Lowe blow
Reform UK , Issue 1645

MORE disappointment for exiled Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe. As he comes to terms with his falling-out with Nigel Farage and a little difficulty around Inspector Knacker's enquiries into allegations of "verbal threats" against colleagues, the Great Yarmouth MP has problems closer to home.

Last year Lowe applied for planning permission to build five luxury homes on agricultural land he owns near his home at Withington in the Cotswolds, in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The application – to convert five derelict barns into Scandinavian- type homes which could sell for £1.5m each – was refused by Cotswold district council in January 2024.

When it was discussed at Withington parish council, it had gone unsupported because councillors desired only "affordable housing". At that meeting Cllr Nicky Lowe – Rupert's wife – had to leave the room while the matter was discussed.

Limited appeal
Not happy with being refused permission, Lowe lodged an appeal, which went to the secretary of state after he became an MP. It has now been given a final thumbs-down by the planning inspectorate.

Meanwhile, one aggrieved countryside-lover tweeted last year: "Labour are going to plaster the countryside with houses... Too many people – not enough schools, hospitals, roads and more. Our infrastructure simply cannot cope."

Step forward, frustrated barn converter Rupert Lowe!

Tory Reform group!
BEFORE his pivot to fighting his own MPs, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had attacked the Tories for being "utterly disconnected by class and privilege" during last year's election campaign, promising to "end the corruption of our government and politics by an out-of-touch, London-centric elite".

Curiously, though, Electoral Commission data for the last quarter of 2024 show Reform cashing in donations from some distinctly "privileged" former Tory donors.

Jolly Roger
Former Lehman Brothers banker Roger Nagioff gave £100,000 to Reform in December, having previously donated £499,000 to the Tories between 2004 and 2020.

The Valukas Report on the US bank's 2008 demise said Nagioff had backed its "aggressive" growth plans even when it meant going over "risk limits". He later had doubts and left just months before it collapsed – an event that sparked the financial crisis and stagnation which arguably stoked the rise of populist parties like Reform.

Glassberg half empty
Reform also received £50,000 from City brokering firm JB Drax Honoré, founded by CEO and former Tory donor Jonathan Glassberg, a man who has lost more money than most people have ever made.

This year Glassberg tried to sue UBS bank in Singapore because one of its staff encouraged him to invest $2.5m in the Direct Lending Income Fund, while saying this was not an official UBS recommendation. DLIF faced fraud allegations and went "sour". Singapore courts dismissed Glassberg's claim, saying his financial "sophistication" meant he should have understood the risks.

Blue Mond
Gary Mond gave Reform £17,500 last year, having been a Tory donor since 2006 (including £10,000 for Liz Truss's leadership campaign).

Mond was suspended from his vice-president role at the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD) in 2022 after writing social media posts suggesting the west is "at war with Islam".

Mond, who then set up his own National Jewish Assembly, has positions well to the right of the BoD, arguing the Palestinian flag should be banned and welcoming Donald Trump's proposal to get all Palestinians out of Gaza as useful "thinking outside the box".

Robin's nestegg
Mayfair club owner Robin Birley gave Reform £25,000, despite being a regular Tory donor even during the 2024 election and helping to fund Boris Johnson's 2019 leadership campaign.

Birley has long backed more right-wing causes, donating to UKIP and funding the campaign to stop Chile's former fascist dictator General Augusto Pinochet being prosecuted when he came to the UK in 1998.

More top stories in the latest issue:

THE ONLY WAY IS ETHICS
All aboard the gravy train! More than 100 parliamentarians are urging the big banks to reconsider the idea that defence investments are always "unethical".

TECH BRO IN ARMS
Defence secretary John Healey has signed a £30m deal to supply drones to Kyiv – with, er, a US weapons firm run by a prominent Trump supporter.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Chinese and EU officials are keen to put trade disputes behind them. A new corruption probe involving tech giant Huawei complicates matters.

GLOBAL PLAYER
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle's taxpayer-funded globetrotting is supposedly to promote inter-parliamentary relations – but is that always the case?

JOBS FOR THE BOY
Welcome back, David "Two Brains" Willetts – the chair of the new Regulatory Innovation Office has quite a portfolio of vested interests.

CALLED TO ORDURE
It's trench warfare in the Lords, where the government's hopes of a quick victory over the hereditaries have become bogged down in a battle of attrition.

BISHOPS PINNED
With the Church of England in crisis, bishops face a new challenge: fending off attempts to oust them from the House of Lords.