Political Reporter
BBCA lawyer investigating former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has found “credible evidence” he and his staff mistreated two female team members in ways that “seem to amount to harassment”.
Jacqueline Perry KC, employed by Reform to investigate after complaints were raised in February, found evidence of “victimisation, constant criticisms and discriminatory behaviour”.
Parliamentary officials have launched a separate bullying probe into Lowe. Meanwhile, the Met Police is investigating Lowe after Reform accused him of threatening “physical violence” against the party’s chairman.
The Great Yarmouth MP denied the claims and said his suspension was a reaction to criticising party leader Nigel Farage.
Following the report’s publication, Reform UK told the BBC Lowe had been permanently expelled from the parliamentary party.
Reform is also in the process of cancelling Lowe’s party membership.
He was suspended earlier this month, following allegations he had threatened party chairman Zia Yusuf in December.
In her report, Ms Perry found: “There is veracity in the complaints from both women which amounts [to] ‘credible evidence'”.
As well directly mistreating staff, Ms Perry said Lowe failed to “address the alleged toxic conduct” of male colleagues in the office, and refused to act on complaints.
“At the very least Mr Lowe should have taken seriously the distress and concerns,” Ms Perry said.
Lowe had a “duty and responsibility to ensure systems were in place to avoid junior members of staff being treated in any unfair and discriminatory way”, she added.
Concluding her report, Ms Perry said there was a “real risk” that the alleged treatment could be a breach of the Equality Act.
Ms Perry said her role was not to determine any criminality but to assess the “veracity” of the bullying and harassment allegations against Lowe and his staff, determine any legal implications, and recommend measures to prevent future incidents.
Lowe had previously claimed that Ms Perry had contacted him to say she found “no credible” evidence against him – leading to the KC to contact the BBC to rebut his claims.
Responding to the report, Lowe said in a social media post: “There was no bullying. There never has been any bullying. Using such claims to damage me through my staff is shameful.”
Lowe insisted the claims are “outright lies” and called the process “disgustingly biased”.
The MP, who has sat as an independent since his suspension, said: “Reform has put my team through hell in an attempt to smear my reputation.”
He claimed that the two women only came forward after disciplinary action was taken against them – a claim contradicted by the report.
Lowe repeated his claim Reform only began investigating the complaints after he publicly criticised leader Farage in an interview with the Daily Mail.
In his statement, Lowe said he had “cooperated and spoken at length with the KC [Reform] instructed, at great cost to the party, to investigate a minor staff matter.”
But the report stated Lowe had “declined to formally respond to the complaints” and pointed to a message Lowe had posted on social media, where he said he would “not be engaging with the Reform ‘investigation’ into blatantly vexatious complaints”.
