Suspended Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe said Nigel Farage “must never become prime minister” after the party leader allegedly called his behaviour “disgusting” and “contemptible” in leaked private messages.
Mr Farage accused Mr Lowe of “damaging the party just before elections” in a WhatsApp conversation with a member of the Great Yarmouth MP’s staff, the BBC reported.
The messages were sent after Mr Lowe, who was suspended from the party amid allegations he made threats of violence to its chairman Zia Yusuf, had criticised Mr Farage in a Daily Mail interview, according to the broadcaster.
In his latest attack on Reform, Mr Lowe said: “These messages unquestionably prove that the Reform leadership has zero integrity.”
He added: “I will not work with the rotten and deceitful Reform leadership … Nigel Farage must never be prime minister.”
The staff member, who is not currently a party member, had asked Mr Farage why Reform had not allowed a lawyer to complete an investigation into allegations about the MP’s conduct before removing the whip.
Mr Farage said: “Because he is damaging the party just before elections. Disgusting.”
When it was suggested the investigation was a response to his criticism of the leadership, the party leader and Clacton MP replied: “We are definitely damaged and within two weeks of nominations. Awful.”
In another message he said the Great Yarmouth MP was “contemptible” and elsewhere described the Mail interview in which Mr Lowe called Reform a “protest party” led by “the Messiah” as a “side issue”.
Mr Lowe made the claims in an article published on March 5th and lost the whip on March 7th, when the party said there had been claims of bullying in his offices and reported him to police for allegedly threatening Mr Yusuf, which he denies.
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has previously denied claims of a link between the decision to suspend Mr Lowe and the accusations being made public.
Mr Farage told the PA news agency that the suspension had been to protect the party.
“The attack on the party is separate but dreadful,” he said. “We have worked for seven months to build a party capable of contesting the May 1 elections at scale. Mr Lowe has not helped us at all.”
Mr Farage said the BBC’s source was themself facing accusations of bullying.
The BBC reported that the source strenuously denies the allegation.
