Diggers, discontent and a rebel MP set the tone at Reform's campaign rally

There was one name on the lips of many Reform supporters before their party's local election campaign launch in Birmingham on Friday night, but it wasn't Nigel Farage.

- James Tapper

Instead, conversation turned to Rupert Lowe, one of five Reform MPs elected last year, who was suspended this month when allegations of bullying emerged, the day after he had described Farage as a "messianic" leader of a protest party.

"One of the immediate issues he [Farage] has to deal with is the Rupert Lowe issue," said Pat Elwick, a retired referee from Lincolnshire. He is campaigning for Andrea Jenkyns, the former Tory MP, to become Reform's mayor of Greater Lincolnshire in the local elections on 1 May. Lowe comes up a lot when he's "footsoldiering" and is a popular figure, Elwick said.

Another activist, Ian from Worcestershire, laughed when asked how he thought things were going. "It was going quite well, wasn't it?" he said. "He's had a bad press with the Rupert Lowe thing, but one man doesn't make a party I suppose, like the Tories with Boris. But I like his [Lowe's] plain speaking, to be fair."

He hesitated. "Nigel is plain-speaking but he tends to go around the houses a lot."