More musical chairs as two North unitary councillors quit Reform UK to join Restore Britain
Two Reform UK councillors on North Northamptonshire Council have sensationally quit the party today to join a newly formed rival.
Cllr Jack Goncalvez (Rushden Lakes ward) and Darren Rance (Brickhill & Queensway ward) have been announced as new councillors by the Restore Britain party, which was launched on Friday evening by former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe.
They follow a number of other councillors from Kent County Council in joining the new party, with Cllr Goncalvez accusing his former party of ‘courting the establishment it claims to oppose’.
Two Northants Reform UK councillors quit party to join new rival, NN Journal
Tag: Rupert Lowe
Reform UK councillor quits party with attack on Farage just days after election
The councillor had posted on social media about her plans to defect from Reform UK after the election
A newly elected councillor has quit Reform UK after she was suspended over a social media post just days after being elected.
Donna Edmunds, who was elected in Hodnet in Shropshire, was suspended for writing on X, formerly Twitter, that she was planning to defect from the party after the local elections.
Ms Edmunds on Sunday had written on the platform that she had been suspended from the party “pending an investigation”.
She had previously posted about waiting for the party’s ousted MP Rupert Lowe to set up a challenger party “and then I will defect”.
Reform UK councillor quits party with attack on Farage just days after election, Independent
Branch officers quit Reform UK over treatment of MP
All three branch officers of Reform UK in a constituency have resigned from the party in protest at the treatment of their local MP, Rupert Lowe.
The chairman, branch secretary and treasurer of the party in Great Yarmouth have all resigned their membership and say that with no officers the local party has effectively left Reform UK.
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.
Branch officers quit Reform UK over treatment of MP, BBC
11 times Nigel Farage had a blazing row with his colleagues
Reform UK leader’s falling-out with a fellow MP is the latest in a long list of quarrels with allies.
Beefing with one colleague looks like an accident. Feuding with a stack of them looks like a habit.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been engaged in a bitter war of words with fellow MP Rupert Lowe in recent days — marking open warfare in an insurgent party that has been threatening Britain’s Labour government in the polls.
Lowe lost the party whip and was referred to the police in early March after he was accused of “threats of physical violence” and “inappropriate behavior.” He has strongly denied the allegations — threatening to sue the party — and is standing by strident criticism of the way Farage is running Reform, which he has aired publicly in recent days.
11 times Nigel Farage had a blazing row with his colleagues, politico.eu
Reform feud escalates as Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe trade public barbs
Richard Tice tries to calm party row in Sunday media round after pair attack each other in newspaper articles
The fierce clash at the top of Reform UK has escalated as Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe launched fresh attacks against each other and the party denied its suspension of Lowe was politically motivated.
Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, was dispatched to the Sunday media studios to try to calm the row that has engulfed the party less than two months before a pivotal set of local elections.
Tice said there was no connection between Lowe’s suspension from Reform on Friday and his criticism of Farage the day before.
Reform feud escalates as Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe trade public barbs, The Guardian
Reform MP Rupert Lowe hits back at party leadership after losing whip
MP accused of threatening party chair says dealing with leadership is like smashing his head against a brick wall
Rupert Lowe has compared dealing with the Reform party leadership to smashing his head against a brick wall amid a public war of words that has revealed deep tensions at the heart of the rightwing party.
Lowe posted a statement on X asking the party leader, Nigel Farage, to have dinner with him less than 24 hours after Lowe lost the Reform whip, having been accused of threatening the party chair, Zia Yusuf.
The party reported the Great Yarmouth MP to the police, and Scotland Yard said a complaint of “verbal threats” made on Thursday about an alleged incident last December was being assessed by officers.
In a post on Saturday morning, Lowe said: “I have been betrayed more times than I care to remember, but never by people I would have called friends. It’s not a very pleasant feeling, to be entirely honest …
Reform MP Rupert Lowe hits back at party leadership after losing whip, The Guardian