It was only a few weeks ago that Reform UK was flying high in the polls. Now a fallout between the party leadership and MP Rupert Lowe has left their voters shaken – with Lowe currently suspended from the group over allegations of bullying made against his office and under investigation by the Metropolitan Police. But while Lowe’s social media supporters are outraged by his treatment, it doesn’t appear like much of the rest of the public know quite who he is…

According to polling by JL Partners for GB News carried out between 10-11 March, when a ‘nationally representative’ sample of 2,065 Brits were shown a picture of Lowe and asked to identify him, a whopping 86 per cent of the public failed to do so. More staggeringly, seven out of ten Reform UK voters didn’t appear to know who Lowe is. Awkward!

It doesn’t bode well for a politician who, it has been suggested, could join a breakaway party to rival Reform in the wake of the allegations against him. Ben Habib, Reform’s former deputy leader, acknowledged he would consider a joint venture with Lowe – while the Financial Times reported this week that sources close to tech billionaire Elon Musk could be persuaded to fund a new right-wing group big on deportations. How curious…

The latest survey follows this week’s YouGov poll that revealed a third of the party’s voters think Reform would be performing better if party leader Nigel Farage stepped down and allowed another to take his place. Further YouGov polling showed that the Clacton MP’s personal popularity ratings have also taken a nosedive over the fallout, with Nige’s favourability score falling by 13 points since 4-5 March. Given all this, the party leader may feel somewhat comforted by Lowe’s relatively obscurity in the eyes of the public. If a splinter party was to form, the Greater Yarmouth MP’s chances of coveting Reform voters may be rather slim…