Elon Musk appears to have waded into Reform UK’s civil war by seeming to back Rupert Lowe. The tech billionaire signalled his support for the former Reform MP by posting two Union Jack emojis in response to a post featuring footage of Mr Lowe’s speeches.
Reform UK reported Mr Lowe to the police over alleged “threats of physical violence” to its chairman Zia Yusuf. It is also claimed two women working in the MP’s offices had made complaints about “workplace bullying” and “derogatory remarks”. Mr Lowe has strenuously denied the claims, saying the allegations of bullying do not relate to him and were made by staff who themselves faced disciplinary action. He has been suspended from Reform UK and now sits as an independent MP.
The MP for Great Yarmouth was asked by commentator Dan Wootton earlier this week whether he believed the row is linked to Mr Musk expressing doubts about Nigel Farage’s leadership of Reform UK.
Mr Musk, who is now a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, has previously appeared to suggest he would support Mr Lowe as leader of Reform.
He posted on Janurary 5: “The Reform party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes”. The tech entrepreneur tentatively suggested Mr Lowe could take his place at the helm.
Mr Lowe told Wootton: “I owe a huge debt to Elon Musk because without my X account which gives me a voice, this may well have ended very differently, because I think in the past anyone who has (been), if you like, a poppy that stood up too tall has been chopped down.
“I have been thinking about it in my own mind and I sort of wonder whether in a country that I think is becoming increasingly used to lies, somebody who stands up in Parliament and tells the truth is seen as a tall poppy.”
He added his contact with Mr Musk was limited to “a little bit” of direct messaging on X, but “not big, a thumbs up or whatever” and the Tesla boss retweets “quite a lot” of what he puts on X.
Mr Musk’s apparent intervention was made in a reply to a tweet which included the video montage of Mr Lowe and a comment: “Can we please get this man as prime minister?”
The montage had been uploaded to TikTok from an account named “REAL BRIT REAL TALK”. It shows Mr Lowe delivering part of a speech at an event in Essex organised by Reform UK.
Mr Lowe can be heard saying that watching Mr Trump and the Americans has made him “even more determined” to restore Britain through a Great Repeal Act “when” Labour falls at the next general election.
Elsewhere in the footage, Mr Lowe can be heard saying he didn’t particularly care if the UK wasn’t liked by the rest of the world, adding: “I care if we’re respected, because right now Britain is a joke and has been for some time.”
He also urged supporters to be “unapologetically patriotic” and taxes to be slashed “across the board”, to “enforce the border” and deport anyone with no right to be in Britain.
Internal splits within Reform UK opened up after Mr Lowe told the Daily Mail that Reform remains a “protest party led by the Messiah” under Mr Farage.
Asked whether he thought the former UKIP leader had the potential to become prime minister, as his supporters have suggested, the MP 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.”
