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'Farage and Lowe need their heads banged together'

Robby West
BBC News, Norfolk
Reporting fromGreat Yarmouth
Simon Dedman
BBC News, Essex
Reporting fromClacton
PA Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe standing next to each other. They are both wearing suits with shirts and ties. PA
Nigel Farage, Reform Party leader and Clacton MP, suspended Rupert Lowe, MP for Great Yarmouth, after it was alleged he had made "verbal threats"

A public spat involving the leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage and one of the party's other high-profile MPs has caught the attention of political figures as much as constituents.

Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe, now an Independent, was suspended by the party over an allegation of "verbal threats" – a claim which he has denied.

Farage, MP for Clacton, said the row had "dented" Reform's "unity" but wrote in The Telegraph that it would have been "inconceivable" not to take action.

The ordeal has since prompted the launch of a police investigation, but what do voters in each of their respective constituencies make of what has happened?

Shaun Whitmore/BBC John Dupen, wearing glasses and a grey jumper, staring into the camera.Shaun Whitmore/BBC
John Dupen said the Reform Party had become a "credible force" in UK politics

Reform UK won five out of 650 constituencies in the July 2024 general election, but with Lowe's suspension they now have four MPs in the House of Commons.

Mention of Lowe's election win has been removed from Reform UK's homepage list of the other four wins.

In Lowe's constituency on the Norfolk coast, retired police officer John Dupen, who voted for Reform, said he felt the row and in-fighting had "taken the impetus" out of the party.

"They were becoming a credible force, but I think Farage has done the right thing to remove him from the party, but mud sticks doesn't it":[]}