Inside the Reform civil war

Rupert Lowe , one of Reform ’s five MPs, said Reform needed to change from being a protest party led by the Messiah’ But the real bombshell came on Friday afternoon , when Reform announced Lowe was being investigated over complaints of bullying staff.

Lowe denies the allegations and has been using social media to share his side of the story and call the whole row “a vindictive witch hunt”.

Farage is performing a tightrope act positioning his party as radical enough to attract those disillusioned with the mainstream parties, but not so full of “fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists” that ordinary voters are disgusted and repelled.

Farage is well aware of the “entryism” problem often faced by fringe parties on the right.