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Nigel Farage has presented 29 councillors who have joined Reform UK as he tries to move his party on from a damaging rift surrounding the suspension of one of its MPs, Rupert Lowe.
However, the Reform UK leader also hit out at what he described as “online abuse” and “outright racism” directed recently at Reform’s chair, Zia Yusuf, as divisions within the party over Lowe’s suspension boiled over.
The new Reform councillors were introduced at an event where Farage said his party needed “old lags” – including 15 councillors leaving the Tories, one who left Liberal Democrats and a range of independents. They included a Cheshire councillor who had previously quit Labour in a row over transgender policy.
Farage said in a speech that the fallout with Lowe had caused “some consternation” but insisted “that upset is very much at the edges” as he suggested a report by a barrister into allegations about the MP could be completed this week.
“You might have noticed that we have been through a little bit of turbulence over the course of the last couple of weeks,” said Farage, who grew short-tempered when it came to questions from the press about Lowe.
“We’ve been increasingly concerned about the behaviour of one of our members of parliament, and when we found out that some serious complaints have gone in, we thought, you know what, let’s just suspend the whip and let’s find out what the truth is, and we will wait … we will get the report from the independent king’s council.”
When asked about the comments directed at Yusuf, who has become a lightning rod for criticism from disaffected current and former Reform members, Farage said that there was “a world of difference” between what the party chair had been subjected to and comments another Reform MP, Lee Anderson, had made about the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.
Anderson joined Reform UK in 2024 after he was stripped him of the Conservative whip over comments he made about Khan, which were condemned as Islamophobic.
The Guardian has seen comments on Facebook groups run for and by Reform UK members where some criticism of Yusuf has made reference to the fact that he is a Muslim.
Asked if Reform UK members were responsible for the abuse of Yusuf, Farage said: “I don’t think that those comments online have necessarily come from Reform UK members. I think there’s a quite deliberate attempt out there to try and just be as nasty as people can. And I don’t like it.
“I have always said [parties he has led] they would be non-racist, non-sectarian parties. I’ve always been very tough on that, I’m going to go on being tough on that.”
Reform has been in turmoil for the past fortnight owing to a rift between Farage and Lowe, who was thrown out of the party in a battle over bullying allegations and referred to the police. Lowe had criticised Farage in a Daily Mail interview and has since claimed he was censored by the party on immigration issues.
Lowe, 67, has said there is “zero credible evidence” against him and suggested his suspension was linked to his criticism of the party leader.
Supporters of Lowe have been leaving the party. They include Maria Bowtell, a Yorkshire councillor who said on Sunday saying she would serve out her term as an independent.
