our operations and its leading players by one of our MPs, Rupert Lowe." Farage also noted that Lowe's relationship with parliamentary colleagues had "to some extent" broken down since his election eight months ago. "We did our best to manage the situation, but ultimately, containment strategies always fail," Farage said, highlighting the difficulty in resolving the conflict.
Reform UK, the successor to Farage's Brexit Party, has recently shown strong performance in opinion polls, but this incident exposes divisions within the party, meaning its five MPs are now reduced to four. Lowe is accused of workplace bullying against two female members of his office staff. Reform UK has also reported Lowe to the police for allegedly threatening physical violence against party chairman Zareen Yousef on at least two occasions. The party has hired lawyers to investigate the allegations. Lowe previously stated that he has "cooperated and spoken in detail with lawyers," indicating his willingness to address the claims.
Farage stated in The Daily Telegraph article that Reform UK has a "duty of care" to its staff and that conducting an independent investigation was "absolutely the right thing to do." He added, "We simply could not ignore these allegations." In response to Farage's article, Lowe posted a new 250-word statement on X, stating that he has "great respect" for Farage, but "you know this is a completely false and malicious narrative." He stated that he only learned about the legal proceedings against him after giving an interview to the Daily Mail and criticizing Farage, suggesting a retaliatory motive.
Lowe stated that he had asked Farage to have dinner with him to resolve the issues, adding, "This should all have been done privately. As I have pushed for, time and time again." Tim Montgomerie, a former Conservative commentator who defected to Reform UK last December, stated that he "detected" "tension" between Farage and Lowe as soon as he arrived at Reform UK. "I certainly didn't know about these specific allegations, but I thought this was going to blow up sooner or later anyway," he told BBC Newsnight, suggesting underlying issues were already apparent.
These divisions became public on Thursday when the Daily Mail published an interview with Lowe, in which he stated that Reform UK under Farage remains "a protest party led by a messiah." This characterization further underscores the internal disagreements about the party's direction and leadership style.
