Reform's internal feud heats up as MP says he was a threat to Farage

Rupert Lowe has accused Reform UK of suspending him for being a "tall poppy" who threatened to overshadow Nigel Farage, in the latest escalation of the bitter row that is tearing the party apart.

- Eleni Courea Ben Quinn

Lowe said it was "highly unlikely" that he would be ever allowed to return to Reform UK, which he accused of trying to "blacken" his reputation.

In a YouTube interview with the rightwing commentator Dan Wootton, Lowe left the door open to him joining the Conservatives or Ukip, but said he had not taken any decisions about his future.

He suggested he was being forced out of Reform because he posed a threat to Farage, saying: "As in the past, a poppy that stood up too tall has been chopped down".

"You've got to look at the pattern of relationships with Nigel throughout his career... Almost anybody who is in his view either threatening him or is capable enough to take over from him, he tends to fall out with them."

Lowe added that he owed a "huge debt to Elon Musk because without my X account, which gives me a voice, this may well have ended very differently".

He also suggested that Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK chairman, who is Muslim, may have not liked the way he talked about "mass deportations" or "Pakistani rape gangs".