On 7 March 2025, Reform UK erupted into open civil war, with the party leadership accusing one of its own MPs, Rupert Lowe, of bullying staff and making verbal threats against the chairman, Zia Yusuf.

Reform announced it had referred the matter to the police.

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The 2024 general election resulted in a historic breakthrough for Reform UK. The party secured five MPs in Nigel Farage (Clacton), Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness), Lee Anderson (Ashfield), Rupert Lowe (Great Yarmouth), and James McMurdock (South Basildon and East Thurrock).

The party’s early months in parliament were marked by both rapid expansion, especially in the party’s membership, and internal friction.

In early March 2025, Lowe – who had previously stood as Reform’s candidate in the February 2024 Kingswood by-election – expressed severe criticisms of Farage. In a Daily Mail interview, Lowe condemned the governance of Reform UK and warned Farage’s influence had become “messianic”.

Asked if Farage would make a good prime minister, Lowe said: “It’s too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods. He can only deliver if he surrounds himself with the right people.

“Nigel is a fiercely independent individual and is extremely good at what we have done so far. He has got messianic qualities. Will those messianic qualities distill into sage leadership? I don’t know.”

The comments came after Lowe had been touted as a future Reform leader by tech tycoon Elon Musk. At the time, Lowe backed Farage “to continue to hold this incompetent Labour party to account”.

Farage initially described Lowe’s Daily Mail interview as “utterly completely wrong”. Addressing one of Lowe’s central criticisms, the Reform leader argued that “you can’t really have a shadow cabinet” with only five people.

Farage stated: “We’ve got a lot of development to do but we’re absolutely not a protest party.”

The following day on 7 March, Reform UK suspended Lowe and reported him to the police.

A joint statement by Zia Yusuf and Reform’s chief whip, Lee Anderson, said they were “obligated to disclose that the party received complaints from two female employees about serious bullying” in Lowe’s offices.

The statement added: “In addition to these allegations of a disturbing pattern of behaviour, Mr Lowe has on at least two occasions made threats of physical violence against our party chairman. Accordingly, this matter is with the police.”

Lowe immediately denied the allegations, describing them as “entirely untrue”. He claimed the accusations were a fabrication and that he had been “frozen out” by the Reform leadership.

The MP stated: “Allegations of physical threats are outrageous and entirely untrue. I have never made any derogatory comments about women, or those with disabilities. This is a lie. These allegations are not even referring to me. I will be seeking legal advice immediately.

“There is no credible evidence against me”.

He added: “I have been pushing for this behind the scenes for many months, with zero success. I have been frozen out of meetings, policy discussions, press conferences and more. My repeated requests for better communication and regular meetings have been ignored and mocked.”

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The war of words escalated between Lowe and the Reform leadership over the following weeks. On 20 March, the independent MP declared that Farage “must never be prime minister”.

Lowe said: “For the good of our country, Nigel Farage must never be prime minister. To the millions of decent Reform supporters – you must do what you believe is right. I, personally, could not remain in an organisation led by such men. They do not deserve your support, your time, your energy, your money or your vote.”

An investigation carried out by a KC hired by Reform UK, which reported in late March, concluded that the claims of bullying and harassment made against Lowe were credible. “There is veracity in the complaints from both women which amounts [to] “credible evidence’”, Jacqueline Perry KC, a senior barrister, found.

Lowe, responding in a lengthy statement, dismissed the witness statements as “filled with hearsay, and outright lies based on zero evidence”.

He added: “Reform has deployed woke HR lawfare to smear not only my name, but the reputation of my innocent and decent staff – going as far as to publicly name them. Unprecedented wickedness. It is truly despicable behaviour. I am ashamed to have been part of such a rotten organisation.”

In April, a lawyer hired by Lowe said the investigation was “fundamentally flawed, unfair, and influenced by political motivations”.

The lawyer stated: “In addition to being unfair to Mr Lowe, the sequence of events which led up to provision of the report to the party gives rise to real questions as to the extent to which the KC conducted the investigation independently of the influence of the party.”

In May 2025, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that no charges would be brought against Lowe.

Malcolm McHaffie, head of the CPS’ Special Crime Division, said: “Following a thorough and detailed review of the evidence in relation to an allegation of threats, we have decided that no criminal charges should be brought against a sitting MP.

“Having considered a number of witness statements, we have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.

“The Crown Prosecution Service’s function is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent, and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for a criminal court to consider. Based on the careful consideration of this evidence, we have decided that our legal test for a criminal prosecution has not been met.”

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At the local elections on 2 May 2025, Reform UK achieved a series of significant breakthroughs. It won 677 council seats, accounting for around 41%; gained majority control of 10 councils outright; and also secured victory in two mayoralties, Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire.

These results marked the first time that Reform UK had won majority control of any council, and the first time that the party had achieved control of any mayoralty.

Reform also won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Sarah Pochin, the Reform UK candidate and former Conservative councillor, won by a margin of just six votes over Labour’s Karen Shore. After Lowe’s suspension, this restored the party’s standing to five MPs.

On 30 June 2025, Lowe launched a new political organisation named Restore Britain, solidifying his split with Reform. The group’s advisory board included senior Tory figures such as Conservative MP Gavin Williamson and former London mayoral candidate Susan Hall.

On 13 February 2026, Lowe announced that Restore Britain would transition from a pressure group into a national political party.