Lowe says he was ‘warned’ by Reform UK leadership over position on deportations

Rupert Lowe has said he was “warned” by leadership figures in Reform UK about being “outspoken on the need for a large number of deportations”.

The suspended Reform MP said he was responding to a report in the Telegraph “that sources in the Reform leadership, ‘close to Nigel Farage’, are upset with me” over his “position on deportations”.

Reform also said it had received evidence of “serious bullying” and “derogatory” remarks made about women in the MP’s offices, with two separate employees said to have made allegations.

Mr Lowe has denied the claims.

Writing in a post on X on Sunday morning, Mr Lowe said: “It has been reported in today’s Telegraph that sources in the Reform leadership, ‘close to Nigel Farage’, are upset with me because I have been outspoken on the need for a large number of deportations.

“This is not new information to me.”

He continued: “Just so that everyone is crystal clear – I stand by every single word I have said on the subject.

“If you are here illegally, you should be deported. That has to be the objective. If that results in one million plus deportations being the eventual aim? Then so be it. It may be uncomfortable to some, but there is NO other way.

“Nigel may not agree with that, but it’s the right thing to do and it’s a perfectly reasonable policy discussion to raise.”

Mr Lowe said he had made attempts to persuade Reform to “invest in a serious policy machine to present credible plans” on deportation and stop trying to “appease the unappeasable”.

“I do not want unvetted, unchecked, unknown young men roaming our streets, harassing women and loitering around schools. I want them deported, as do the vast majority of the British people,” he said.

“If that upsets people, so what? Honestly, who cares? We need to stop worrying about what the woke left think of us. They will NEVER approve. We must stop watering down sincerely held opinions to appease the unappeasable.

“If you come here illegally, you will be deported. If you are here illegally, you will be deported.

“Of course proper policy needs to be fleshed out around that (offshore processing, transfer agreements, foreign aid withdrawal, visa suspension, ECHR withdrawal, legislation repeal, scrapping the asylum system and so on). I have attempted to explore some of this detail myself publicly, and encouraged Reform to invest in a serious policy machine to present credible plans.

“That did not happen.”

“We need deportations, and lots of them. I make no apologies for stating that.”

His comments come after Mr Farage pressed the importance of good behaviour in the party and said the allegations had “dented” the “sense of unity” it had been building.

Writing for the Telegraph, Mr Farage said: “If the last general election taught us anything, it is that the public does not like political parties that engage in constant infighting.”

He said he was “acutely aware” that the “never-ending civil war that came to define the last Conservative government” had contributed to Labour’s majority.

Mr Farage added: “Reform UK matters more now than it has ever done before.

“That is why it is so important that our party – and every single one of its representatives – behaves responsibly at all times. Nothing less will do.”

As well as the allegations regarding bullying in Mr Lowe’s offices, Reform accused him on Friday of making threats of physical violence at least twice to party chairman Zia Yusuf.

Scotland Yard said on Friday that a complaint of “verbal threats” made on Thursday about an alleged incident last December was being assessed by officers.

In the same piece in the Telegraph, Mr Farage said Reform has “a duty of care to every single member of staff” and the chairman was “entirely right” to appoint a KC to “conduct an independent inquiry” into the bullying complaints.

In a post on X, Mr Lowe said “the process has been handled so appallingly”, and accused Mr Farage of “an entirely false and poisonous narrative”.

Splits in the party appeared on Thursday after Mr Lowe told the Daily Mail that Reform remained a “protest party led by the Messiah” under Mr Farage.

Asked whether the former Ukip leader had the potential to become prime minister, as his supporters have suggested, Mr Lowe 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.”

Mr Lowe was one of five people elected as a Reform MP at the general election in July.