Lowe suggests Reform ousting was because he posed threat to Farage

Rupert Lowe has suggested he was suspended by Reform UK for being a “tall poppy” who threatened to overshadow Nigel Farage as the leader claimed there had been a “behavioural problem” for months.

The MP for Great Yarmouth, who lost the whip on Friday amid allegations about his conduct, which he denies, said Mr Farage “tends to fall out with” people whom he deems “capable enough to take over from him”.

Speaking on right-wing commentator Dan Wootton’s YouTube channel, Mr Lowe said it was “highly unlikely” he would return to the party but that he was not intending to stand down.

The MP was asked whether he thought the fallout could be linked to X owner and key member of Donald Trump’s administration Elon Musk, who last year expressed doubt about Mr Farage’s leadership and suggested he might support Mr Lowe.

“I owe a huge debt to Elon Musk because without my X account which gives me a voice, this may well have ended very differently, because I think in the past anyone who has (been), if you like, a poppy that stood up too tall has been chopped down,” the former Southampton FC chairman said.

“I have been thinking about it in my own mind and I sort of wonder whether in a country that I think is becoming increasingly used to lies, somebody who stands up in Parliament and tells the truth is seen as a tall poppy.”

He added that his contact with Mr Musk has been limited to “a little bit of DM’ing on Twitter, not big, a thumbs up or whatever, and he retweets quite a lot of what we put on Twitter, or on X”.

“That’s the extent of it. There is no more to it or less to it than that,” he said.

Asked whether he would consider forming his own party, the MP said he had not “got to the stage yet where I can make any decisions.”

“You’ve got to look at the pattern of relationships with Nigel, throughout his career, whether it’s Carswell, whether it’s Bloom, whether it’s 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.

“And I think if you look, they’ve suffered a very similar fate to the one that they’re trying to sentence me to.”

Godfrey Bloom was suspended from Mr Farage’s former party, Ukip, after the then-MEP called a group of women “sluts”, while there were longstanding tensions between the then-leader and Ukip MP Douglas Carswell.

Meanwhile, Mr Farage said there had been a “behavioural problem” relating to Mr Lowe for months.

He told GB News: “There has been a behavioural problem for some months – outbursts, anger, that kind of thing.”

He added that he was not “pre-judging” any allegations but that “any party who had a senior figure that was facing those accusations had to act in some way”.

In a statement on Friday, Reform said Mr Lowe had been reported to the police over alleged “threats of physical violence” to party chairman Zia Yusuf.

It also claimed that two women working in the MP’s offices had made complaints about “workplace bullying” and “derogatory remarks”.

Mr Lowe has strenuously denied the allegations, saying the allegations of bullying do not relate to him and were made by staff who themselves faced disciplinary action.

He also questioned the timing of the police report after Scotland Yard confirmed it was assessing a complaint the force received on Thursday about an alleged incident last December.

It comes after internal splits within the right-wing party, which had five MPs elected at the last election, opened up on Thursday as Mr Lowe told the Daily Mail that Reform remains a “protest party led by the Messiah” under Mr Farage.

Asked whether he thought the former Ukip leader had the potential to become prime minister, as his supporters have suggested, the MP 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.”