Category Archives: Reform UK

‘I like Rupert Lowe’s plain speaking’: suspended MP haunts Nigel Farage’s big rally

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As Reform UK launched its English local elections campaign in Birmingham there were murmurs among activists about the fate of a ‘popular figure’

There was one name on the lips of many Reform supporters before their party’s local election campaign launch in Birmingham on Friday night, but it wasn’t Nigel Farage.

Instead, conversation turned to Rupert Lowe, one of five Reform MPs elected last year, who was suspended this month when allegations of bullying emerged, the day after he had described Farage as a “messianic” leader of a protest party.

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Labour ads use NHS to attack Farage’s views before major Reform rally

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Billboards in Birmingham cite party leader’s remarks about a new funding model as local elections campaigning begins

Labour has begun an all-out assault on Nigel Farage over his views on the NHS in the run-up to key elections in May, as the Reform UK leader prepared to host what is billed as his party’s biggest ever rally in Birmingham.

In a coordinated campaign before Farage spoke at a 10,000-person event in the city on Friday evening, Labour paid for nearly a dozen billboard posters around the city with messages about his talk about replacing the NHS with an insurance-based healthcare system.

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Men more ready to sacrifice family life for career than women, Farage says

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Reform leader also says Andrew Tate has so many young male followers because society ‘feminises’ them too much

Nigel Farage has said men will more readily sacrifice their family lives to be successful in their business careers than women, and that young men are being too “feminised” by modern society.

The Reform UK leader set out his view on gender balance in the workplace in a conversation with journalists in Westminster, saying women made “different life choices” when it came to work. He went on to suggest that Reform attracts men because they are more impulsive than their female counterparts.

Lifted the lid further on his row with Elon Musk, saying the billionaire adviser to Donald Trump had tried to push him too much on supporting the far-right activist Tommy Robinson. “You can’t bully me,” he said. “I’ve got my principles, I stand by them good or bad.”

Said the idea of a $100m (£77m) donation from Musk had been “massively overexaggerated”, but insisted they were now on “perfectly reasonable terms” by text message.

Dismissed the idea of a pact with the Tories, saying Reform “despises” the party. He suggested its leader, Kemi Badenoch, was lazy and referred to her leadership rival Robert Jenrick as Robert “Generic”. Of Tory MPs, he said: “I’ve never met a more stuck up, arrogant, out of touch group of people. At least half of the Conservative MPs are stuffy, boring old bastards.”

Blamed net zero policies rather than the threat of Trump tariffs for the planned closure of Scunthorpe’s steel plant, and claimed the US president had wanted to do a trade deal during his previous term, but that the Tories had “blown it” by delaying Brexit.

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Rupert Lowe report details ‘credible’ claims of bullying or harassment

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Report follows bitter row between former Reform MP Lowe and Nigel Farage, the party’s leader

Two women who worked for Rupert Lowe, the former Reform UK MP who was suspended from the party earlier this month, gave “credible” evidence of bullying or harassment by him and his team, according to a report from a KC hired by the party.

The report also disputed Lowe’s statement that the women had only made complaints after they faced internal disciplinary proceedings against them, saying the timeline of events showed this was “incorrect”.

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Labour mayoral candidate on race to stop Reform – and ‘Doge Lincolnshire’

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Jason Stockwood, ex-chair of Grimsby Town FC, has plan for keeping rival Andrea Jenkyns from implementing US-style cuts

Labour can beat Reform UK by focusing relentlessly on the cost of living, the party’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire, who is taking on the Conservative defector Andrea Jenkyns, has said.

Jason Stockwood, the former chair of Grimsby Town football club, is standing for Labour in the most high-profile mayoral race of the local elections.

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House of Lords proceedings disrupted by protesters – UK politics live

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Campaigners in gallery shout ‘Lords out, people in’ and drop leaflets into the chamber

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has defended politicians who get involved in entertainment TV.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he hit back at Kemi Badenoch, who used an interview with the paper earlier this week to dismiss Farage as just a reality TV phenomenon.

Having appeal doesn’t mean that people want you running their lives. That’s one of the things that we need to make sure that we remind people.

This isn’t I’m A Celebrity or Strictly Come Dancing. You don’t vote for the person that you’re enjoying watching and then switch off when the show’s over.

Anyway, it’s not as though I’m the first politician to have been prominent in the media. Ronald Reagan combined his early political activities with a film and TV career for 20 years, until the 1960s. When he announced in the 1970s that he wanted to become the US President, everybody said he was a B-Movie actor who stood no chance. These days, American conservatives look back on this two-term leader with a slight sense of awe in terms of his achievements.

And what about Donald Trump? He was a well-known New York property developer from the 1970s onwards but it was his massive success with the reality to show The Apprentice from 2004 that put him in a position where he could win the nomination for the Republican Party.

Kemi Badenoch has a problem. Most members of the public have no opinion of her. Even fewer know what she stands for. I have an idea for her. She could appear on a reality TV show herself. A spell in the I’m a Celebrity… jungle would be perfect. I’ll gladly give her some tips if she wants to sign up for the next series.

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Minister refuses to rule out more benefit cuts amid backlash over Liz Kendall move to slash disability payments – UK politics live

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Stephen Timms, social security and disability minister, says ‘who knows what will happen in next five years’ as welfare bill is increasing even with cuts

Matt Hancock, the former Tory health secretary, has just started giving evidence to the Covid inquiry as part of its inquiry into PPE procurement.

There is a live feed here.

Of course people who can work should work - no one is questioning that - but for my relatives, friends and neighbours, and your constituents who have the misfortune to suffer from a chronic, debilitating, long-term condition that leaves them bed-bound, unable to leave their home or crushed by mental illness, these cuts will not motivate them to get back to work, it will instead scare and humiliate them and strip them of their dignity and self respect and for some it will send them to an early grave. The blame for this will lie squarely with you and the sycophants within your party who passively support these dreadful cuts.

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Minister refuses to say disability benefits for people unable to work won’t be cut – UK politics live

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Stephen Timms, social security and disability minister, says government is ‘fully supporting’ people who would always be unable to work

The Reform UK press conference is about to start. There is a live feed here.

Nigel Farage is going to announce that 29 councillors have defected to his party, according to the Guido Fawkes website.

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Farage reportedly met Cummings for ‘friendly chat about the general scene’

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Pair recently met to discuss Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other political matters, Sunday Times says

Nigel Farage has reportedly met Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s adviser turned nemesis, after the Vote Leave founder suggested voters should back Reform UK at the local elections.

Cummings, who was once a sworn enemy of Farage during the EU referendum as he battled to keep control of the leave campaign, is reported to have met the Reform leader to discuss Whitehall changes, which allies said was the strongest sign yet that Farage was taking seriously the idea of becoming prime minister.

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‘I like Nigel Farage’: Runcorn and Helsby byelection could be big test for Starmer

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Labour won the seat last year with more than 50% of votes – now polls suggest it will just hang on or lose to Reform UK

On a weekday morning, an advertising van is weaving its way through the narrow streets of Runcorn town centre. On the side is a black and white picture of Nigel Farage with a quote from the Reform UK leader: “We are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare.”

The starting gun has been fired in the byelection that has been on the horizon since the sitting MP Mike Amesbury announced his intention to resign, and which could prove a huge test for Keir Starmer’s government.

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Ousted Reform MP Rupert Lowe could join breakaway rightwing party

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Ben Habib, an ex-Reform deputy leader who was also forced out by Nigel Farage, makes offer to Great Yarmouth MP

The ousted Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe could join forces in a breakaway rightwing party with a former deputy leader of the party who was also forced out by Nigel Farage.

The offer came from the former Brexit party MEP Ben Habib, an outspoken critic of Farage, who said he was “constantly in touch” with Lowe.

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Starmer facing Reform UK byelection challenge as Mike Amesbury quits as MP after assault conviction – UK politics live

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Contest in Runcorn and Helsby will be a challenge for Labour

Around 80 Labour MPs could refuse to back government plans to cut billions from the welfare budget, Amy Gibbons and Tony Diver claim in a story for the Daily Telegraph. They report:

The Telegraph understands that around 80 Labour MPs – roughly a fifth of the parliamentary party – “won’t tolerate” billions of pounds of welfare cuts set to be announced by the Chancellor later this month.

The anger is said to have spread beyond the “usual suspects”, with MPs who would not typically criticise Sir Keir threatening to “give the government a slap” over the proposals.

Our Labour values are built on a simple but powerful idea: that every individual, regardless of background or circumstance, should have the support they need to make the most of their lives. Everyone who is capable of working deserves the security, dignity and agency that employment offers. Of course, there are some people who are not able to work and they must be treated with compassion and respect. But for those that can, we must restore the pathways to opportunity which are currently so sparse for millions of people. It is exactly what a Labour government exists to do …

As MPs, we understand that delivering this new social contract requires hard choices to be made. We welcome the work that has begun to rebuild our welfare system, and we are fully supportive of it. We believe reforming our broken system is not only necessary, but also a truly progressive endeavour. And so we have established the Get Britain Working Group to make that argument, insistently.

The radical package of reforms will see:

-£5bn in savings by making it harder to qualify for Personal Independence Payments - a benefit not linked to work that is meant to help people with the additional costs of their disability

This government is determined that instead of facing a life on benefits … we stretch every sinew and pull every lever to ensure that we can get those people into work, because that is the best way for them to have a successful and happy life into the future.

So I think it’s quite right to look at a benefit system which is clearly broken.

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‘Dog-whistle v fog horn’: why Rupert Lowe’s reach on X may not cut through

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Lowe’s online presence, helped by Elon Musk, dwarfs that of Nigel Farage, but may not bring him new Reform voters

If you were to looking for answers as to why Rupert Lowe, a relatively little-known Reform UK MP, thinks he can lecture Nigel Farage about running a party and winning an election, there is one place you should probably start: X.

For all that in person Lowe can sometimes resemble a slightly embarrassing uncle at a wedding, on the social media site formerly known as Twitter, the Great Yarmouth MP is a big name – and by some metrics, a notably bigger one even than his party leader.

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From Trump whisperer to trouble – angry Reform UK MPs turn on Farage

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Internal row in party over ‘messianic’ leader becomes public amid competing members’ allegations of bullying and dirty tricks

Just a few short weeks ago, Nigel Farage’s Reform party was riding high. It was consistently polling above Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative party and in some surveys had even edged ahead of the Labour government.

Donors who had previously handed over large amounts to the Tories were switching sides, while Farage was relishing having the ear of US president Donald Trump, touting himself as a far better representative to the leader of the free world than Keir Starmer.

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Reform MP Rupert Lowe hits back at party leadership after losing whip

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MP accused of threatening party chair says dealing with leadership is like smashing his head against a brick wall

Rupert Lowe has compared dealing with the Reform party leadership to smashing his head against a brick wall amid a public war of words that has revealed deep tensions at the heart of the rightwing party.

Lowe posted a statement on X asking the party leader, Nigel Farage, to have dinner with him less than 24 hours after Lowe lost the Reform whip, having been accused of threatening the party chair, Zia Yusuf.

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Divided Reform UK reports own MP to police amid bullying claims

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Party chair and chief whip issue statement alleging female employees complained about Rupert Lowe

Reform UK has erupted into open civil war after the party said its MP Rupert Lowe had received complaints about bullying and had made threats against the party chair, a day after Lowe criticised Nigel Farage for being “messianic”.

Lowe responded with anger, saying there was no evidence to back up the bullying claims, and that it was “entirely untrue” that he had made threats. He again criticised Farage, saying Reform was “our party as much as it is Nigel’s”.

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Reform faces split as Farage hits back over ‘messianic’ criticism

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Nigel Farage calls Rupert Lowe ‘utterly completely wrong’ after Reform MP criticised his leadership style

Reform UK is facing a split at the top after Nigel Farage called one of his most prominent MPs “utterly completely wrong” for calling him the “messianic” leader of a protest party.

Farage hit out at Rupert Lowe after the Great Yarmouth MP and former Southampton FC chair criticised his leadership publicly in an interview.

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Starmer highlights UK’s war record in implicit rebuke to Vance as Lib Dems mock Badenoch for defending him – as it happened

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Interventions follow US vice president’s comments about ‘20,000 troops from some random country that has not fought a war in 40 years’. This live blog is closed

In response to a question about intelligence cooperation with the US, Sir David Manning, a former ambassador to Washington, said he thought this would become “more difficult” because there was a problem of trust. He explained:

If you have some of Trump’s appointees in these key jobs who have very strange track records, and have said very strange things about Nato allies, the Nato alliance and so on, and you have people in the administration who seem to be, let’s say, looking for ways of appeasing Russia, then you have a problem on the intelligence front, because these are not the values that we have.

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Trump commitment to peace in Ukraine sincere, Starmer says, but minerals deal not enough to provide US security guarantee – live

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Prime minister says UK must strengthen relationship with US for security

As Jakub Krupa and Martin Belam report on our Europe live blog, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, is floating proposals for a month-long ceasefire in Ukraine covering air, sea and attacks on critical infrastructure.

In interviews this morning, Luke Pollard, the defence minister, played down reports that this is a plan that Britain is formally backing. Asked about French government claims to this effect, he replied:

No agreement has been made on what a truce looks like, and so I don’t recognise the precise part you mentioned there. But we are working together with France and our European allies to look at what is the path to how … we create a lasting and durable peace in Ukraine.

You wouldn’t expect me to get into the details of what that plan looks like, because at the moment, the only person that would benefit from those details being put in the public domain before any plan is agreed would be President Putin.

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Tories compare Nigel Farage to Jeremy Corbyn over Ukraine war

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Reform leader accused of ‘equivocating over Russia’s illegal war’ after criticising Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The Conservatives have compared Nigel Farage to Jeremy Corbyn after the Reform UK leader said Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been “rude” to Donald Trump, as well as criticising the Ukrainian president for not wearing a suit to the Oval Office.

The Liberal Democrats accused Farage of parroting White House talking points after Farage denied that Elon Musk and Steve Bannon had given Nazi salutes, saying their gestures were “out to the side and not in front”.

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