I propose sending this to the chairman of my local branch of Reform UK. Do you agree? Do you suggest any changes. Please let me know.
Dear Mr. Chairman
I write with dismay and anger about the actions of the leadership of the Party, which unfortunately give the impression of nothing more than spite and vindictiveness together with a childish clash of egos - but which I and many others suspect is in reality a clash between the ‘Tory’ faction of the party and its more radical wing, which desires root and branch reform of the party and the country, including the democratisation of both.
Mr Lowe’s comments about Nigel Farage’s inability to delegate and work as a team has resonance with the many of us who have made the journey from UKIP to Reform via the Brexit Party. Many of us back Mr Lowe in calling for a major shift in how the party operates, something we were promised at the last party conference but of which we have seen little to date.
Nigel Farage would be wrong to take this personally. We all acknowledge his success and contribution to the movement to take back control of our country. But we are moving into a different era, where teamwork is as important as charisma and name recognition – something even that other great egoist, Donald Trump, recognises as seen by him giving JD Vance maximum publicity. The party membership calls on Nigel to do the same.
We do have to change from being a protest party led by a Messiah to being a properly structured party, with a front bench and active, participating membership, not a collection of disciples blindly following the Messiah wherever he chooses to go. There is nothing unreasonable in this call, and while most of us accept and support Nigel’s leadership, we do want a far broader input into policy and strategy.
The main imperative now is party unity, keeping personal tensions in check and holding the Party together to get it fighting fit for the next election, which could be won and Nigel made PM if we get this sorted out quickly.
The appalling allegations made by the unelected Chairman Zia Yusuf, which the elected Rupert Lowe denies, should be withdrawn immediately. Every member I have spoken to has serious doubts about their veracity. Many find it all too convenient that the usual Left-wing tactic of accusations of unspecified bullying have been made so shortly after Rupert Lowe made his Messiah comments.
Mr Zia Yusuf has said that Mr Lowe had "on at least two occasions made threats of physical violence against him". If this is true, why were no complaints made then, and what, exactly, was the nature of these alleged threats? And the coincidence of the ‘bullying’ allegations concerning ‘discriminatory remarks made about women, including reference to a perceived disability’ – classic Woke leftist tactics - are to many of us just too convenient to be persuasive.
In short, many of us think the allegations are a nasty fabrication designed to rid the Inner Circle of an MP who has voiced the opinions of a very large proportion of the party membership and our potential supporters across the country, and who was perhaps, becoming too popular.
I call on the Party leadership therefore, to restore the whip to Rupert Lowe immediately. If they genuinely think that further action is required for the good of the party the whip should still be restored, pending a thorough, independent review of any evidence they might have to support their allegations by a tribunal chosen by the party membership; the appointment by the Inner Circle of a KC (there is no such thing as an independent KC, they are advocates, nothing else) smacks of a stitch-up and many members will not accept any resultant findings.
If the leadership is serious about democratisation, it will, therefore, agree to a member’s tribunal and agree in advance that, if the tribunal finds that the allegations do not reflect serious threats of violence or bullying, and/or that they cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt, Mr Zia be asked to resign as party chairman.
We also ask that genuine reforms be carried out to the satisfaction of Ben Habib, and that he be brought back into the party.
Like our country, which belongs to the British people, not an out of touch, alien and often unaccountable ‘elite’, we cannot accept Reform’s leadership acting in a similar manner to the British Establishment. We were told that ReformUK now belongs to the members, not an inner circle, and we, the membership, demand that the leadership acts accordingly and either settles this unseemly dispute or arranges for the election of a tribunal of members to hold an official inquiry.
The whole country is watching, and what you do now will inevitably have serious long-term consequences. Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe must come together and put the country first; we require nothing less.
Yours,
T Armstrong (member)