By Gary Sambrook – former MP for Birmingham Northfield
The implosion of Reform UK’s unity, with Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe trading blows like a pair of prize fighters, is a textbook lesson in how egos can sink a party faster than a leaky lifeboat.
As a former MP and member of the 1922 Committee, I’ve seen this movie before – big personalities clashing, unity fracturing, and momentum stalling. Just look at the Tories: years of infighting, from the Pork Pie plot to oust Boris (I’ll confess my involvement in this) to the endless leadership squabbles, turned a winning machine into a party fractured by the Five Families. Reform’s current spat has all the signs of momentum starting to stall with HMS Reform.
Farage, the self-styled messiah of the populist right, built Reform into a force that snatched 14% of the vote last election. But now, with Lowe suspended over bullying claims and hurling barbs about Nigel’s leadership, the cracks are showing.
Lowe’s no shrinking violet – his calls for mass deportations and hardline stances won him fans, including Elon Musk. Yet, Farage’s move to axe him smacks of a man who’d rather rule a small fiefdom than share the stage. Sound familiar? I watched similar backstage commotions in the Common – ambition trumping teamwork every time.
This fallout could stall Reform’s charge to overtake the Conservatives as the right’s standard-bearer. The public loathes divided parties; the Conservative Party learned that the hard way. Reform’s momentum – five MPs, surging polls – risks grinding to a halt if they can’t patch this up. My time on the 1922 Committee taught me one thing: unity wins elections, chaos loses them. Farage needs to swallow his pride, or he’ll be left shouting into the wind while Labour and the Tories cheer from the sidelines. History doesn’t forgive fractured dreams and has an uncanny way of repeating itself.
