An independent KC has found ‘credible evidence of unlawful harassment of two women’ by suspended MP Rupert Lowe and ‘male members of his team’, Reform UK has said
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 was asked by Reform UK to look into allegations made by two women who worked, respectively, in the Parliamentary office of Mr Lowe or within Mr Lowe’s constituency office.
Following her investigation, she said there was “veracity in the complaints from both women which amounts (to) ‘credible evidence’ – to use Mr Lowe’s own words”. 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 the Great Yarmouth MP “seems to have failed or been unwilling to address the very real concerns” of the two complainants, or “address the alleged toxic conduct” of male members of his staff.
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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.”
Ms Perry 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.”
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Nigel Farage’s party has descended into civil war in recent weeks. Mr Lowe was suspended by the party and reported to police over alleged threats of physical violence against Reform chairman Zia Yusuf earlier this month. Leaked WhatsApp messages last week revealed the scale of Mr Farage’s anger at Mr Lowe, with the Reform UK leader branding Mr Lowe’s behaviour “disgusting” after suspending him. Mr Lowe has strongly denied the allegations made against him.
After Ms Perry’s report was published, Mr Lowe strongly denied the allegations and accused Reform UK of trying to “smear” his name after he criticised Mr Farage. The row erupted after he called Reform UK a “protest party” led by “the Messiah” in a Daily Mail article.
He responded on social media: “There is no evidence of any bullying, because there was none. No bullying, no aggressive behaviour, no violent threats. There are outright lies, unsurprisingly. Reform has put my team through hell in an attempt to smear my reputation. This is not how politics should operate. It is dark, dirty and simply not the British way of doing things.
“Anyone involved in Reform should be aware that when it becomes politically convenient for them to do so – they will use any means to get to you, including innocent staff…. This is all a malicious attempt to smear my name because I dared to question Farage.”
In another post on Mr Lowe’s X/Twitter, a statement on behalf of his “entire current team” read: “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.”
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