Rupert Lowe has compared dealing with the Reform party leadership to smashing his head against a brick wall amid a public war of words that has revealed deep tensions at the heart of the rightwing party.
Lowe posted a statement on X asking the party leader, Nigel Farage, to have dinner with him less than 24 hours after Lowe lost the Reform whip, having been accused of threatening the party chair, Zia Yusuf.
The party reported the Great Yarmouth MP to the police, and Scotland Yard said a complaint of “verbal threats” made on Thursday about an alleged incident last December was being assessed by officers.
In a post on Saturday morning, Lowe said: “I have been betrayed more times than I care to remember, but never by people I would have called friends. It’s not a very pleasant feeling, to be entirely honest …
“Does requesting regular meetings of MPs make me a monster? Is asking to even just see policy before it’s made public unreasonable? Is it fair to be insulted because I want people to finally talk to each other?
“I have torn out what remaining hair I have left over the last few months trying to talk. That’s it. Just talk. I have tried, and tried, and tried to resolve all of this behind closed doors. I can only smash my head against a brick wall for so long.”
He also asked Farage to “resolve this in a manner that our members and the country would expect”.
“I am going to now repeat publicly an invitation that I have extended to Nigel Farage in private multiple times over many months,” Lowe said.
“Every offer has been refused or ignored. Please, let’s have dinner and resolve this in a manner that our members and the country would expect.”
A Reform statement released on Friday afternoon accused Lowe of having “on at least two occasions made threats of physical violence” to Yusuf.
Reform also said it had received allegations from two separate staffers about “serious bullying” and “derogatory” remarks made about women in Lowe’s parliamentary and constituency offices.
Lowe denied the claims, describing them as “vexatious” and said the complaint to police “obviously went in just after I asked reasonable questions of Reform’s leadership”.
On Friday, Lowe said the timing of the complaint was a “malicious attempt to drag my name through the mud”.
“A complete inability to accept even the most mild constructive criticism without such a malicious reaction is not effective leadership,” he said.
Reform confirmed that Lowe had lost the whip.
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.”
The involvement of the police comes after internal fractures in the party, which has five MPs, opened up on Thursday as Lowe complained to the Daily Mail that Reform remained a “protest party led by the Messiah” under Farage.
Asked whether the Reform leader had the potential to become prime minister, Lowe 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.”
