Rupert Lowe, the former Reform MP who lost the whip in March, has announced he will be suing Nigel Farage and two other senior party figures for defamation after they accused him of bullying staff and making verbal threats. Lowe, who now sits as an independent, said he was suing Farage, the Reform leader, along with Lee Anderson, its chief whip, and Zia Yusuf, the party chair, for comments he said had “caused serious harm to my reputation”. The Great Yarmouth MP was suspended after Anderson and Yusuf issued a joint statement saying the party had “received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying” in Lowe’s offices, and had at least twice made threats of violence against Yusuf. Lowe has vehemently rejected all the allegations, arguing that he was targeted after he used a media interview to call for changes to Reform so it was centred less around Farage’s “messianic” leadership. Later in March the Metropolitan police said they were investigating the alleged threats, which the force said took place between December 2024 and February 2025. Nearer the end of the month Reform released a report produced by a king’s counsel it had hired to look into the claims of bullying, which said the two women had given “credible” evidence of bullying or harassment by Lowe and his team. But in a tweeted statement on Thursday, Lowe alleged Yusuf and Anderson had made false allegations. He said: “The statement was read by millions and has caused serious harm to my reputation. I believe it was published as part of a concerted smear campaign against me after I made comments about the party’s leader Nigel Farage. “I have today instructed my solicitors Brett Wilson LLP to send letters of claim to Reform’s leader and director Nigel Farage, Mr Anderson and Mr Yusuf asserting claims for defamation. “I call on the party, Mr Farage, Mr Anderson and Mr Yusuf to do the right thing and retract these false allegations. In the event that they are unwilling to do so it is my intention to issue high court proceedings. Whilst I have no desire to litigate, I will do what is necessary to ensure my reputation is restored.” Reform has been approached for comment. Among other tensions between Lowe and Farage has been the former’s notably more hard-right approach towards migration and culture war issues. Lowe regularly uses his large following on X to promise to mass-deport a million-plus migrants, or complain about criminals from “alien cultures”. Farage has criticised such views, although Lowe has a fan in Elon Musk. The X owner and Donald Trump right-hand man sometimes retweets Lowe’s posts and formally endorsed him over Farage in January.
Author: Peter Walker Senior political correspondent