An independent KC has found “credible evidence of unlawful harassment of two women” by MP Rupert Lowe and “male members of his team”, Reform UK has said.
Jacqueline Perry KC said there was “veracity in the complaints” from two women following her investigation the alleged behaviour of the Great Yarmouth MP. Mr Lowe strongly denies all the allegations.
She added that the complaints of “victimisation, constant criticisms (and) discriminatory behaviour do seem to amount to harassment on the part of both Mr Lowe and his constituency team”.
Ms Perry went on to say Mr Lowe “seems to have failed or been unwilling to address the very real concerns” of the two complainants, or “address the toxic conduct” of male members of his staff.
She added: “The ‘failures’ on the part of the women that have been highlighted by Mr Lowe and resulted in disciplinary procedures being taken against them seem flimsy in the extreme and would have been unlikely, in my opinion, to have warranted disciplinary action, much less dismissal.
“They have the appearance of a defensive stance taken once the complaints had been made as the timings support.”
Reform said one of the women’s allegations were made against Mr Lowe himself and added that one of the women allegedly received threats that Mr Lowe would take legal action against her if she cooperated with the Party’s investigation.
Mr Lowe, who currently sits as an Independent MP, has been suspended from the party while allegations of bullying are investigated, claims which he denies.
In a newspaper interview on 5 March, Mr Lowe called Reform a “protest party” led by “the Messiah”. He was suspended on 7 March and reported to police over claims he had made threats of violence against party chairman Zia Yusuf.
Reform said it had also received allegations of bullying in Lowe’s MP offices.
In response to the report, Mr Lowe said: “Reform is shamefully attacking my innocent staff to smear my name. This is not right. It’s unprecedented in modern British politics. Extensive evidence of this is being presented to the Parliamentary authorities, and my own legal teams.
“Both of these complainants admitted to serious offences, and both only raised any issues once the disciplinary process had started. Both then went on to admit other serious offences. I treat taxpayer money with respect – that means staff who commit such unacceptable actions must be held accountable with disciplinary action. There is no evidence of any bullying, because there was none. No bullying, no aggressive behaviour, no violent threats.
“There are outright lies, unsurprisingly. These have gone unchallenged, and accepted as fact, even with zero evidence by the Reform investigation.”
He added: “There was no bullying. There never has been any bullying. Using such claims to damage me through my staff is shameful. To say that I have threatened legal action against these women is an outright lie.
“There is no evidence of any bullying, because there was none. No bullying, no aggressive behaviour, no violent threats. There are outright lies, unsurprisingly.
“This is all a malicious attempt to smear my name because I dared to question Farage.”
The KC advised Reform UK to be “quite strict” about ensuring party members were “fully acquainted” with parliamentary rules following her investigation into complaints against Mr Lowe.
She said: “Going forward I would advise the party hierarchy to be quite strict about ensuring that each member of the party is fully acquainted with the rules of Parliament as regards bullying and the provisions of the 2010 (Equality) Act given, I repeat, it is a really low threshold to be crossed to be able to bring such a claim against a member.
“The party wants to avoid any such unpleasantness, not just due to the risk of legal action but also out of common decency and respect for another person who is doing his/her best to do a good job.”
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Mr Lowe shared a statement he said was on behalf of his “entire current team”.
It said: “These two women have vexatiously complained in an attempt to smear Rupert, and the entire team. And we are a team. We work together well. The only issues raised within the office have been from these two individuals, who only did so after they committed serious offences. This whole ordeal has been difficult on all of us.
“We don’t want any of this – we just want to get on with our jobs, and support Rupert who has been a fantastic boss. There has never been any bullying – we will all go on the record to say so, and have done so already.”
