Rupert Lowe: Reform tried to silence me on migration
Rupert Lowe has said Reform tried to silence him over his 'outspoken' views on migration.
The suspended Reform MP said he had been 'warned' by the party's leadership but had refused to listen, and was making 'no apologies' for his comments.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, Mr Lowe also called for one million illegal immigrants to be deported, saying Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, might not agree with him but that it was 'the right thing to do'.
It comes after a blazing row broke out in Reform as Mr Lowe was suspended over a string of bullying allegations, which he has categorically denied.
Sources close to Mr Farage claim that Mr Lowe has drifted politically and has been ' captured by the online radical Right ', making myriad X posts about 'mass deportations' and other preoccupations.
But the suspended MP said he stood by 'every single word' he had said, however 'uncomfortable' that might feel to some.
Mr Lowe claimed he was being targeted in retaliation for criticising Mr Farage's leadership, having publicly attacked his approach in recent days.
But Reform insisted it was necessary to take action against the MP in light of the alleged misconduct.
On Sunday, Richard Tice, Reform's deputy leader, denied that the suspension of Mr Lowe was 'Putin-esque', telling Sky News that was a 'completely inappropriate' description.
'The reality is, behind the scenes, there have been a number of difficulties and challenges, and you get to the point where you say enough is enough,' he said.
Earlier, Mr Lowe suggested he had been frozen out in part over his calls for mass migrant deportations.
He wrote on X: '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 [European Convention on Human Rights] 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.'
Mr Lowe added: 'I have been warned by those at the top of Reform about my position on deportations. As you likely know from reading my extensive output on the subject, I did not listen to a word said.
'We need deportations, and lots of them. I make no apologies for stating that.'
His comments come after Mr Farage stressed 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.'
Physical threats accusation
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 Zia Yusuf, the party chairman.
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 had '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.'
On Sunday, Mr Tice was asked by the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg whether the public was expected to 'believe' that there was no connection between Mr Lowe's criticism of Mr Farage and the allegations against him.
'People will believe that because there is no truth in that suggestion,' he said. 'The sad reality is, Rupert's been doing some great work, but there have been too many instances where we've seen a different character, and it's become really challenging.'
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