Brexiteer announces he will stand for Reform UK in by-election after 'selfish' Tory quit
Brexit stalwart Rupert Lowe has asked voters to back him in a crunch upcoming by-election even though the constituency will be abolished.
The former football chairman and businessman has officially declared he is standing for election in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire.
A by-election is being held in the little-known seat on February 15 after ex-Conservative MP Chris Skidmore quit. It is the same day as a vote in Wellingborough after veteran Tory Peter Bone faced a recall petition for breaching the MPs’ code of conduct.
The seismic judgment day is a barometer ahead of the general election, set to be held in November.
Reform UK leader Richard Tice described the Kingswood by-election as "a scandal of selfishness, of hypocrisy, and of grotesque abuse of taxpayers' cash" and initially refused to put up a candidate.
But Mr Lowe, 66, who stood as a Referendum Party general election candidate in The Cotswolds in 1997, finishing fourth, told the Daily Express of his intention to stand with the full support of his boss.
He said: “If you’re happy with the way you are being governed, that’s fine, please vote as you always have. But I see this as an ideal opportunity to deliver a message, not just to the Tories, but Labour under Keir Starmer, which is far worse, and the Liberal Democrats who are the most venal and unpleasant people I have ever known.
“The rotten establishment is failing us. People don’t want more career politicians climbing the greasy pole. They want change.” Express.
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