Who saw this coming? A schism between the egos of Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe…
Lowe seemingly kicked off the row after he launched an open criticism of party founder and leader Nigel Farage.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Lowe claimed that Reform was a ‘protest party’ and that it was an open question about whether his ‘messianic’ leader would ‘deliver the goods’ and become prime minister.
He suggested that Farage would only do so if he surrounded himself with the ‘right people’, one assumed he meant himself.
Mr Lowe told the paper: “It’s too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods. He can only deliver if he surrounds himself with the right people.
“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.”
That didn’t go down well and Farage hit back immediately by saying that Lowe’s criticism was ‘utterly and completely wrong’, claiming that under his leadership Reform was far more than a party of protest. He questioned whether Lowe was after his job and wanted to be PM himself.
It comes as Elon Musk earlier this year used his own online platform X to call for Farage to step down and make way for a new leader. Maybe Farage could now set up ANOTHER party.
Truss
It comes as a picture of Liz Truss meeting Lowe in a restaurant has been doing the rounds on social media. Truss to Reform wouldn’t surprise too many people to be fair.
Then Farage was asked on Talk TV whether Rupert Lowe will be a Reform MP by the time the next election comes around.
Farage replied: “I hope so but he seems to be taking a tone that says he might not accept us, but there you are.”
It seems the handbags will continue, as the party’s popularity takes a hit in the polls.
The latest weekly Techne UK poll for The Independent puts Reform on 25 per cent for the third week in a row and has Labour pulling ahead by three points on 28 per cent after praise for Sir Keir Starmer following a week of diplomatic talks over the Ukraine crisis.
