Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
An independent barrister has found “credible evidence of unlawful harassment” by suspended Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe and male members of his team against two women who worked for him.
Jacqueline Perry KC said the two women who brought complaints had faced “victimisation; constant criticism; discriminatory behaviour [that] do seem to amount to harassment on the part of both Mr Lowe and his constituency team”.
Her findings, published on Tuesday, said that Lowe appeared to “have failed or been unwilling” to address the “alleged toxic conduct” of his male staff, and noted the women had complained of “considerable stress and suffering” that had affected their health and wellbeing.
Her report will deepen the rift within Nigel Farage’s populist party, which was thrown into chaos earlier this month when it removed the whip from Lowe and ordered an investigation into allegations of bullying.
The party’s leadership withdrew the whip from him on March 7 and are in the process of cancelling his membership. They also said he had also been reported to the police for alleged threats of physical violence against the party’s chair.
Lowe — who has denied all the allegations — pointed out that the allegations emerged just hours after he had publicly criticised Farage’s “Messianic” leadership in a Daily Mail interview.
In a statement on Tuesday, the 67-year old former investment banker criticised what he described as a “disgustingly biased process” from Reform UK, and added: “Reform’s leadership has proven themselves to be deceitful cowards.”
The row is also a distraction for the party as it targets the Runcorn and Helsby by-election and local council contests on May 1. The party is polling neck and neck with Labour and ahead of the Conservatives, and hopes to pick up scores of seats.
Tuesday’s findings by Perry laid out more details about the alleged bullying case against Lowe.
The first woman — who had worked for 14 years in parliament — complained to Lowe about bullying in December and submitted a formal complaint to the parliamentary complaints scheme on January 28. The second woman, a case worker in his constituency office, submitted her formal complaint to the same body on February 2.
Perry said the party wrote to Lowe on February 28 requesting his co-operation in an independent investigation. But she said Lowe had declined to formally respond.
Lowe had issued a statement on social media attacking “blatantly vexatious complaints” made by former employees who “were going through the disciplinary process regarding this misconduct before any of their ‘issues’ were raised”.
But the KC said his response “misstates the facts”, adding the apparent “failures” of the two women that had resulted in disciplinary proceedings against them “seem flimsy in the extreme” and did not seem to warrant disciplinary action or dismissal.
Perry found there was “veracity in the complaints from both women”.
She added: “At the very least Mr Lowe should have taken seriously the distress and concerns of a seasoned parliamentary employee and of both women.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Lowe said that Farage’s team had only “escalated” the women’s complaints within Reform the day after he criticised the leader in the Daily Mail.
“I have no faith that this investigation has been conducted in a fair manner,” he said in a statement on X. “Reform is shamefully attacking my innocent staff to smear my name.”
Lowe said he would not put his staff through such a “disgustingly biased process to satisfy Farage’s ego”.
The MP said the statements of both women were “filled with hearsay” as well as recollections of conversations that “never happened”.
He added: “The Reform investigation has accepted everything they’ve said as fact, with zero credible evidence to back up their wild claims”.
Lowe castigated Reform for naming some of his colleagues in its KC report, saying they were “horrified” and were now talking to lawyers about potential libel.
Lowe said he had a further statement from his “entire current team”, which said all of them worked together well.
“The only issues raised within the office have been from these two individuals. This whole ordeal has been difficult on all of us. We just want to get on with our jobs, and support Rupert, who has been a fantastic boss,” it said. “There has never been any bullying.”
