Rupert Lowe

Rupert James Graham Lowe (Template:IPAc-en; born 31 October 1957) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Yarmouth since 2024. Elected for Reform UK, he now sits as an independent following the suspension of the party whip in March 2025. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands from 2019 to 2020. He founded the political organisation Restore Britain, which has been described as right-wing or far-right. in June 2025 and currently serves as its leader.

Before entering politics, Lowe worked in business and was the chairman of Southampton Football Club. He led the club from 1996 to 2006. Returning in 2008, his second tenure ended in 2009 when it entered administration. At the 2019 European Parliament election, Lowe was elected as an MEP for the West Midlands, representing the Brexit Party, which later became Reform UK. He held this role until the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in 2020. Lowe entered the House of Commons at the 2024 general election as MP for Great Yarmouth and was appointed Reform UK's Business and Agriculture Spokesman. In March 2025 he had the whip suspended due to legal accusations, days after criticising Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

Early life and career

Rupert James Graham Lowe was born on 31 October 1957 in Oxford.<ref>"LOWE Rupert J G / HUINS" in Register of Births for Oxford Registration District, vol. 6b (1959), p. 1313</ref> He was educated at Radley College, an all-boys independent boarding school, and the University of Reading.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He then worked in the City of London for companies such as Morgan Grenfell, Deutsche Bank and Barings Bank.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> He was also a board member of the London International Financial Futures Exchange. He founded Secure Retirements, a quoted care home provider, with Andrew Cowen, later the Southampton F.C. vice-chairman.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Football career

Southampton

In the mid-1990s the Southampton board were looking to float the club on the London Stock Exchange, a long and costly procedure. Therefore, they attempted a reverse takeover as a way to reduce costs. They needed to find a company that had already floated and take it over while effectively being taken over themselves. Lowe's Secure Retirements, which ran nursing homes, was identified as a candidate. The resultant group was renamed Southampton Leisure Holdings.<ref name="rare">Template:Cite news</ref> After the deal was completed, Lowe became chairman of the club.<ref name="rare"/>

In the summer of 1997 Southampton's manager, Graeme Souness, left after just one season in charge, as did the director of football and former manager Lawrie McMenemy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This came as a shock to the local press,Template:Which who regarded McMenemy as 'Mr Southampton'; he had previously managed the club from 1973 to 1985, guiding it to FA Cup success in 1976 and finishing second in the league in 1984.Template:Cn Lowe guided the club from their old stadium into the 32,000-seater St Mary's Stadium, which opened in 2001, and the club continued to follow a long-standing policy of selling players for high prices. Players such as Dean Richards and Kevin Davies were sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £8 million and Blackburn Rovers for £7 million, respectively.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

During his ownership of the club, the Saints maintained their Premier League status into the 21st century, despite having been in regular relegation battles since the early 1990s. There were eight managers during his tenure. Dave Jones was put on "gardening leave" in January 2000 amid a criminal investigation,<ref name="rare"/> though he was later cleared of all charges.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jones was succeeded by Glenn Hoddle,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> who left just over a year later to join Tottenham Hotspur.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe then appointed Stuart Gray,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but Gray was swiftly replaced by Gordon Strachan after a poor start to the 2001–02 season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Strachan guided the Saints to a secure 11th-place finish.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2003 Southampton reached the FA Cup Final<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time in nearly 20 years, also finishing eighth in the league; their highest finish for well over a decade.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Strachan resigned in February 2004,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Lowe and the board took the decision to replace him with Paul Sturrock before the end of the season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sturrock himself left the club by "mutual consent" within six months, despite achieving good results during his time in charge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was alleged that Lowe attempted to interfere in team selection after consulting the former head coach of the England national rugby union team Clive Woodward, who was being approached about a possible role at the club at the time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lowe appointed Harry Redknapp manager of Southampton in December 2004. Redknapp had quit as manager of Southampton's south-coast rivals Portsmouth two weeks earlier.<ref name=GuardDec04>Template:Cite news</ref> Southampton were relegated in 2005 and Lowe appointed Woodward as Director of Football of Southampton in July 2005. Redknapp resigned as manager in December 2005 and subsequently rejoined Portsmouth.<ref name=BBCDec05>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe won a libel case against The Times in 2005, relating to a column by the sportswriter Martin Samuel, who alleged that Lowe had treated Jones "shabbily" following the latter's suspension after he was accused of child abuse charges on which he was ultimately acquitted. Lowe was awarded £250,000, which he pledged to donate to charity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 30 June 2006 Lowe resigned under huge pressure from club supporters, including the newly formed Saints Trust, following the club's failure to win promotion back to the Premier League.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Michael Wilde, a new investor in Southampton Leisure Holdings, led a new team of directors in taking over the club. The Saints were beaten in the 2006–07 Championship playoffs and narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the 2007–08 season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In July 2008, Lowe returned as the chairman of Southampton Leisure Holdings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At an AGM on 23 December 2008, he received several calls to resign from former chairman Leon Crouch and from fans and shareholders at the meeting.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 2 April 2009, Southampton Leisure Holdings was placed into administration, resulting in Lowe's resignation from the board.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Garforth Town

In December 2012 Lowe purchased Garforth Town of the Northern Premier League, along with the franchise operation of Socatots & Brazilian Soccer Schools linking up again with Simon Clifford, who had been employed as a Southampton coach in 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lowe left the club in January 2015.<ref>Change of ownership at Garforth Template:Webarchive Northern Counties East League, 20 January 2015</ref>

Football Association

Lowe has served as a member of the executive board of The Football Association as a Premier League representative and as an FA Councillor and on the FA Cup committee.<ref name="rare"/><ref name=IndAug04>Template:Cite news</ref>

Political career

Career before parliament

Lowe speaking at a plenary session of the European Parliament in 2019

Lowe was a member of the Conservative Party until 1993, when he left the party after questioning the Maastricht Treaty.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Bsn He stood for election as the Referendum Party candidate for The Cotswolds at the 1997 general election and came fourth. He won a seat for the Brexit Party in the West Midlands constituency at the 2019 European Parliament election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lowe had planned to be the Brexit Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Dudley North constituency of the UK Parliament,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but he ultimately withdrew.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a January 2020 speech in the European Parliament, he cast doubt on the validity of man-made climate change, calling it a "cult" which "marches on with no definitive evidence to support or deny the factual accuracy of [climate scientists'] assertions".<ref>"Devastating Bushfires in Australia and other extreme weather events as a consequence of Climate Change (debate)" Template:Webarchive, Verbatim report of proceedings of the European Parliament, Monday, 13 January 2020 – Strasbourg. Quoted in Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2023 Lowe returned to politics as Reform UK's Business and Agriculture Spokesman.<ref name="spokespeople">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He contested the 2024 Kingswood by-election, finishing in third place, surpassing 10% and achieving Reform's best-ever by-election result. This was bettered later the same day by Ben Habib's 13% of the vote in the Wellingborough by-election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Member of Parliament

Lowe seated with fellow Reform UK MPs (left to right) James McMurdock, Richard Tice and Nigel Farage in 2024

In the 2024 general election on 4 July, he stood for the Great Yarmouth constituency<ref name="gym">Template:Cite news</ref> and won, gaining 35.3 per cent of the vote.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After his election, he compiled a list of schools in his constituency where he said that teachers were biased against Reform during the election campaign, saying he would be meeting with headteachers to discuss the allegations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also pledged to donate his MP salary to a different local charity or worthy cause each month.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2025 the American businessman Elon Musk, who had endorsed Reform UK, called on Nigel Farage to resign as leader, and then praised Lowe.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe thanked Musk, but reiterated his support for Farage.<ref name=bbcmusk>Template:Cite news</ref> The dispute between Musk and Farage stemmed from Musk's endorsement of the imprisoned far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whom Farage has rejected; Lowe said Robinson should be acknowledged for "exposing these [child rape] gangs" but called him "not right for Reform".<ref name=bbcmusk/>

On 8 January 2025 Lowe brought in a Ten Minute Rule Bill to ban quantitative easing, praising Argentinian president Javier Milei and looking forward to Musk working with Donald Trump, before saying "The cost of government should be covered by taxes alone, limiting the growth of excessive statism" which he said was linked to "a general moral decline in society".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was criticised by Richard Murphy who alleged this would allow the Bank of England to fail.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of October 2025, it has not received a second reading. Also in January 2025, Lowe voted along with other Reform UK MPs to block the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill with a motion that called for a new national inquiry into grooming gangs. The amendment was defeated at 364 votes to 111, a majority of 253 against the amendment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 6 March 2025, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Lowe criticised the governance of Reform UK as "a protest party led by the Messiah", suggesting he might leave the party if things did not change, and saying it was too early to tell whether Farage would make a good prime minister.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> Farage disputed Lowe's criticism of himself and Reform UK, describing his personal following as a good thing, and went on to suggest Lowe's remarks were driven by a desire to be prime minister himself.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> In the same Daily Mail interview, Lowe stated he thought that MPs' pay should be increased to about £250,000 a year with the size of the House of Commons halved, and described the BBC as a "cancer at the heart of Britain".<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref>

Bullying allegations and suspension from Reform UK

On 7 March 2025 it was announced that Lowe had been reported to the police by Reform UK after its chairman, the businessman Zia Yusuf, alleged Lowe made verbal threats against him three months and a month previously, in December 2024 and in February 2025 respectively,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and that he was also under investigation by Reform UK for claims of bullying within his parliamentary office.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="loweskynews">Template:Cite news</ref> Reform UK said that Lowe had also refused to cooperate with the investigation, while Lowe himself said that Reform UK's statement was published before an investigation had even begun.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="loweskynews" /> Lowe subsequently had the whip suspended by party whip Lee Anderson who said "to remove the whip was a deeply painful thing to do".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lowe denied all allegations against him and called them vexatious.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also alleged that there were malicious briefings against him by "senior Reform figures" to journalists to claim he had dementia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and that both his removal from Reform UK and the investigation into his alleged conduct were in response to his criticisms of Farage as leader of the party.<ref name = "Independent">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="auto">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a statement to the media, Lowe said he had been continually "frozen out of meetings, policy discussions, press conferences and more" for pushing for internal party reform, and accused Farage of putting "a knife in [Lowe's] back over false allegations".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lowe said that he had disagreed with Farage over the former's endorsement of mass deportations and support for forcibly removing over a million people from the UK if required.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Staff members for Lowe have dismissed the bullying allegations as "nonsense",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the alleged bullying by Lowe was later revealed not to involve him. Lowe's entire parliamentary team wrote a public letter in support of him, denying the allegations and stating they have never been contacted as part of any parliamentary investigation.<ref name="Independent" /> The former deputy leader of Reform UK Ben Habib called Lowe's suspension "an injustice". Habib accused Farage and Yusuf of "trumping up complaints against" Lowe to oust him after Elon Musk suggested Lowe should become Leader of Reform UK instead of Farage. Reform's official X account stopped retweeting Lowe's posts after Musk's comments.<ref name="auto" /> Habib called for both men's resignations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Musk has reportedly considered backing Lowe if he forms a new party after the row,<ref name="auto" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while multiple senior Conservative figures expressed an interest in Lowe defecting to the Conservative Party instead.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 20 March 2025, BBC News reported on a series of leaked WhatsApp messages between Farage and an unnamed source in which Farage spoke of Lowe as "contemptible" and his anger with Lowe's Daily Mail interview. In the messages, Farage stated that the inquiry into Lowe's alleged behaviour was the right thing to do because the "reputation of the party must be protected", and that he had not allowed a lawyer to complete the investigation before suspending Lowe because he had been "damaging the party just before elections". In response, Lowe told the BBC that the leaked messages proved that the motivation behind his removal was his criticism of Reform UK's party structure, policy and communication and criticism of Farage himself. Lowe concluded by saying Farage "must never be Prime Minister". Farage himself did not comment on the leaks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lowe in parliament as an independent in 2025

After a thorough review of the evidence, including multiple witness statements, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced on 14 May 2025 that there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction related to Yusuf's allegations.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Prior to the dismissal Lowe's farm was raided during the night by armed police who seized his legal firearms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Leader of Restore Britain

On 30 June 2025 Lowe launched a political organisation named Restore Britain to advocate the deportation of all illegal immigrants, protecting British culture and restoring what it describes as "Christian principles".<ref name="restorebritain.org.uk-homepage">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The launch coincided with that of the right-wing party Advance UK. Susan Hall, the leader of the Conservative Party in the London Assembly, joined the advisory board.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Restore Britain has been described as right-wing or far-right.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Politico">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In line with Lowe's previously expressed view that Nigel Farage was "watering down" Reform's policy on the deportation of illegal migrants,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the Restore Britain website states on its "principles" page that the organisation seeks to "defend" Britain from "illegal migration, Islamist extremism, and foreign crime gangs", including the deportation of all illegal migrants currently residing in the UK. The same page also states that "Migrants didn't build this country — Britons did. Stop apologising for it," saying that Britain should be proud of its history and Christian values. In addition, the page states that "Mass immigration has left communities unrecognisable. Multiculturalism has failed, and division has grown."<ref name="restorebritain.org.uk-our_principles">Template:Cite web</ref> The organisation's website promotes "net negative migration" and states that, "The Boriswave must be reversed, and the asylum system must be abolished."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other principles of the organisation revolve around ending diversity programmes and "the cancer of wokery", as well as stating that Parliament is broken and ignores the people.<ref name="Politico" /> Lowe has also made posts on X in favour of ending devolution, and abolishing the Welsh Senedd and the Scottish Parliament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The stated principles of the organisation also include holding local institutions accountable, reducing unemployment by slashing benefits, and cutting taxes.<ref name="restorebritain.org.uk-our_principles" />

On 8 August Lowe posted a picture on X of a small boat off the Norfolk coast, stating:

"Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported."

Great Yarmouth is some 110 miles (175 km) north of Dover, where migrants in small boats usually land, and the same distance from the coast of the Netherlands. It transpired that the boat was a party of volunteers rowing from Land's End to John O'Groats, to raise money for a motor neuron disease charity. Lowe later stated he would donate £1,000 to the charity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Elon Musk has been a primary backer of Restore Britain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Lowe is a multi-millionaire.<ref name="Tory brand">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He is married to Nicky Lowe and they have four children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe owns Ravenswell Farm in Withington, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.<ref name="TelegAug20">Template:Cite news</ref> The operations of the racehorse trainer Fergal O'Brien are based at the farm.<ref name="TelegAug20" />

In February 2018 Lowe was one of several people who received undisclosed damages payouts from Mirror Group Newspapers as part of the phone-hacking scandal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe was appointed a Director of Rutherford Health, PLC in 2018 and Digme Fitness in 2017.<ref name="RH">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Primary-inline

External links

• Template:UK MP links