‘This All Feels A Bit Putinesque’: Trevor Phillips Tears Into Reform UK Over Explosive Row

Trevor Phillips called Reform UK “Putinesque” this morning following the party’s decision to suspend one of its own MPs shortly after he criticised its leadership.

Reform UK also referred Rupert Lowe MP to the police on Friday over alleged “threats of physical violence” towards the party chairman Zia Yusuf and separate allegations of “workplace bullying” towards two female employees.

Lowe has denied all the claims against him and called it a “witch hunt”, pointing out that he had publicly called Reform UK a “protest party led by the Messiah” Nigel Farage on Thursday.

Reform UK has now appointed a KC to conduct an independent inquiry.

On Sky News this morning, presenter Phillips asked Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice how this incident squares with the party’s free speech stance.

Phillips said: “Your party has made a big deal of your being defenders of free speech. This all feels a bit Putinesque, doesn’t it?”

“Far from it,” Tice replied. “And that’s completely inappropriate.

“The reality is that behind the scenes, there has been a number of difficulties and challenges, and you get to the point where you say, ‘enough is enough.’”

He said the chairman Zia Yusuf has made “difficult decisions” around Lowe, but the party “fully supports” him. 

Tice also claimed this was a clear pattern of behaviour from the MP for Great Yarmouth.

He noted to a confrontation between Lowe’s and minister Mike Kane in the Commons back in December. 

“It was a bad moment and just an indication of the challenges that we face,” Tice said.

Both Farage and Lowe have also written in the Sunday Telegraph sharing their sides of the story.

The party leader accused Lowe of too many “outbursts” with “inappropriate behaviour,” claiming he had damaged Reform UK’s unity and adding: “We did our best to keep a lid on things but, in the end, containment strategies invariably fail.”

Farage said: “I have been surprised and saddened at this behaviour. Certainly, I never saw anything like it in the European Parliament in 2019 when I was the leader of the Brexit Party and Mr Lowe was an MEP colleague.”

Meanwhile, Lowe hit back in his own article, saying: “I will not tolerate these falsehoods and discussions have already taken place with my legal team.

“Is it a surprise that these allegations were made public the day after I made reasonable criticisms of Nigel Farage and the Reform leadership?

“It is a witch hunt, plain for all to see. I have been entirely frozen out of the Reform machine over the last few months, in a deliberate and calculated way.”

Lowe also publicly invited Farage to dinner “any time, any place”, to “resolve this in the matter that our members, supporters and country would expect”.