Reform UK row: Leaked messages reveal Nigel Farage fury with Rupert Lowe

Nigel Farage referred to as the behaviour of suspended Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe “disgusting” and “contemptible” in non-public WhatsApp messages seen by the BBC.

Within the messages, which have been despatched after Lowe criticised the Reform chief in a Every day Mail interview, Farage accused him of “damaging the celebration simply earlier than elections”.

Reform has at all times denied there was any connection between Lowe’s suspension and his criticism of the celebration.

In his Mail interview on 5 March, Lowe referred to as Reform a “protest celebration” led by “the Messiah”. He was suspended on 7 March and reported to police over claims he had made threats of violence in opposition to celebration chairman Zia Yusuf.

Reform stated it had additionally obtained allegations of bullying in Lowe’s MP workplaces. Lowe strongly denies all of the allegations.

He has since accused Farage of a “malicious witch hunt” and being motivated “to take away me as a result of I dared to ask questions”.

Farage informed the BBC: “The suspension was to guard the celebration, easy. The newspaper assault on Reform UK is separate however dreadful.”

He has beforehand insisted the celebration was responsibility certain to look into any allegations of wrongdoing.

Reform’s deputy chief Richard Tice beforehand informed the BBC there was “completely no reality” in claims of a hyperlink between the choice to droop Lowe and the allegations being made public.

However a sequence of messages between Farage and somebody who has labored for Lowe in recent times reveals Farage’s private anger with Lowe about his feedback to the Every day Mail.

In a single message, Farage says Lowe is “contemptible”. When requested by the activist, who is just not presently a celebration member, why Reform had not allowed a lawyer to finish an investigation earlier than suspending him Farage stated: “As a result of he’s damaging the celebration simply earlier than elections. Disgusting.”

When it was urged the investigation into Lowe was a response to his criticism of the management, Farage replied on WhatsApp: “We’re positively broken and inside two weeks of nominations. Terrible.”

Farage went on to say the Mail interview was a “aspect concern” and that the celebration needed to examine the claims in opposition to Lowe.

However the messages reveal a stage of animosity between the suspended MP and his group and the Reform UK management, alongside the claims about his behaviour, which Lowe vehemently denies.

The BBC’s supply is themselves the topic of an allegation of bullying, which they strenuously deny.

The BBC has spoken to a number of members of Rupert Lowe’s group. Amongst them are individuals who have labored alongside Nigel Farage for years and admired him.

However many now are deeply important.

One stated: “Nigel is skinny skinned and egotistical. I’ve spent years defending him however the aura has gone for me now. Reporting Rupert to the police? Come on. They’re attempting to place him in jail!”

The workers member went on to say that the foundation of this complete row was Elon Musk’s reward for Lowe on X, saying: “Nigel may be very delicate about his American contacts.”

One other staffer stated: “It’s completely horrible the celebration going to the police.

“You’d by no means discover somebody extra sort and thoughtful than Rupert.

“If you do not have insurance policies as a celebration, you are a joke and that’s what Rupert was stating.”

The BBC has additionally seen proof of prolonged and detailed exchanges between Lowe’s workplaces and Parliament’s human sources group over the alleged conduct and subsequent departures of two members of workers.

Lowe has lengthy insisted that he and his workers diligently adopted the due course of parliament requires of them and there was no want for the celebration, or a senior lawyer employed by the celebration, to get entangled.

Reform UK has expanded quickly, now boasting greater than 200,000 members and frequently topping or coming second in nationwide opinion polls.

However Nigel Farage has publicly acknowledged that infighting has broken the celebration’s possibilities of progress.

Rupert Lowe informed the BBC: “Farage has admitted himself, in writing, that the motivation behind my elimination was the Every day Mail interview, by which I raised affordable and constructive questions of Reform construction, coverage and communication – following months of pushing for change behind the scenes.

“That interview is why they designed and launched their horrific smear marketing campaign in opposition to my identify. It’s evil behaviour. Nigel Farage mustn’t ever be Prime Minister. All I’ve achieved is inform the reality, and I’ll proceed to take action.”

Within the WhatsApp exchanges, Farage is requested whether or not the row may have been higher dealt with. He says that given the allegations of bullying “within the present world we have now to take this severely and to be seen to take this severely”.