To think this is the beginning of the end for Reform

[PandoraSox]

Eight months in and the Reform UK Parliamentary party is disintegrating. Lowe has now had the whip removed.

Reform supports are largely of the opinion that it's silly/woke/snowflake/"libtard" women who have complained and that it's just banter/heated tempers/workplace dynamics. Rupert "tells it like it is" and these complaints are just malicious to try and discredit him. There are actual polls online about whether he should start his own party and many, many Reform supporters urging him to do so along with requests that he ally with Elon Musk, publicly voice his support for Yaxley-Lennon, and that he appeals to Trump.

They don't give a shit about the allegations, they just want to continue hitching their wagon to an MP who legitimises their bigoted views.

They’ve not done very well

When a group of 5 MPs can’t maintain party discipline for 10 months it’s not a great sign! Lowe was complaining about Farage yesterday, now this happens. Also yesterday, Tice made an idiot of himself on QT and at the press conference in Glasgow. They’re not having the best week..

Tice was a menace on QT, I loved it when Fiona Bruce threatened to muzzle him. 😂

I’m referring to what’s left of the Party. If they’ve kicked him out and in so doing reduced their numbers massively doesn’t that suggest that Reform does not condone that behaviour. It seems harsh to accuse Reform supporters of supporting this man or his behaviour when the Party they support doesn’t.

I would happily see the Tories win back votes if it meant the end of Reform. The Tory party might then move back towards One Nation Conservatism instead of trying to out-Reform Reform.

In some ways this is good news. The more the far right splinters into factions, the less chance there is of one far right party having any real power.

...In the kitchen isn't it?!

Farage’s biggest barrier to political success in his own terms has always been that he can’t run any sort of party. They always disintegrate. Anyone who knows his record predicted this when five got elected. UKIP went from seven to one in the Welsh Assembly.

He does great rabble rousing. But he proves how incredibly hard it is to manage a political party. And the parties he runs attract problematic people.

Reform supports are largely of the opinion that it's silly/woke/snowflake/"libtard" women who have complained and that it's just banter/heated tempers/workplace dynamics.

That's not the case at all, his supporters believe his denials of the allegations and think it's a smear by Farage. It's been quite an interesting evening following it unfold on X.

@PandoraSox Even if this is the end of Reform (which I doubt unfortunately) don't get your hopes up that it's the end of the far right party, they'll be another one in its place.

UKIP took the far right votes off the BNP, Reform is the new UKIP and on it goes, like those Russian dolls.

With Badenoch in charge it's not going to happen for a while. The Tories haven't been centre right since John Major.

Yes. Lowe said on X that he felt sorry for the "decent people" who'd been deceived by Reform. "You deserved better than this circus". Many of his followers are urging him to set up his own party. ETA I see @PandoraSox said it first.

This is totally true. But it does hold back the development of them into a viable political force. For years the reasons the Tories were so successful was that they successfully sat on their own divisions so people saw them as strong. They lost that in plain sight when Brexit happened. Starmer is keeping a tight hold on his party right now although we all know there is all sorts bubbling under. But if you can’t even get five MPs to gel for a year, you’ve got a big problem in building up.

I don't know if you're right @PandoraSox but I hope you are. Not a fan of them!

Oh that's it. One complaint. Labour anti Semitic members /councillors /mps, Tory crooks/bribe accepting /self contracts providing. All mps fiddling expenses.

I'd be concerned if I wasn't fed up with the lot of them....locally we have councillors claiming 30k in expenses to travel 10 miles at a time.

They are all...

Is it the end of Reform? Only on Mumsnet!

It's interesting that there was an article yesterday about Lowe criticising Farage and today this has happened.

Yes. Only on MN do people hope to see a vile, xenophobic political party implode.

You don't get it.

It is the in-fighting that could destroy Reform, not the nature of the accusations against Lowe.

Only five MPs and there's already a schism. So much for professionalising the party. The mess that is the USA, with Trump preening on his podium, is a warning to all potential Reform voters of the road we would be headed down if Farage took charge. I'm starting to wonder if Kemi Badenoch is biding her time, waiting for the Reform momentum to slow, although a bit of resistance to Vance wouldn't go amiss.

Oh dear.

Seeing as Farage loves Trump and his policies so so much anyone who continues to support ‘Reform’ plc would need to swallow and support Russian imperialism.

Very true.

There is no civil war