Rupert Lowe has confirmed his party Restore Britain will not stand in the Clacton by-election caused by Nigel Farage’s resignation.
The Great Yarmouth MP said his party will stand in a potential second by-election “when the investigations into Farage’s finances conclude as we all suspect they will.”
Mr Lowe, a former Reform MP, said: “We are not going to participate in a Reform-sponsored media circus over the summer months that is designed to puff up Farage’s ego and deflect away from wholly fair questions over why he has concealed such vast and irregular financial donations.
“Farage can play with his toys for the next six weeks but Restore Britain is going to continue producing detailed policy papers, exactly as we have been, outlining how we can fix our country. That is what I am interested in. Detail. Data. Policy. A plan.
Mr Lowe continued: “I feel for the people of Clacton who deserve so much better than this unnecessary sham forced on them throughout their summer.”
The Reform UK leader has faced calls for an investigation following reports that long-term ally George Cottrell had provided undeclared funding for security and staffing in the year before he was elected.
He is already undergoing a parliamentary standards investigation over a £5million gift from Reform donor Christopher Harborne before becoming an MP.
Parliament’s standards commissioner will suspend his investigation into Mr Farage’s finances once the by-election begins, but could reopen it in future should voters return the Reform UK leader to Parliament.
Mr Lowe left Mr Farage’s party
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Reform Treasury spokesman and Newark MP Robert Jenrick admitted Mr Farage could find himself fighting another by-election in the event the commissioner finds against him.
Mr Jenrick said: “It would be utterly absurd, but so be it. If this has to go back to the people of Clacton another time, then bring it on. But that would clearly be utterly ridiculous.
“Nigel has got the courage to put himself forward in this election to make his argument to his constituents in Clacton and ultimately to the country that it’s not for bureaucrats and the tired old leaders of the Labour Party and the Tory Party and their acolytes in the media to determine who leads this country, it is for the people of this country.
“So that is what Nigel is doing in this by-election.”
Robert Jenrick told GB News the by-election is a ‘referendum on the future of the country’ | GB NEWS
When pressed if this meant Reform conceded there could be a second by-election, Mr Jenrick replied: “It would ridiculous if that happened, but Nigel has got the guts to keep fighting this.
“He’s been fighting these causes for the people of this country as a patriot who loves Britain for 30 years.
“Do you think he’s going to let you know the Sunday Times and Sky News drag him down?
“No way, he’s in this for the long haul. He’s just getting started. He wants to lead this country and make sure we turn it around.”
Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Nigel Farage’s ‘hissy fit’ resignation as Clacton MP | POLITICO
Other major party leaders were quick to slam the Reform UK leader’s shock announcement.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Nigel Farage was having a “hissy fit” and “cracking under the pressure”, adding the Clacton MP should “man up and answer some questions” instead of triggering an “ego by-election”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “It’s obvious why he is doing it. He is up to his neck in sleaze. Politics should be about improving the lives of millions of people, not about personal gain, not about hiding dodgy donations, and I think the public will see this for exactly what it is.”
Meanwhile, Green Party leader Zack Polanski said Mr Farage was “a grifter brought down by his own grifting”, adding the Reform leader “has never been a man of the people, but a representative of the wealthy and the establishment.”