Probe into ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe finds ‘credible proof of illegal harassment of two ladies’

An independent report into the behaviour of former Reform MP Rupert Lowe has found ‘credible evidence of unlawful harassment of two women’ by him and ‘male members of his team’.

A probe into complaints made against the Great Yarmouth MP by Jacqueline Perry KC ruled that ‘victimisation, constant criticisms (and) discriminatory behaviour do seem to amount to harassment on the part of both Mr Lowe and his constituency team’.

The barrister, who represented Donald Trump in a UK court case earlier this year, was asked to investigate Mr Lowe after he was suspended earlier this month, triggering a bitter public spat with Nigel Farage and the party leadership.

Mr Lowe denies any wrongdoing and says he was targeted for questioning the party leadership in an interview in which he said Mr Farage acted like a ‘messiah’.

But in the report released by Reform today, Ms Perry said he ‘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.’

A statement posted on Mr Lowe’s X account from his ‘entire team’ 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.’

A probe into complaints made against the Great Yarmouth MP by Jacqueline Perry KC ruled that ‘victimisation, constant criticisms (and) discriminatory behaviour do seem to amount to harassment on the part of both Mr Lowe and his constituency team’.

She was asked to investigate Mr Lowe after he was suspended earlier this month, triggering a bitter public spat with Nigel Farage and the party leadership.

In a second tweet he added: ‘There is no evidence of any bullying, because there was none. No bullying, no aggressive behaviour, no violent threats. There are outright lies, unsurprisingly.’