Farage says he is ‘open minded’ to talks with Rupert Lowe about potential pact
Nigel Farage says he has responded to Rupert Lowe’s offer of a deal between their parties, as he said he was “open minded” about talks.
The Reform UK leader said he had suggested a call to Mr Lowe, who had posted a video online at the weekend urging the two to work together. Mr Lowe later went on to dispute Mr Farage’s version of events.
Mr Lowe had acrimoniously left Reform in March 2025 amid claims of bullying and threatening behaviour. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Mr Lowe would face no criminal charges.
In the aftermath, he called Mr Farage a “coward” and a “viper” – and went on to found his own Restore Party.
In both the Makerfield by-election and last week’s Manchester mayoral election, the two parties outpolled the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
Mr Lowe had posted on X that Reform would have to agree to ban the burqa and halal meat and rule out any former Conservative ministers in future cabinets, if a deal was to go ahead.
In response, Mr Farage said he had “no desire” to meet some of the items on Mr Lowe’s policy “shopping list”.
At a press conference on Monday in central London, Mr Farage said: “If you want to do a political deal with somebody, you know, you would contact them privately and not do a 12-minute video.
“That said, I did actually reach out back yesterday to him. I did say, ‘look, should we have a call?’ I haven’t heard back yet, so I don’t know what the sincerity of this is.”
He added: “I don’t ditch my friends. I don’t ditch my allies, whether that’s Suella Braverman or Posh George (Cottrell), you know I do not ditch people because somebody else wants me to.”
Mr Lowe had been one of the first ever Reform MPs elected to Westminster in the 2024 general election, when he won in his Great Yarmouth seat.
The former chairman of Southampton FC had previously served alongside Mr Farage in the Brexit Party in the European Parliament.
However less than a year after being elected to Westminster, he was reported to police by Reform UK’s then chairman Zia Yusuf over accusations of bullying and threatening behaviour. He was also investigated by the party over bullying claims.
After the CPS said he would face no criminal charges, Mr Lowe said he was “ashamed” to have shared a platform with Reform.
His Restore party has since won seats on Norfolk County Council, and Great Yarmouth Borough Council. It finished third in the Makerfield by-election with 6% of the votes.
It calls for “mass deportations” of illegal migrants, and a referendum on the death penalty.
Yet despite his previous words about Mr Farage, in a video posted on Sunday, Mr Lowe said: “I truly believe there could be sufficient common ground for our two movements to co-operate collectively (to) destroy the looming left-wing alliance that will finish off what hope remains for this country.
“We have recently shown how effectively co-operation can work locally on the Norfolk County Council, so why not at national level?”
Speaking to journalists at an event on Monday alongside Mr Yusuf, Mr Farage said a “sorry would be nice” from Mr Lowe.
He said: “Look, there is this myth that I fell out with Rupert Lowe. It’s not true. Everyone fell out with Rupert Lowe. It was the screaming, the shouting, the threatening, the legal threats, everyone fell out with him.
“If you have to have to speak to people or make arrangements with people that you’ve previously fallen out with, if there is a greater good to be had from that, then I’m not closing my mind to it. Sorry would be nice, but I would have thought unlikely to be forthcoming.”
However Mr Farage added: “In broader terms, look, you could see a situation where Restore, without the hope of winning anything outside Great Yarmouth, I mean literally without hope of winning a single seat in the country, could do us great harm.
“I think online you will see a lot of Restore potential voters now beginning to worry about the impact that might have.
“I finalise that by saying if it was the offer of a deal, it came in a very unusual way. I have responded to it potentially, you know, with an open mind, as I would, but I’m certainly not going to be ditching people who I view to be allies and a great asset.”
Mr Lowe later posted on X that Mr Farage was a “liar”, and disputed his version of events – but said the offer was still open to him and Reform UK.
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2 Fascists leaders together reminds me of HITLER ANS MUSSOLINI
Restore, the spin off from Reform because Reform didn’t do enough Klan stuff.
Both are bad.
If these guys join up, the only people they would want to reside in Britain would probably be descendants of King Arthur.
That means that Farage’s descendants were immigrants.
King Arthur fought the Anglo-Saxons in battle, so I don’t think they’re that keen on him.
It looks as if dodgy Farage is a tad worried about the threat of Count Binface being associated with Regurgitate Britain’s Rupert Lowelife. There, there, Nigel — don’t worry. I’m sure that when you eventually lose your seat, there’ll be a tax‑avoiding English exile or a Russian oligarch out there ready to ease your pain with a quid or two.
Gobby Blinder and the little willy gang…
I wonder what the Rev thinks about his bad-boy protege now, perhaps a N.C journo could nip over to Bromley in Kent and ask him, his Cymru connections are many…
If anyone saw and heard the Rabid Rupe ‘appeal’ to Farij, it was anything but. It was in fact a dictatorial ‘my way or the highway’ takeover order leaving no doubt that he, Lowe, was to be the undisputed Fuhrer post merger of these two lawless, universal hate gangs. Also, be in no doubt that someone who cannot open their foaming mouth without ‘death penalty’ spilling out of it, has ideas about extra judicial summary killings by choice. Renee Good/Alex Pretti. Nobody will be safe from this. My questions to our political leaders are what are you doing to paralyse… Read more »