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On the face of it, the clash at the top of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is a battle of egos.
When Rupert Lowe, the MP touted by Elon Musk as a potential Reform leader, had the temerity to criticise Farage in an interview, the party’s machinery quickly moved against him.
Lowe complained to the Daily Mail last week that Reform remained a “protest party led by the Messiah” and that it was “too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods” by winning power.
The next day, the party announced that Lowe had had the whip suspended over bullying complaints involving two female members of staff, and reported to the police for violent threats against the party chair, Zia Yusuf. Lowe, who has issued a lengthy statement on X denying all the allegations, decried this as “vindictive witch-hunt, all because I asked awkward questions of Nigel”.
Lowe and his allies argue that his treatment proves his point: that Reform UK is entirely under Farage’s thumb, a protest movement directed by one man rather than the professional political party he promised to turn it into.
Below the surface, however, the clash represents a struggle over the direction of the party, where Farage finds himself in the unusual position of being the voice of moderation against Lowe’s clarion call to the far right.
The split between them was brought to the surface earlier this year by Musk, who has repeatedly expressed support for Reform UK and the far-right agitator and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson.
Frustrated by Farage’s refusal to welcome Robinson into the fold, Musk declared in January that Farage “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead the party – and appeared to endorse Lowe to take over instead. “I have not met Rupert Lowe, but his statements online that I have read so far make a lot of sense,” Musk said then.
Those statements from Lowe have grown in volume since Musk’s endorsement, which propelled the relatively unknown MP to prominence among the “alt-right” community on X. On several issues, he has tacked to the right of Farage. Last month Lowe said that while Robinson was “not right for Reform”, he deserved “to be given the credit for the things that he’s done”.
Lowe has also repeatedly endorsed mass deportations of illegal immigrants, declaring on Sunday that “if that results in one million plus deportations … so be it”.
Farage, by contrast, has said it is “a political impossibility to deport hundreds of thousands of people”. “If I say I support mass deportations, that’s all anybody will talk about for the next 20 years. So it’s pointless even going there,” he told GB News in September.
Farage has long maintained that to adopt far-right positions or embrace figures such as Robinson is to give up any hope of wide public appeal. Since picking up 14.3% of the vote and five seats in the last election – more than the Liberal Democrats’ 12.2% which translated to 72 seats – he has embarked on a mission to supplant the Conservatives as the main rightwing party.
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Lowe’s views and attacks on Farage’s leadership represent a threat to that ambition, a threat that would be dealt with by excising him from Reform. All indications so far suggest that other senior party figures – including Yusuf, the deputy leader, Richard Tice, and the chief whip, Lee Anderson – are loyal to Farage and willing to back him in this endeavour. James McMurdock, the fifth Reform MP, has yet to wade in.
The prospect of Lowe successfully challenging Farage is small, given his low profile with the British public. But his protestations of a witch-hunt have the potential to cause a serious headache – they have been met with support on X by influential rightwing commentators such as Steven Edginton and Dan Wootton, who accused Reform of “weaponising woke HR processes”.
To stay secure in his position Farage will want to ensure he retains the support of Reform UK’s 200,000-odd members – more than half of whom have joined since November, according to official party stats.
While it is safe to assume these members are fans of Farage, little is known about their political views. And under the party constitution adopted in the autumn, Reform UK members can oust their leader in a no-confidence vote if 50% write to the chair requesting one.
That is a high bar – but while Farage is still king, the future of his party is no longer entirely in his hands.
