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A former Reform UK MP will not be charged over allegations he made “verbal threats” against the party’s chairman Zia Yusuf.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it would not charge Rupert Lowe after reviewing the evidence handed over by the party.
The Great Yarmouth MP was suspended from Nigel Farage’s party this year amid a civil war and allegations about his conduct, which he denies.
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In a statement in March, Reform said Mr Lowe had been reported to police over alleged “threats of physical violence” against Mr Yusuf.
Mr Lowe consistently denied the allegations, which he said amounted to a political hit job against him after he “dared to bruise Farage’s ego”.
“These are false allegations, designed to maliciously smear my name and ruin my reputation,” he said at the time.
Responding to the decision, Mr Lowe said Reform reporting him to the police “was not normal political infighting… it was a sinister attempt to weaponise the criminal justice system against me”.
He accused the party of putting his “liberty at risk… all because I dared to raise constructive criticisms of Nigel Farage, stood firm on deporting illegal migrants, and pushed for Reform to be run democratically – not as a vehicle to stroke one man’s ego”.
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“Nigel Farage must never be Prime Minister,” he said, in an extraordinary attack against the man he once campaigned alongside.
Mr Lowe added: “I am ashamed to have shared a parliamentary platform with them. Ashamed to have trusted them. Ashamed to have called them friends. Farage is no leader – he is a coward and a viper. I feel deeply embarrassed that I ever thought he was the man to lead.”
The CPS said it led a “thorough and detailed review of the evidence in relation to an allegation of threats” and “decided no criminal charges should be brought” against Mr Lowe.
The head of the CPS’s special crime division, Malcolm McHaffie, said: “Having considered a number of witness statements, we have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.”
Mr Lowe has said he has instructed solicitors to begin defamation action over the claims.
His suspension was emblematic of early divides in Reform’s ranks, despite emerging from the general election with just five MPs. Labour, which is targeting Reform as its main opposition following Mr Farage’s surge in the polls and local elections success, seized on the chaos. Sir Keir Starmer said at PMQs Mr Farage “can’t even run a party that could fit in the back of a cab”.
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The Reform civil war spilled into the open in March when Mr Lowe used a Daily Mail interview to accuse Mr Farage of having “messianic” tendencies, Mr Farage hit back to say there would not have been “a cat’s chance in hell” of Mr Lowe being elected without him. Mr Lowe was suspended and the allegations against him, as well as separate allegations he had bullied staff, were made public.
There had long been reports of ill-feeling between Mr Lowe and the party leader after Elon Musk called for Mr Farage to be replaced in the top job – endorsing Mr Lowe as his preferred successor.
Some in Reform’s ranks have called for Mr Lowe to attempt a takeover of the party, or form a fresh challenger party on the right. One councillor was suspended from the party just days after winning a seat for Reform in the local elections, having publicly said she planned to defect as soon as Mr Lowe established an alternative.
