Tensions within Reform UK’s five-strong parliamentary party broke out today after Rupert Lowe appeared unwilling to give Nigel Farage his full backing in an interview. The Norfolk MP, who was backed by Elon Musk to replace Nigel Farage as the party’s leader, delivered a major warning that Mr Farage will only succeed if he “surrounds himself with the right people”.
In an ominous comment about the party’s leadership, Mr Lowe said it’s “too early to know” if Mr Farage will make a good Prime Minister. He 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.”
Rupert Lowe suggested he could quit Reform if Nigel Farage doesn’t do one particular thing (Image: Getty)
“Nigel is a fiercely independent individual and is extremely good at what we have done so far. He has got messianic qualities. Will those messianic qualities distil into sage leadership? I don’t know.”
“We have to change from being a protest party led by the Messiah into being a properly structured party with a frontbench, which we don’t have. We have to start behaving as if we are leading and not merely protesting.
“Nigel is a messianic figure who is at the core of everything but he has to learn to delegate, as not everything can go through one person.
“So we have to start developing policy which is going to change the way we govern. I’m not going to be by Nigel’s side at the next election unless we have a proper plan to change the way we govern from top to bottom. We can’t raise the hopes of people who are so frustrated with the way we are governed and then flunk it.”
Elon Musk said Mr Lowe should replace Nigel Farage as Reform UK leader (Image: Getty)
Mr Lowe explosively suggested he could even quit the party if Nigel Farage fails to develop a “proper plan to change the way we govern from top to bottom”.
He said he may not “be by Nigel’s side at the next election” unless he meets this requirement.
Mr Lowe has repeatedly been seen as a rival to the Reform throne should Mr Farage step aside, with claims a recent party press conference was delivered as a rebuke to him.
In February deputy leader Richard Tice said Reform would impose a windfall tax on battery energy storage systems.
As well as his job as an MP, Mr Lowe is the director of a firm called Lowe & Oliver, a firm which works with contractors installing solar panels and battery energy storage systems.
One of its customers include Mr Lowe’s 500-acre Cotswold farm.
Responding to claims he had been targeted by the party’s policy, Mr Lowe told the Guardian he is proud of his business interests and called on MPs to have more “life experience”.
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Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This internecine warfare at the top of Reform just goes to show that their MPs are more concerned with their own egos, and advancing their personal ambitions, rather than standing up for the British people.
“With one of Farage’s most senior MPs doubting his leadership abilities and admitting that Reform is a protest party with no plan, it is clear that Reform are not serious, and will always put self-interest above our national interest.
“The British public deserve solutions, not just empty slogans. Only the Conservatives, under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, can be trusted to be a real opposition, and real alternative, to this dreadful Labour government.”
