On Friday, the MP Rupert Lowe criticised Nigel Farage in an interview with the Daily Mail, saying Reform UK was a “protest party led by the Messiah”, and that it was “too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods” and become prime minister.

The next day, Lowe was suspended by the party. Reform UK published a statement making a series of allegations against him, including that he had made threats against the party chair, Zia Yusuf.

Lowe strongly denied the allegations and said it was “entirely untrue” that he had made threats against Yusuf.

Eleni Courea, a political correspondent for the Guardian, tells Lucy Hough that she believes this feud dates back to last year, when Elon Musk showed a special interest in Reform UK.

“Musk has not been shy about interfering and endorsing political parties in the UK and elsewhere in Europe,” she says.

“There were reports in the late autumn that he was even countenancing giving a $100m donation to Reform UK to help propel them into government. Now, obviously, this would be transformative for the fortunes of Farage’s party, and he was extremely excited about the prospect.

“Now, all of that kind of went south around Christmastime …[when Musk published] a tweet saying Farage doesn’t have what it takes to lead Reform UK, and they need somebody else.”

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