For anyone who has watched (and opposed) the activities of the hard and far right in UK politics over the last decades the news that Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe has lost the Reform whip in Parliament will come as no surprise
According to a statement from the always reliable team of Lee Anderson and Zia Yusuf, Lowe is accused of bullying Parliamentary staff and threatening Yusuf. Lowe denies this.
In reality its all, as ever, about Farage. Despite recent changes Farage remains the boss of Reform which has no serious democratic structure.
On Thursday Lowe, a former football club owner and landowner, called Farage a political messiah
Today Lowe has been summarily purged.
Its entirely familiar to anyone who has seen previous UKIP bust ups with Farage coming and going depending on his personal preference at the time.
Whether Reform will continue in its present form or split time will tell. Whichever it is, it still needs opposing both with protests and alternatives to its hard right politics.
The reasons for the split might, as above, just be Farage. It might be the pressure of Reform trying to work out what to say about Trump, Ukraine and Putin. Protests also make a mark but Reform’s vote in local council by-elections (a crude barometer as turn-out is low) continues to be (too) good
That said Lowe seemed to get Musk’s support and the link is that both are fans of Stephen Yaxley Lennon. Yaxley Lennon supports not Reform (his fans don’t like Farage) but UKIP. Notably the current UKIP leader Tenconi posted on Twitter an invitation for Lowe to join on 7th March. UKIP are more streets than Parliament in the current form but as ever no doubt we shall see (and protest wherever appropriate)
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